July 10, Yesterday's "announcement: of the final breakdown of the All-Parties Conference in India is of considerable importance and significance, Ever since Lord Irwin became Viceroy, he has endeavoured to bring Indian Political leaders to realize the damage done to the cause of Indian self-government by the insensate bitterness of the communal feud. In Lord Reading's time attempts were made by conferences of all communities—independent of official guidance—to settle this vexed question, Despair at failure has accentuated the differences and: intensified the vehemence of the reasons. hat been the reproach hurled at Great Britain, It is a reproach totally unjustified, at any rate in recent years, for if there is anything which gives the District Officer more difficulty and more irritation—to put it on no higher ground—it is the constant need for adjudicating on communal squabbles, over religious processions, music before moat appointments in the employment of the Government and the like and the frequent rioting which breaks out as the result of communal tension. Superficial observers, with experience of India and an indolent intelligence, add fuel to this flame by roundly boasting that British rule rests on this deplorable 3 schism, In thus perverting the grain of truth that British service to India has been that of welding heterogeneous communities into a form approaching national entity, these British braggarts do more disservice and more discredit to their country than they have the brains to realize. Decent Englishmen sincerely regret this communal difficulty. They sympathise with Indian nationalists in their desire to remove it of their own effort. This is exactly the reason for the establishment at the end of last year of yet another All Parties Conference to come to grips with this issue and solve it before the London Conference came into existence, It was felt—and rightly felt—that to leave to London the task of arriving at a settlement of the relations between the two communities would greatly prejudice the work of the Conference, unduly delay if and prevent proper concentration on the main problem of India's status in the Empire.
The pivotal point on which this, question turns is the system of representation of the two: big communities—Hindus and Motlems. The other "minority' communities more or less rank with the Moslems in their attitude towards it but, so long. as a Hindu-Moslem entente is absent, theirs is but a watching. brief." Under an arrangement. made in Lucknow in 1916, the plan of communal repzesentati on the basis of certain porce: ages according to the ratios of the two communities in the different Provinces was sup-Ported by the representatives of Hindus and Moslems—the Indian tional Congress znd the!
come, Mig Taicka sw bia authors scheme as the basis. of their franchise proposals. Communal representation means the creation of constituencies in which the electorates are of one communal hue: It is defended ey Moslems on the ground that otherwise, with their 70,000,000 against the Hindus' 215,000,000, they would be politically extinct, And. in predominantly Moslem areas, Hindus support it on the same ground, In practice it undoubtedly leads to the election of men who. are communalists first and legislators afterwards, In theory the creation of general constituencies—with some _mechanical safeguards which might or might not be effective—would be preferable, but the minority communities cannot be easily persuaded to.give up wha they regard as their only buoy in a sea of infinite storminess.
Of all the attempts made to solve this vexed question—i obviously is one which is best tackled by Indians themselves—the Conference which has just broken down was the most promising. It was brought into being by the earnest and patriotic efforts of Sir Tei Bahadur Sapru—a' Kashmir Pandit, Brahmin of Allahabad and ex-Law Member of the Viceroy's Cabinet—who was supported by Moslems, Non-Brahming, representatives of the Depressed ("Untouchable") Classes and the non-official European, The Chairman of the Conference was Sir Annopn Patro—landholder, lawyer, ex-'Minister and the leader of the powerful "Justice" (Non Brahmin) party of Madras, association with him was Mr. Mahomed Ah Jinnah—a brilliant Moslem barrister and politician with more claim to Hindu confidence than any of his: community in India. For various reasons—some of them due to the distractions of the National Congress "'revolt"—this Con.
nee was subjected to many delays. It soon became apparent however that the delays were less accidental than induced by the acute differences of opinion, once more disclosed as soon 2s members of the Conference came to grips with the problem. No tribute can be too warm to pay to these Indian leaders for their sincere and statesmanlike attempt to put their house. in order before the call to London came. They have met with failure, is an honourable failure for which they deserve the utmost sympathy. It indicates however the very real intricacy of the Indian self-government problem, when men who have had: every material interest, national. pr stige—to arrive at an agreement, have had regretfully to admit defeat. It emphasises the unpracticality of the so-called Nehru Report which: attempted to solve the same problem by glossing over it. Tt also gives a strong condemnation to the folly of the Congress agitators who would destroy the present system of Government which, in its Indo-British complexion, is the only bulwark between: India and unbridgable communal diffe ences. So to the London Conte: ence—as far as can be judged will this problem be left. There should be no elation in Great Britain at this outcome, There should rather be generous recognition of an effort manfully made and an equally gencrou readiness to do everything assist the London Conference ta find a solution for a problem which is one of the biggest obstacles to of Indien: he removal of that obstacle may be am essentially Judian task be rent Brit cannot divest he bility, if Ind Her self-imposed task has been and is io
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.