Evening star., 1946-03-30
Hindu-MosIem Feud
Obstacle in India
Religious Differences Hamper
independence Solution
Bv Berfran Benedict


Next week discussions will open In
India between the political leaders of
all parties in India and the committee
sent out by the British cabinet to try
again to work out a solution satisfac-
tory to all sides on India's political fu-
ture
The central problem of all the prob
lens presented by India is not so much
the rights of the minority as the rights
OF the majority. Gandhi, Nehru and
the other leaders of the Congress party
want the Moslem minority to come along
IN one united India. trusting the Hindu
majority to be fair. Jinnah and his
followers in the Moslem League insist
on separate Moslem state This would
include slzable Hindu minorities which
would have to trust the Moslem major
ity to be fair.
The Hlndus and the MoslemS worked
together fairly we'll for a free India
until about eight years ago. In 1919
limited amount of self-government had
peen promised for the II provinces into
winch British India is divided. (The
o62 Indian states outside of British In
Ola account for more than 40 per cent
OF the area Of India but for less than
20 per cent of the population) The
government of India act of 1885 broad
ened lf-government in the provinces.
Hindu Majorities Elected.
Elections for the provincial legislatures
under the 1885 act were held in Febru-
ary, 1887. The results gave Hindu ma
Jorltles, then or later, in eight provinces,
Moslem maJoritieS in three Bengal. the
PunJab, SIND. But the Hindu minis
tries tfAreupon set up in the eight prov
lnceS were controlled by the Congress
party, whereas the Moslem ministries
IN the three provinces did not repre-
sent the Moslem League.
1heSe Hindu ministries gave no rep
reSentatlon to the Moslem minorities
IN the eight provinces, and were in no
sense coalition affairs The Congress
party, working through these ministries.
reserved for itself all the prerogatives Of
office. This policy followed the Congress
claim of representing all India. But it
seemed reprehensible to the Moslems.
all the more because in all Indian legis-
latlve assemblies a certain number of
seats are reserved for the Moslems and
other minorities.
MOslem Prestige Rises.
AS a result, the power and prestige
OF the Moslem League among the Mos
iemS began to increase In 1923 the
Moslem League won control of the three
Moslem ministries formed after the 1887
elections In the meantime, the Con-
gress party had withdrawn its ministries
in the eight provinces which returned
Hindu majorities in 1887. The Congress
party was protesting in particular
against the British declaration of war
Tor India without the consent Of India
In 1910 the Moslem League brought
out its proposal for Pakistan, a separate
Moslem state in India 1t would take
in Sind, Baluchistan, the Punjab, and
the northwest frontier provinces in the
northwest, Bengal and Assam in the
northeast
These two territorial divisions are
separated by about TOO miles (the diff
ference between Hindu and Moslem is
religious rather than raciaD Another
difficulty in the concept of Pakistan is
that although more than one-haIf of
the Moslems live in the heavily popu-
lated Bengal and the Puniab their nu-
merical superiority there is small, with
the Hindus comprising almost IS per
cent of the population. The Congress
party asks, if it is wrong for the Hindu
majority to govern the large Moslem
minority in all India, why is it right for
the Moslem majority to govern the
large Hindu minority under Pakistan?