04-10-2004, 03:02 PM
V
Will the Hindus really lose if they agree to divide India into two, Pakistan and Hindus'?
With regard to Czechoslovakia it is instructive to note the real feelings of its government on the
loss of their territory caused by the Munich Pact. They were well expressed by the Prime Minister
of Czechoslovakia in his message to the people of Czechoslovakia. In it he said 48[f.48] :â
" Citizens and soldiers.... I am living through the hardest hour of my life; I am carrying out the most
painful task, in comparison with which death would be easy. But precisely because I have flight
and because I know under what conditions a war is won, must tell you frankly... that the forces
opposed to us at this moment compel us to recognize their superior strength and to act
accordingly....
"In Munich four European Great Powers met and decided to demand of us the acceptance of new
frontiers, according to which the German areas of our State would be taken away. We had the
choice between desperate and hopeless defence, which would have meant the sacrifice not only of
the adult generation but also of women and children, and the acceptance of conditions which in
their ruthlessness, and because they were imposed by pressure without war, have no parallel in
history. We desired to make a contribution to peace; we would gladly have made it But not by any
means in the way it has been fenced upon us.
" But we were abandoned, and were alone.... Deeply moved, all your leaders considered, together
with the army and the President of the Republic, all the possibilities which remained. They
recognized that in choosing between narrower frontiers and the death of the nation it was their
sacred duty to save the life of our people, so that we may not emerge weakened from these terrible
limes, and so that we may remain certain that our nation will gather itself together again, as it has
done so often in the past. Let us alt see that our State re-establishes itself soundly within its new
frontiers, and that its population is assured of a new life of peace and fruitful labour. With your
help we shall succeed. We rely upon you, and you have confidence in us."
It is evident that the Czechs refused to be led by the force of historic sentiment. They were ready to
have narrower frontiers and a smaller Czechoslovakia to the ultimate destruction of their people.
With regard to Turkey the prevalent view was the one that was expressed in 1853 by the Czar
Nicholas I, during a conversation with British Ambassador in St. Petersburg in which he said " We
have on our hand a sick manâa very sick man . . . . He may suddenly die upon our hands." From
that day the imminent decease of Turkey, the sick man of Europe was awaited by all his
neighbours. The shedding of the territories was considered as the convulsions of a dying man who
is alleged to have breathed his last by affixing his signature to the Treaty of Severs.
Is this really a correct view to take of Turkey in the process of dissolution? It is instructive to note
the comments of Arnold Toynbee on this view. Referring to the Czar's description of Turkey as the
sick man who may suddenly die, he says 49[f.49] :
" In this second and more sensational part of his diagnosis Czar Nicholas went astray because he
did not understand the nature of the symptoms. If a person totally ignorant of natural history
stumbled upon a snake in course of shedding its skin, he would pronounce dogmatically that the
creature could not possible recover. He could point out that when a man (or other mammal) has the
misfortune to lose his skin, he is never known to survive. Yet while it is perfectly true that the
leopard cannot change his spots nor the Ethiopian his skin, a wider study would have informed our
amateur naturalist that a snake can do both and does both habitually. Doubtless, even for the snake,
the process is awkward and uncomfortable. He becomes temporarily torpid, and in this condition he
is dangerously at the mercy of his enemies. Yet, if he escapes the kites and crows until his
metamorphosis is complete, he not only recovers his health but renews his youth with the
replacement of his mortal coils. This is the recent experience of the Turk, and ' moulting snake ' is
better simile than sick man for a description of his distemper."
In this view, the loss of her possessions by Turkey is the removal of an anomalous excrescence and
the gain of a new skin. Turkey is certainly homogeneous and has no fear of any disruption from
within.
The Muslim areas are an anomalous excrescence on Hindustan and Hindustan is an anomalous
excrescence on them. Tied together they will make India the sick man of Asia. Welded together
they will make India a heterogeneous unit. If Pakistan has the demerit of cutting away parts of
India, it has also the merit of introducing harmony in place of conflict.
Severed into two, each becomes a more homogeneous unit. The homogeneity of the two areas is
obvious enough. Each has a cultural unity. Each has a religious unity. Pakistan has a linguistic
unity. If there is no such unity in Hindustan, it is possible to have it without any controversy as to
whether the common language should be Hindustani, Hindi or Urdu. Separated, each can become a
strong and well-knit state. India needs a strong Central Government. But it cannot have it so long as
Pakistan remains a part of India. Compare the structure of the Federal Government as embodied in
the Government of India Act, 1935, and it will be found, that the Central Government as
constituted under it is an effete ramshackle thing with very little life in it. 50[f.50] As has already
been pointed out, this weakening of the Central Government is brought about by the desire to
placate the Muslim Provinces who wish to be independent of the authority of the Central
Government on the ground that the Central Government is bound to be predominantly Hindu in
character and composition. When Pakistan comes into being these considerations can have no
force. Hindustan can then have a strong Central Government and a homogeneous population, which
are necessary elements for the stability of the state and neither of which will be secured unless there
is severance of Pakistan from Hindustan.
Will the Hindus really lose if they agree to divide India into two, Pakistan and Hindus'?
With regard to Czechoslovakia it is instructive to note the real feelings of its government on the
loss of their territory caused by the Munich Pact. They were well expressed by the Prime Minister
of Czechoslovakia in his message to the people of Czechoslovakia. In it he said 48[f.48] :â
" Citizens and soldiers.... I am living through the hardest hour of my life; I am carrying out the most
painful task, in comparison with which death would be easy. But precisely because I have flight
and because I know under what conditions a war is won, must tell you frankly... that the forces
opposed to us at this moment compel us to recognize their superior strength and to act
accordingly....
"In Munich four European Great Powers met and decided to demand of us the acceptance of new
frontiers, according to which the German areas of our State would be taken away. We had the
choice between desperate and hopeless defence, which would have meant the sacrifice not only of
the adult generation but also of women and children, and the acceptance of conditions which in
their ruthlessness, and because they were imposed by pressure without war, have no parallel in
history. We desired to make a contribution to peace; we would gladly have made it But not by any
means in the way it has been fenced upon us.
" But we were abandoned, and were alone.... Deeply moved, all your leaders considered, together
with the army and the President of the Republic, all the possibilities which remained. They
recognized that in choosing between narrower frontiers and the death of the nation it was their
sacred duty to save the life of our people, so that we may not emerge weakened from these terrible
limes, and so that we may remain certain that our nation will gather itself together again, as it has
done so often in the past. Let us alt see that our State re-establishes itself soundly within its new
frontiers, and that its population is assured of a new life of peace and fruitful labour. With your
help we shall succeed. We rely upon you, and you have confidence in us."
It is evident that the Czechs refused to be led by the force of historic sentiment. They were ready to
have narrower frontiers and a smaller Czechoslovakia to the ultimate destruction of their people.
With regard to Turkey the prevalent view was the one that was expressed in 1853 by the Czar
Nicholas I, during a conversation with British Ambassador in St. Petersburg in which he said " We
have on our hand a sick manâa very sick man . . . . He may suddenly die upon our hands." From
that day the imminent decease of Turkey, the sick man of Europe was awaited by all his
neighbours. The shedding of the territories was considered as the convulsions of a dying man who
is alleged to have breathed his last by affixing his signature to the Treaty of Severs.
Is this really a correct view to take of Turkey in the process of dissolution? It is instructive to note
the comments of Arnold Toynbee on this view. Referring to the Czar's description of Turkey as the
sick man who may suddenly die, he says 49[f.49] :
" In this second and more sensational part of his diagnosis Czar Nicholas went astray because he
did not understand the nature of the symptoms. If a person totally ignorant of natural history
stumbled upon a snake in course of shedding its skin, he would pronounce dogmatically that the
creature could not possible recover. He could point out that when a man (or other mammal) has the
misfortune to lose his skin, he is never known to survive. Yet while it is perfectly true that the
leopard cannot change his spots nor the Ethiopian his skin, a wider study would have informed our
amateur naturalist that a snake can do both and does both habitually. Doubtless, even for the snake,
the process is awkward and uncomfortable. He becomes temporarily torpid, and in this condition he
is dangerously at the mercy of his enemies. Yet, if he escapes the kites and crows until his
metamorphosis is complete, he not only recovers his health but renews his youth with the
replacement of his mortal coils. This is the recent experience of the Turk, and ' moulting snake ' is
better simile than sick man for a description of his distemper."
In this view, the loss of her possessions by Turkey is the removal of an anomalous excrescence and
the gain of a new skin. Turkey is certainly homogeneous and has no fear of any disruption from
within.
The Muslim areas are an anomalous excrescence on Hindustan and Hindustan is an anomalous
excrescence on them. Tied together they will make India the sick man of Asia. Welded together
they will make India a heterogeneous unit. If Pakistan has the demerit of cutting away parts of
India, it has also the merit of introducing harmony in place of conflict.
Severed into two, each becomes a more homogeneous unit. The homogeneity of the two areas is
obvious enough. Each has a cultural unity. Each has a religious unity. Pakistan has a linguistic
unity. If there is no such unity in Hindustan, it is possible to have it without any controversy as to
whether the common language should be Hindustani, Hindi or Urdu. Separated, each can become a
strong and well-knit state. India needs a strong Central Government. But it cannot have it so long as
Pakistan remains a part of India. Compare the structure of the Federal Government as embodied in
the Government of India Act, 1935, and it will be found, that the Central Government as
constituted under it is an effete ramshackle thing with very little life in it. 50[f.50] As has already
been pointed out, this weakening of the Central Government is brought about by the desire to
placate the Muslim Provinces who wish to be independent of the authority of the Central
Government on the ground that the Central Government is bound to be predominantly Hindu in
character and composition. When Pakistan comes into being these considerations can have no
force. Hindustan can then have a strong Central Government and a homogeneous population, which
are necessary elements for the stability of the state and neither of which will be secured unless there
is severance of Pakistan from Hindustan.