04-10-2004, 05:52 AM
II
To turn to the Communal Question in its " greater intent ". What is it, that the Hindus say is a problem ? In its
greater intent the Communal Question relates to the deliberate creation of Muslim Provinces. At the time of the
Lucknow Pact, the Muslims only raised the Communal Question in its lesser intent. At the Round Table
Conference, the Muslims put forth, for the first time, the plan covered by the Communal Question in its greater
intent. Before the Act of 1935, there were a majority of Provinces in which the Hindus were in a majority and the
Muslims in a minority. There were only three Provinces in which the Muslims were in a majority and the Hindus in
a minority. They were the Punjab, Bengal and the North-West Frontier Province. Of these, the Muslim majority in
the North-West Frontier Province was not effective, because there was no responsible government in that province,
the Montagu-Chemsford Scheme of Political Reforms not being extended to it. So, for all practical purposes, there
were only two provincesâthe Punjab and Bengalâwherein the Muslims were in majority and the Hindus in
minority. The Muslims desired that the number of Muslim Provinces should be increased. With this object in view,
they demanded that Sind should be separated from the Bombay Presidency and created into a new self-governing
Province, and that the North-West Frontier Province, which was already a separate Province, should be raised to the
status of a self-governing Province. Apart from other considerations, from a purely financial point of view, it was
not possible to concede this demand. Neither Sind nor the North-West Frontier Province were financially
self-supporting. But in order to satisfy the Muslim demand, the British Government went to the length of accepting
the responsibility of giving an annual subvention to Sind 39[f.39] and North-West Frontier Province 40[f.40] from
the Central Revenues, so as to bring about a budgetary equilibrium in their finances and make them financially
self-supporting.
These four Provinces with Muslims in majority and Hindus in minority, now functioning as autonomous and
self-governing Provinces, were certainly not created for administrative convenience, nor for purposes of
architectural symmetryâthe Hindu Provinces poised against the Muslim Provinces. It is also true that the scheme
of Muslim Provinces was not a matter of satisfying Muslim pride which demanded Hindu minorities under Muslim
majorities to compensate the humiliation of having Muslim minorities under Hindu majorities. What was then, the
motive underlying this scheme of Muslim Provinces ? The Hindus say that the motive for the Muslim insistence,
both on statutory majority and separate electorates, was to enable the Muslims in the Muslim Provinces to mobilize
and make effective Muslim power in its exclusive form and to the fullest extent possible. Asked what could be the
purpose of having the Muslim political power mobilized in this fashion, the Hindus answer that it was done to place
in the hands of the Muslims of the Muslim Provinces an effective weapon to tyrannize their Hindu minorities, in
case the Muslim minorities in the Hindu Provinces were tyrannized by their Hindu majorities. The scheme thus
became a system of protection, in which blast was to be met by counter-blast, terror by terror and tyranny by
tyranny. The plan is undoubtedly, a dreadful one, involving the maintenance of justice and peace by retaliation, and
providing an opportunity for the punishment of an innocent minority, Hindus in Muslim Provinces and Muslims in
Hindu Provinces, for the sins of their co-religionists in other Provinces. It is a scheme of communal peace through a
system of communal hostages.
That the Muslims were aware from the very start, that the system of communal Provinces was capable of being
worked in this manner, is clear from the speech made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as President of the Muslim
League Session held in Calcutta in 1927. In that speech the Maulana declared:â
" That by the Lucknow Pact they had sold away their interests. The Delhi proposals of March last opened the door
for the first time to the recognition of the real rights of Musalmans in India. The separate electorates granted by the
Pact of 1916 only ensured Muslim representation, but what was vital for the existence of the community was the
recognition of its numerical strength. Delhi opened the way to the creation of such a state of at fairs as would
guarantee to them in the future of India a proper share. Their existing small majority in Bengal and the Punjab was
only a census figure, but the Delhi proposals gave them for the first time five provinces of which no less than three
(Sind, the Frontier Province and Baluchistan) contained a real overwhelming Muslim majority. If the Muslims did
not recognise this great step they were not fit to live. There would now be nine Hindu provinces against five
Muslim provinces, and whatever treatment Hindus accorded in the nine provinces, Muslims would accord the same
treatment to Hindus in the five Provinces. Was not this a great gain ? Was not a new weapon gained for the
assertion of Muslim rights ? "
That those in charge of these Muslim provinces know the advantage of the scheme, and do not hesitate to put it to
the use for which it was intended, is clear from the speeches made not long ago by Mr. Fazl-ul-Huq, as Prime
Minister of Bengal.
That this scheme of Communal Provinces, which constitutes the Communal Question in its larger intent, can be
used as an engine of communal tyranny, there can be no doubt. The system of hostages, which is the essence of the
scheme of communal provinces, supported by separate electorates, is indeed insupportable on any ground. If this is
the underlying motive of the demand for the creation of more Muslim Provinces, the system resulting from it is
undoubtedly a vicious system.
This analysis leaves no doubt that the communal statutory majority based on separate communal electorates and the
communal provinces, especially constituted to enable the statutory majority to tyrannize the minority, are the two
evils which compose what is called, ' the Communal Problem '.
For the existence of this problem the Hindus hold the Muslims responsible and the Muslims hold the Hindus
responsible. The Hindus accuse the Muslims of contumacy. The Muslims accuse Hindus of meanness. Both,
however, forget that the communal problem exists not because the Muslims are extravagant and insolent in their
demands and the Hindus are mean and grudging in their concessions. It exists and will exist wherever a hostile
majority is brought face to face against a hostile minority. Controversies relating to separate vs. joint electorates,
controversies relating to population ratio vs. weightage are all inherent in a situation where a minority is pitted
against a majority. The best solution of the communal problem is not to have two communities facing each other,
one a majority and the other a minority, welded in the steel-frame of a single government.
How far does Pakistan approximate to the solution of the Communal Question?
The answer to this question is quite obvious. If the scheme of Pakistan is to follow the present boundaries of the
Provinces in the North-West and in Bengal, certainly it does not eradicate the evils which lie at the heart of the
Communal Question. It retains the very elements which give rise to it, namely, the pitting of a minority against a
majority. The rule of the Hindu minorities by the Muslim majorities and the rule of the Muslim Minorities by the
Hindu majorities are the crying evils of the present situation. This very evil will reproduce itself in Pakistan, if the
provinces marked out for it are incorporated into it as they are, i.e., with boundaries drawn as at present. Besides
this, the evil which gives rise to the Communal Question in its larger intent, will not only remain as it is but will
assume a new malignity. Under the existing system, the power centered in the Communal Provinces to do mischief
to their hostages is limited by the power which the Central Government has over the Provincial Governments. At
present, the hostages are at least within the pale of a Central Government which is Hindu in its composition and
which has power to interfere for their protection. But, when Pakistan becomes Muslim State with full sovereignty
over internal and external affairs, it would be free from the control of the Central Government. The Hindu
minorities will have no recourse to an outside authority with overriding powers, to interfere on their behalf and curb
this power of mischief, as under the scheme, no such overriding authority is permitted to exist. So, the position of
the Hindus in Pakistan may easily become similar to the position of the Armenians under the Turks or of the Jews
in Tsarist Russia or in Nazi Germany. Such a scheme would be intolerable and the Hindus may well say that they
cannot agree to Pakistan and leave their co-religionist as a helpless prey to the fanaticism of a Muslim National
State.
To turn to the Communal Question in its " greater intent ". What is it, that the Hindus say is a problem ? In its
greater intent the Communal Question relates to the deliberate creation of Muslim Provinces. At the time of the
Lucknow Pact, the Muslims only raised the Communal Question in its lesser intent. At the Round Table
Conference, the Muslims put forth, for the first time, the plan covered by the Communal Question in its greater
intent. Before the Act of 1935, there were a majority of Provinces in which the Hindus were in a majority and the
Muslims in a minority. There were only three Provinces in which the Muslims were in a majority and the Hindus in
a minority. They were the Punjab, Bengal and the North-West Frontier Province. Of these, the Muslim majority in
the North-West Frontier Province was not effective, because there was no responsible government in that province,
the Montagu-Chemsford Scheme of Political Reforms not being extended to it. So, for all practical purposes, there
were only two provincesâthe Punjab and Bengalâwherein the Muslims were in majority and the Hindus in
minority. The Muslims desired that the number of Muslim Provinces should be increased. With this object in view,
they demanded that Sind should be separated from the Bombay Presidency and created into a new self-governing
Province, and that the North-West Frontier Province, which was already a separate Province, should be raised to the
status of a self-governing Province. Apart from other considerations, from a purely financial point of view, it was
not possible to concede this demand. Neither Sind nor the North-West Frontier Province were financially
self-supporting. But in order to satisfy the Muslim demand, the British Government went to the length of accepting
the responsibility of giving an annual subvention to Sind 39[f.39] and North-West Frontier Province 40[f.40] from
the Central Revenues, so as to bring about a budgetary equilibrium in their finances and make them financially
self-supporting.
These four Provinces with Muslims in majority and Hindus in minority, now functioning as autonomous and
self-governing Provinces, were certainly not created for administrative convenience, nor for purposes of
architectural symmetryâthe Hindu Provinces poised against the Muslim Provinces. It is also true that the scheme
of Muslim Provinces was not a matter of satisfying Muslim pride which demanded Hindu minorities under Muslim
majorities to compensate the humiliation of having Muslim minorities under Hindu majorities. What was then, the
motive underlying this scheme of Muslim Provinces ? The Hindus say that the motive for the Muslim insistence,
both on statutory majority and separate electorates, was to enable the Muslims in the Muslim Provinces to mobilize
and make effective Muslim power in its exclusive form and to the fullest extent possible. Asked what could be the
purpose of having the Muslim political power mobilized in this fashion, the Hindus answer that it was done to place
in the hands of the Muslims of the Muslim Provinces an effective weapon to tyrannize their Hindu minorities, in
case the Muslim minorities in the Hindu Provinces were tyrannized by their Hindu majorities. The scheme thus
became a system of protection, in which blast was to be met by counter-blast, terror by terror and tyranny by
tyranny. The plan is undoubtedly, a dreadful one, involving the maintenance of justice and peace by retaliation, and
providing an opportunity for the punishment of an innocent minority, Hindus in Muslim Provinces and Muslims in
Hindu Provinces, for the sins of their co-religionists in other Provinces. It is a scheme of communal peace through a
system of communal hostages.
That the Muslims were aware from the very start, that the system of communal Provinces was capable of being
worked in this manner, is clear from the speech made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as President of the Muslim
League Session held in Calcutta in 1927. In that speech the Maulana declared:â
" That by the Lucknow Pact they had sold away their interests. The Delhi proposals of March last opened the door
for the first time to the recognition of the real rights of Musalmans in India. The separate electorates granted by the
Pact of 1916 only ensured Muslim representation, but what was vital for the existence of the community was the
recognition of its numerical strength. Delhi opened the way to the creation of such a state of at fairs as would
guarantee to them in the future of India a proper share. Their existing small majority in Bengal and the Punjab was
only a census figure, but the Delhi proposals gave them for the first time five provinces of which no less than three
(Sind, the Frontier Province and Baluchistan) contained a real overwhelming Muslim majority. If the Muslims did
not recognise this great step they were not fit to live. There would now be nine Hindu provinces against five
Muslim provinces, and whatever treatment Hindus accorded in the nine provinces, Muslims would accord the same
treatment to Hindus in the five Provinces. Was not this a great gain ? Was not a new weapon gained for the
assertion of Muslim rights ? "
That those in charge of these Muslim provinces know the advantage of the scheme, and do not hesitate to put it to
the use for which it was intended, is clear from the speeches made not long ago by Mr. Fazl-ul-Huq, as Prime
Minister of Bengal.
That this scheme of Communal Provinces, which constitutes the Communal Question in its larger intent, can be
used as an engine of communal tyranny, there can be no doubt. The system of hostages, which is the essence of the
scheme of communal provinces, supported by separate electorates, is indeed insupportable on any ground. If this is
the underlying motive of the demand for the creation of more Muslim Provinces, the system resulting from it is
undoubtedly a vicious system.
This analysis leaves no doubt that the communal statutory majority based on separate communal electorates and the
communal provinces, especially constituted to enable the statutory majority to tyrannize the minority, are the two
evils which compose what is called, ' the Communal Problem '.
For the existence of this problem the Hindus hold the Muslims responsible and the Muslims hold the Hindus
responsible. The Hindus accuse the Muslims of contumacy. The Muslims accuse Hindus of meanness. Both,
however, forget that the communal problem exists not because the Muslims are extravagant and insolent in their
demands and the Hindus are mean and grudging in their concessions. It exists and will exist wherever a hostile
majority is brought face to face against a hostile minority. Controversies relating to separate vs. joint electorates,
controversies relating to population ratio vs. weightage are all inherent in a situation where a minority is pitted
against a majority. The best solution of the communal problem is not to have two communities facing each other,
one a majority and the other a minority, welded in the steel-frame of a single government.
How far does Pakistan approximate to the solution of the Communal Question?
The answer to this question is quite obvious. If the scheme of Pakistan is to follow the present boundaries of the
Provinces in the North-West and in Bengal, certainly it does not eradicate the evils which lie at the heart of the
Communal Question. It retains the very elements which give rise to it, namely, the pitting of a minority against a
majority. The rule of the Hindu minorities by the Muslim majorities and the rule of the Muslim Minorities by the
Hindu majorities are the crying evils of the present situation. This very evil will reproduce itself in Pakistan, if the
provinces marked out for it are incorporated into it as they are, i.e., with boundaries drawn as at present. Besides
this, the evil which gives rise to the Communal Question in its larger intent, will not only remain as it is but will
assume a new malignity. Under the existing system, the power centered in the Communal Provinces to do mischief
to their hostages is limited by the power which the Central Government has over the Provincial Governments. At
present, the hostages are at least within the pale of a Central Government which is Hindu in its composition and
which has power to interfere for their protection. But, when Pakistan becomes Muslim State with full sovereignty
over internal and external affairs, it would be free from the control of the Central Government. The Hindu
minorities will have no recourse to an outside authority with overriding powers, to interfere on their behalf and curb
this power of mischief, as under the scheme, no such overriding authority is permitted to exist. So, the position of
the Hindus in Pakistan may easily become similar to the position of the Armenians under the Turks or of the Jews
in Tsarist Russia or in Nazi Germany. Such a scheme would be intolerable and the Hindus may well say that they
cannot agree to Pakistan and leave their co-religionist as a helpless prey to the fanaticism of a Muslim National
State.