v-varmanb ¢ tA e. THE MODERN REVIEW . MARCH Vow. LVIL, Noz 3 19355 Wrote No. 339 TO A FRIEND By SWAMI VIVEKANANDA Where darkness is beheld as light And sorrow understood as joy, Where sickness masquerades as health ‘And but the new-born infant’s cry ‘Tells one it Kves, O wise one, say, Seekeststhou satisfaction here ? Where strife and battle never cease, And even the father, pitiless, ‘Turns out his son, and the sole note Is self and ever self alone, How dost thou hope, O sage, to find The mine of everlasting peace ? Who can eseape this wretched world, ‘A very heaven and hell in one ? Say, where can the poor slave, constrained With karma’s fetters in his neck, Find out at length his freedom here ? Practice of Yoga, sense-delight, Householder’s and monastic life, Prayer, hoarded wealth, austerity, Dispassion, vows, asceticism, "Phese have I fathomed through and through And s0 at last have come to know ‘Plat ngt a grain of joy is het, Embodied life is mockery ; ‘The nobler grows thy, heart, be sure, ‘The more thy share o€ pain’ must be. O sdifless lover, greats heart, ~~+_Know thou within this disrsa] world There is no rdom at all fer'skee : Can.a frail marble bus? endurd, <+ “The, blow an“anvil’s mgss can hear ? Be as one slothful, vile and mean, With honeyed tongue but poisoned ‘heart, Empty of truth and self-enslaved, ‘Then wilt thou find thy place on earth ! For knowledge, staking even my life Have I devoted half my days ; For love, like one insane have I Clutched oft-times at mere lifeless shades ; And for religion many a creed Have sought, along the Ganges’ banks, In burning-grounds, by sacred streams, Or deep in mountain caves have dwelt, ‘And many a day have passed on alms. Friendless and clad in scanty rags, Begging for food from door to door ‘To fill my belly, and with frame Broken beneath tapasya’s weight,— But what the treasure I have earned ? Friend, let me speak my heart to thee, . One lesson have I learned in life : This dreadful world is tossed with waves ‘And one boat only fares across. Study of scripture, sacred words, Restraint of breath, conflicting schools, Dispassion, science, philosophy, Sense-pleasure,—are but freaks of mind. Love ! Love ! That is the only jewel ! In soul and Brahman, man asd God, In ghosts and spirits without shaps__ In angels, beasts, birds, insects, woriis, Dwalls Love, deep in the heart of all. . +ate, me ™ . Say, who else is the God of Gods ? Say, who else moves this universe ? fie mother dies to save her young, i robber steals ; yet are these twain By that same Love divine impelled. Beyond both speech and mind concealed, In grief and happiness dwells Love ; * Kali, all-terrible, it is, . Death’s own embodiment, who comes ‘As kindliest_ mother to us all. Grief, sickness, pinching poverty, Vice, virtue, fruits of deeds alike Both good and ill, Love’s worship are Tn varying guise. For whom else, say, Does any creatitre labour here ? Foolish is he who seeks alone His own delight ; mad equally Whoever racks his flesh with pain ; Insane is he who longs for death ; Eternal life,—a hopeless quest ! a However far and far you speed, Mounting the chariot of the mind, The selfsame ocean of the world Spreads out, its waves of bitterness” And pleasure ever plunging on. Hearken ! thou bird bereft of wings, Thag way lies no escape for thee. Times without number beaten back, Why seek this fruitless task again ? Renounce blind knowledge, feeble prayer, Vain offerings, petty self-esteem ; For the sole jewel is selfless Love. Bengali “Sakhar Prati.” THE MODERN REVfEW FOR MARCH, 1935 Behold, the insects teach us so, Embracing swiftly the bright flame ! The tiny moth is blinded quite, Charmed with its beauteous, fieryeform. So, too, thy heart is mad with Love. O lover, cast upon the fire ‘The dross of all thy selfishness ! Say, can a beggar live content? , What profits one cold pity’s glance ? Give ! if within thy heart resides The slightest treasure fit to share ! Look not behind for recompense ! Ay, to the Infinite born heir Art thou! Within thy bosom swells The ocean of unbounded Love. Give ! Give ! Whoever asks return, His ocean dwindles to a drop. From highest Brahman to the worm, Even down to the least atom’s core, All things with Love are interfused : , Friend, offer body, mind and soul Tn constant service at their feet ! Thy God is here before thee new Revealed in all these myriad forms ; Rejecting such, where seekest thou To find Him ? Whoso worships these, Worships almighty God indeed.* * An English translation by John Moflitt of the m_ by Swami Vivekananda, entitledTHE POETRY OF THE GOND a . fi By VERRIER ELWIN : ERE is an entirely*non-literary and non- religious poetry: a poetry of earth + and sky, of forest, hill and river : a poetry of the changing seasons and the varied passions of men: a poetry of love, naked and unabashed : a poetry of dance and drum and rhythm, free of all convention and restraint. Wordsworth says that in humble and rustic life, “the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are léss under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language ; ‘becanse in that condition of life our elementary feelings co-exist in a state of greater simplicity ...and the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.” This is an exact des- cription of the pdetry of the Gond. Gond poetry finds expression in the Dhanda, or riddle, the Dadaria, the short song which is chanted by the woodeutter ashe goes about his business in the forest or by a party of friends sitting round the fire by night, but chiefly and supremely in the karma, the songs which accompany the famous dance which is said to symbolize the bringing of the green boughs from the forest at the beginning of spring. There must be thousands of these karma : T have a collection of some two hundred, laboriously collected and still more laboriously translated, for many of the Gonds themselves ‘do not understand the meaning of all they sing, and it needs the help of experts to elucidate the obscurer songs. Some are worthless ‘as poetry or even as sense, but in mayy there are “gleams like the flashing of a shield”}, while some rise to the heights of poetic thought and expression. ‘There are a great variety of ‘metres according to the raga/that is to be sung, every karma having its appropriate tune-i Rhyme is not ~ ideally employed, the effec, of the poem being gained by the rhythinical movement of the words. The form! of tha. karma is normal a refrain at the beginning» which is sung over and over again in the course of the dance and concludes the whole, followed by the burden of the poem, which may or may not be related to the refrain and which may be very long or sometimes as short as only two lines. it The karma dance is formed as follows: a group of men with the drums stand in the centre, while a line of women, varying in strength from two to a dozen or more, dances in front of them. Sometimes the swaying line of women moves to and fro, sometimes it circles round and round the men: sometimes when the circle is very large, a few girls will detach themselves from the rest and will go round the men very fast in the opposite direction to the larger slow-moving dance. The best dancers attain the most delicate and intricate move- ments of the hands and feet, but especially - the feet, and after the dance has continued half the night, even the least expertbecome inspired and the entire company is possessed by the very spirit of rhythm. Sometimes the women will begin the songs, and the men have to pick up the tune and the words and answer them--it is an amusing sight to see a few trained women confounding a group of men—and sometimes the men begin and the women answer. It is notable that there are a great many women poets, and incomparably the best karma have been given us by women. Here then we have a dance poetry, a living poesry recreated day by day, a poetry of rhythm and delight, sung under the bright moon, to the crash of the drums, the music of anklet and bangle, and the delicate movements of the feet. There is a Gond riddle—“A dumb bird sits on a beautiful tree: shake the tree and the bird awakes and sings.” To which the auswer is, “The anklets on the feet of a, girl Who goes to the dance.” a= * ‘These poems are a window into the forest mind. It is. very hard for the educated : \ : . 4 e.y274 “to think of the multitudes of the peasantry as real’ people, or at least as ‘people as real e as themselves. The efforts of anthropologists to elucidate the customs and superstitions of the villager only serve to accentuate the difference: he seems more bizarre than ever. He becomes an object of interest, often also an object of pity, but it is hard to think of him asa man of like passions with ourselves. These poems will show that even the ‘aboriginal’, witht his strange knowledge and weird customs, his utter poverty and ignorance, is of the same coymon stuff of humanity, interested in the same essential things. ‘I believe that after reading their poetry carefully no one could again think of the forest people as mere cyphers in the population of India. The karma range over a wide variety of subjects, and reveal a close attachment to and observation of nature. Among their themes are the copper-tinted border of a girl’s dress shining in the sun like fire ; a stream flowing beneath a plantain tree: hens scratching +for food in the forest, a goat munching in a thorny bush: the rain pouring down on the deserted lover by the road-side, washing the mud off the walls of houses, flooding the rivers. Wesee the peasants washing them- selves in the river damming it up to catch fish, working till their backs are aching and y must go and sit in the cool shade to rest, then planting chili or guava in their courtyard while outside the mangoes ripen and the tamarind bears fruit. ‘The mangoes grow in clusters. Q laden is the tamarind ; As near as to fruit, So close should be our love. ‘Several poems describe the village girls going for water to the well. A fair and slender girl bh: for watei ieand slender gil has gone for water Lift the pot from her head for fear she may be hurt. ‘That cloth, what is it made of ? And what kind of pot is this ? The cloth js made of silver, the pot is made of gold. We see the-wall of cactus round the village, tl jeacock spreading its fanlike tail . on e carts going along the road, a dog barking at the moon and keeping everyone® awake, The dance itself is often described. . @ THE MODERN REVIEW FOR MARCH, 1935 ‘The dancers are dancing and the people gather round. How beautiful are feet adorned with silver. ‘How lovely are the ankles with their sounding rings. So the dancers are dancing and the people gather round. But especially as we might expect—the - forest and the forest “toad have captured the imagination of these poets. ‘The forest is the place of love: the road the scene of separation and longing. ‘ Before me is a mountain : behind it is the forest. Where are you going, beloved ? Take me with you to the forest. For as dry leaves flame in the forest fire, So my life burns for you. The forest is dungerous—*O. the jungle full of tigers ! How can we escape ? Ho !”—and even’ in the narrow mountain pass choked with mud, the tiger’s footprints may be seen. But in one poem, the girl is proud that her lover braves its dangers. “My. life is alone, cutting bamboos in the forest, and he is not afraid.” For the forest is the madhuban, the sweet forest, the forest of beauty gnd delight. © forest-bird ! O forest-bird { You want anklets for your feet, 0! You want a necklace for your throat, 0! Bat where will you get their price, here inthe beautiful forest ? © forest-bird ! But the forest-road is the place of separation. The dread of separation and death casts a sombre shadow over these poems. ‘ Death will make entry into thy body which is so beautiful. © brother, separation will come to this sweet a t bod: 3 hi life of ours. Every part of my body weeps for thee. My imind repeats, Death is near, ‘And my heart broods on this sadness, ©, Death will come to thy body, thy body which is beautiful to me. There is no escaping death : just asa man who is trying to cross a. flooded river, ow one who has fallen from a tall tree is stire to die, so death is certain for all who live. « And after this life of two days is over we must travel onwards along the road alone. Life is a sad busitess, haunted by tears and separation. depths of eae ceeeri ee * measyredy = =~ ‘The mountain gh¢ the hills will pass away, Like flooded rivets ads wr Brother, weyf 1a t fall For ae ‘of sbrrow's tears are not y toe ters, found.THE POETRY OF THE GOND | No one cares for the poor dweller in the forest. He is forgotten by the world. And life is full of enemies and cruelty. Here is a very strangé song of loneliness, aie had no triend,: he had no disciple. He reached a forest-covered mountain : * There he found a man who looked at him wigh crooked eyes, ‘And he suid to him, do not took at’ fne'so crookedly. Tecan spgnd the rest of my days as without » friend. Tomorrow of the day after, I shall di. And on my breast will ‘This life only romalas in the body for two days, So do not look atime with your crooked eyes. Here is another*pathetic song. With sad news I am come. With heavy heart I stand before your door. But you care not whether I weep or no. For you are with your beloved. But I stand at your door with sad news in ay veart One of the most constant themes is the separation of lover and beloved. In all my dreams’I searched for you, But Iedid not find even the echo of your steps. And again, . The cart runs forward like ‘My lord, stay for a moment, stay, ‘Your danling’s heart is weeping This is one of the most irate of the songs. ‘There is no rest. for her, and sleep has left her bed. Sleepless she sweeps her court, jut on her own heart heavy lies the cast For the comrade of her Tif haa lett her And there is pain in her h There is no rest for her, nnd sleep has left: her bed. The girl who from childhood has entranced the whole village must go away to. be married : the necessity of finding work often separates lovers who curse that cruel master : love itself brings an under-sense of sadness, As the river flows continually, so my tears for ever flow. O ny Ige8, forgot not one passing moment of our passion. ae “Love is ‘a river that takes a windin, Passe“ ia)tin inetrain ot-one song’ -Soms cl the most tragic have a condensed passion that is alm6st Japanese: 1 world of sorrow in a line or ewos = . ieee a Aone a ahs weppir Could there bg a more’ pomplate and perfect Bhguro 2 Or this. Saale ‘ the wind. From our life together thou hast Tearat t 275 Qeyou have i what you O why have you forgotten ? And this— . Do not lose the cloth that hides my breasts, Or later you will miss it and be sad. And this— You may go anywhere. You may wander over the roads of all the world. But I will find you, O my love. But not all the Aarma are tragic. There is plenty of humour, most of it gross enongh, some of it displaying a rich vein of satire, An ugly conceited girl goes to the bazaar, On her club foot is a lovely ring: there's collyrium in her squinting eyes In her tattered ears an earing. She is dressed bright as" the lightning, Thus she goes to There is a vivid picture of a ee man. On his wrists are heavy silver bangles. In his ears are golden rings. From his mouth flows ever the red stream of betel.. The ahir (cowherd) spends all day long gossiping from house to house, and while he does so the cows go straying all over the forest. ‘There is a song about the police constable. Some he puts in jail. On some he pats the, handouts, 2 He puts the thief in jail. He claps handeutfs on the Gond. ‘The good and innocent he also troubles endlessly. But it is in their love poetry that the Gonds. excel. This has received scant justice from writers hitherto. Russell, who translates a few songs (one at least of real beauty) says that they are “with a few exceptions of an erotic character” and ‘Trench remarks piously that “anfortunately, though many of the marriage songs have a distinct beauty of their own,. the outlook of the Gond on the subject of= marriage severley restricts any attempt to print them in full, and I have made no attempt to do so.” Does the outlook of Shakespeare on the subject of marriage restrict any attempt to print his plays in full? And do we snuff out thus condescendingly the whole of Elizabethan and Jacobean lyric literature as “erotic” 2 Some of the Gond karma are, coarse and indecent, but I .have a bundred love-poems, every one of which could tariff arrangements which seem best fitted to India’s needs as an integral portion of the British Empire, It cannot be guaranteed by statute with- out limiting the ultimate power of ° Parliament tp control the administration of India, and without limiting the power of veto which rests in the Crown ; and neither of these limitations finds place in any of the statutes in the British Empire. it can only therefore be assured by an acknowledg- ment of a convention. Whatever be the right fiscal policy for India, for the needs of her consumers as well a8 for her manufacturers. itis quite clear that she should have the same liberty to consider her interests as Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. In the opinion of the Committee, therefore, the Secretary of State should as far ible » avoid interference on this subject when the Government feed Is Legislature are in agreement, —an i he his” intervention, when it eee es should be limited to safeguarding the in282, obligations of the Empire or any fiscal arrapge- ments within the Einpire to which His Majesty's Government is a. party.” Qn the 28rd of Hebruary, 1921, the Council of State adopted a résolution® recommending to the Governor-General. in Council _ that is Majesty’s Government should be addressed through the Secretary of State with a prayer that the ernment of India should be granted full fiscal autonomy subject to? the provisions of the Goyernment of India Act, The resolution, says the Indian Fiscal Commission, was duly forwarded by the Government of India to the Bera of State with the request that it should be laid before the Majesty’s Government. ‘As will appear from what follows, the principle of fiscal autonomy for India was practically definitely accepted by the British Government. In the course of his reply to a deputation from Lancashire on the Indian import duties on cotton goods, Mr. Montagu stated on March 23rd, 1921, as Secretary of State for India: “After that Report by an authoritative Committee of _ both Houses and Lord Curzon’s promise in the House of Lords, it, was absolutely impossible for me to interfere with the right which I belieye was wisely given and which I am. determined to maintain to give to the Government of India the right to consider the interests of India first, just as we, without any complaint from any other arts of the Empire, and the other parts of the mpire without any complaint from us, have always chosen the tariff arrangements which they think best fitted for theis needs, thinking of their own Citizens first,” ‘This speech, writes the Report of the Indian Fiscal Commission, was followed up-by a Despatch dated the 30th June, 1921, written with reference to the resolution passed by the Council of State on February 23rd, 1921, in which the Secretary of State stated that he had on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, accepted ‘the principle recommended by the Joint Select Committee in its report on Clause 33 of the Government of India Bill, 1919. His words were: “The Secretary of State should, as far as possible, avoid interference on this subject when the Govern- ment of India and the Indian Legislature are in ment, and it is considered that his _interven- tion when it does take place should be limited to sai ing the international obligations of the Empire or any fiseal arrangements within the Empire to which His Majesty's Government is a Pathe Although yas a fairly there was a_ sting in the tail, this clear and definite pronouncement. In September, 1921, again, the Honourable Mr. H.,A. F. Lindsay declared in the Council of State on behalf ofthe Government of India, with reference to the Honourable Mr. Kale’s resolution segarding fiscal powers under conggitational Reforms : * Vide the Council of State Dtbates, 3rd Feb., 1921. = % . . 3 = | a ae) a / THE MODERN REVIEW FOR MARCH, 1935 ‘T am prepared to state that the Government of India have every intention of exercising, in concert with the Indian Legislature, and in what it believes to be the best interests of the country, the fiscal powers which have been conferred on it under the rpcent constitutional reforms.” y i On the 29th of March, 1922, however, Lord Winterton, Unil retary of State for India, acting on behalf of his Chief, Lord Peel, made the following significant remarks* on the question of fiscal autonomy for India, in ® reply to representations made by another deputation representing Lancashire cotton textile interests : “T should like first of all to deal very briefly with the constitutional point that has been raised. T will at once. say that of course the ultimate financial responsibility under the Goverment, of India Act rests with the Secretary of State, but think it will be generally admitted that the Government of India must have wide latitude in deciding the steps to be taken in particular instances... If you accept my argument, real, complete, self-government must always be based on fiscal autonopiy. However, do not let us raise that point at this moment. I would only venture to Say with all respect that sooner or later, when this question comes to be the* subject of’ public controversy and public debate, wot perhaps in this Parliament but in a future’ Parliament, whea the advance is again made, which, T suppose, we all hope, will be made as anticipated by Parliament —then Parliament will have to make up its mind when the question is most emphatically brought up of the cotton interest of Lancashire, with all its magnificent record of service and devotion to the Empire, on which leg it stands, ahether i is prepared to say it wlll grant complete fiseal autonomy to India or not.” As T have stated elsewhere} this statement indicated rather a change of attitude, on the part of the Home authorities, and was’ against the spirit of the recommendation of the Joint Select mittee on the question of fiscal autonomy for India. The true significance of the conyention of fiscal autonomy came in for a good deal of discussion in the Legislative Assembly connection with the consideration of the Cotton Textile Industry (Protection) Bill which had been introduced into Assembly on February 28th, 1930, by the Honourable Sir George Rainy (Member for Commerce and Railways), * L Previously to the introduction of the Bill Sir George Schuster (Finance Member) had said on the same day in the course of his Budget speech, in reference to the proposed iftcrease in the import duty on cotton piece-goods and the message§ from His Majesty’s Government relating thereto : «Vide gi vol. IT, pp. 107-98; also Dr. Banerjee, pee The Indian Annual eegister,. 1922-23, Fiscal Policy in India, pp. +. The Indian Constitution and its Actyat Working, ard Bd,, p. 341. ng § In tlis message, His Majesty's ,Gbvernment ee hueINDIAN WOMANHOOD as well as to the intellect, His men are honest and shapely, seldom overblown or conceited. There is no falling from yirtue or stooping to folly; hence no scope for the higher reaches of comedy, irony or satire. Our poet felt that the spheres of the two sexes are comple- mentary and co-operatiye, not competitive or conflicting. The woman has her sphere in the home, is queen of the affections, and tells” by sweet persuasiveness and nor-co-operation, rather than by, being naughty or headstrong or adopting masculine ways. We do not have 369 fa portia or a Cordelia, not to speak of a Lady Mecbeth or a? Shrew to tame. When Kanwa sends Sakuntala under the guidance of his pupil Sarangarava, Kalidasa reveals the relations of the sexes at the age of adoles- cence, Students were trained to regard with a brotherly eye the tender-eyed maidens of the Guru’s house-hold. There is @ certain sense of inno and freedom which puts the carnal idea to shame: ‘If you be chaste, here is your home; if you be even as your husband d you, what use is it your returning to your father : ———— Ray Laxsummat Raswapr, the gifted wife of the army member of the Council of Regency, Gwalior, is the life and soul of the moyement for the uplift, of women. Her fascinating persomility, her golden eloquence, her clear frasp of the most tangled questions, _ her enthusiastic devotion to the cause of prog all along the line, her ardent zeal for emancipating the members of her sex from the galling yoke of custom, have made her the fountain-head of inspiration alike to the old and the young ning example, they 0 beat down conven- spirit imprisoned so that thrilled by her are straining every nerve tions which keop woman’s within deadening limits. She is in the vanguard of the revolt against the barbarous survivals in society—the hates oppression and — immorality—alone among the cultured women-folk in the Indian States and even beyond she embodies the Shelleyan ideal, eyed, fresh as sea-foam, sending up an 2 like the perfumed altar-flame. ADDENDUM KM. J? has revidwed the Gujrati in the Revigi section, Books DIAN WOMANHOOD éIlogical Distribution of Seats in Indian Federal Legislature ‘The population of the Provinces in Bri India to which representatiot is to be given in the Federal Legislature has been taken to be 257,100,000 in round numbers, and the population of the Indian States of which the Rulers will nominate their representatives in that Legislature has been given ih a schedule of the Government of India Bill as 78,801,912, the total population of these: two units being thus 335,901,912. Burma ix to be separated trom India. There-are to be 375 seats in the Federal Assembly, which is to be the lower house of the Federal Legislature. Though the people of the Indian States have been absolutely ignored, let us assume that their Rulers will nominate as representatives, not the representa- tives of themselves, but the representatives of the people of the States. .So the 375 representatives in the Federal Assembly will represent 335,901,912 persons of India as a whole. Dividing 335,901,912 by 375 we get 895,738. So every 895,738 persons are to get one representative each. Therefore the 78,801,912 inhabitants of the Indian States are entitled to 87 and a fraction seats—say 88 seats, and the 257,100,000 persons of British India should get 287 seats. But the Indian States have been given 125 seats—37 more seats than they are entitled to, and the Provinces have been given 250 seats. In reality they have been given 246 seats ; for eut of the 250 given to them 4 have been kept -apart as. “Non-Provincial Seats. So the Provinces are to get 41 seats less than they are entitled to on the basis* of population. Let us now come to the distribution of the 246 seats among the provinces themselves. These seats are to be filled by the representa- tives of 257,100,000 persons. Dividing 257,100,000 by 246 we get 1,045,121. That means that every 1,045,121 persons are to get one representative each. We give below the number of seats which each province should get on their population basis, and the number which has been actua given to thém in the Bill. It will e-seen that the population put down against Bombay, Madras, Bihar, and Orissa are somewhat different from the Census figures of 1931. The difference is due to the facts that Sind and Aden are to be separated from the Bombay Presidency, and some areas are to be taken from the Madras Presideney and to be given to Orissa, which again is to be separated ‘from Bihar and made a separate governor’s province. The population figures in the table printed below are adapted from the J. P. C. Report on which the Government of India Bill is based. Provinces. Population. Seats they Seat they should get. have been Madras 45600000 Bombay 17940575 Bengal 50114002 U, B, 48408763 Bihar « 32400000 Paniab 590852 G. P. & Berar Assam N.-W. F. P. Orissa, Delhi ‘Ajmer-Mewara 560292 Coorg * 169827 ' Calculating on the absumption, - that it would be‘the 78,801,912 persons of thé Indian ,NOTES ‘States who would get 125 representatives, we should find that there would be one seat for every 630,415 of them, whereas in British India a seat is given to every 1,045,121 in- habitants. If the people of the States had been given the vote, this difference would not have been absolutely objectionable or very objectionable. But the fact 3s some 150 Rulers ofssome 150 States will nominate 125 representatives. ‘That amounts to saying that each of these mighty supermen are to have the same voting power as each aggregate of more than one million persons in British India. From what has been written above it will be observed that the Provinces of British Tndia and the Indian States have not been given seats according to their population, which they should have beer. That Provinces, States, Districts, Towns and constituencies in general should have representatives accord- ing to the numerical strength of their popula- tion, ,is nota mere theory ora bew-fangled idea. Under the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act, 1928, of Great Britain and Norther Ireland’ “the seats in Great Britain were redistributed on the basis of one member of the Honse of Commons for every 70,000 of the population, By a separate Act, redistribution in Ireland was made on the basis of one for every 43,000 of the popula- tion.” There are similar rules in Australia, Canada, Belgium, etc. As India is going to be a Federation, the law and practice in the United States of America, which is the most important Iederation in the world, should be instructive. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (11tb edition), Much controversy had raged over the conflicting principles of the equal representation of the states and of, representation on the basis of numbers, the State advocating the latter, the smaller states the formes principle; and those’ who made them- selves champions of the rights of the states professed to dread the tyrannical power whic an assembly representing .population might exert. ‘The adoption ‘of a bicameral sysiom made it possiblé to give duc to both principles. One hous . contains the representatives of the every state. sending two: the other, the Ho Representatives, contains members elected on a basis of population. The two taken together are called Congress, and form the national legislature of the United States” r Similir arrangements existing in other Federations may also be cited, 371 In the proposed Indian Federation also, there are to"be two houses, the Federal Assembly and the Council of State. But in neither House is either of the prinéiples followed in the United States of America to be observed. In both the Federal Assembly and the Council of State unequal representation is given to the Provinces and the States jointly and severally in quite an illogical manner. We have dealt with representation in the Federal Assembly in some detail. It is un- necessary to do soin the case of the Council of State. Suffice it to say that, “Phe Council of State shall consist of gne hundred and fifty representatives of British India and not exceeding one hundred and fonr re- presentatives of the Indian States” (clause 18. of the Government of India Bill). As the inhabitants of the Indian States number less than one-third of those of British India, too many seats are being given to the States—or rather to the Rulers of the States. For, as said above, the people of the States have been absolutely ignored. It may be objected that, as the Indian National Congress has rejected. the J. P. C. Report (aud consequently the Government of India Bill, which is based on it, in advance’, and as no section of the people is quite satisfied with the Bill, what is the good of criticizing the allocation of seats in detail ? But as in spite of what the Congress and other organizations may say the Bill will become law and as even the Congressmen and members of other organizations will enter the Federal Legislature constituted according to that law and will take part in its proceedings, it is necessary to know how illogically and unjustly that legislature is going to be constituted, It may also be objected that our exposition of the constitution of the future legislature may give rise to inter-provincial and Province-State jealousies and bickerings. Should they do so, itis not our exposition which would be to blame for it, but rather the British parents of the future constitution of India who have drafted the J.P. C. Reporé and the Govern- ment of India Bill. Just as he who fully exprises the mischievous character of the. Communal Decision cannot be called the father of the mischief, so the critic of the constitution of, the future Federal Legislature of India372 eannot be held responsible for its direct and indirect undesirable consequences.” Representation is meant for human beings, not for stretches of soil, or grass and trees growing on them, or for sand or dust, or for wild and domesticated animals. And, there- fore, it will not do to say that representation has been given according to the area of the Provinces and the States. But supposing that representation on the basis of area could be justified, it would be quite easy to show that the framers of the Bill did nut follow even that principle. Nor has the number of literates in the different provinces, ete. been made the basis of the distribution of seats. We may be permitted to add here incidentally that in October, 1927, we sent a aper, somewhat similar to this note, on “The ‘oting Strength of our Provinces in the Legislative Assembly,” to the Secretary, All- India Congress Committee, the Secretary, Muslim League, the Secretary, Indian National Federation, the Secretary, Hindu Mahasabha, and the Secretary, Non-Brahman Federation. But not one of them even acknowledged its receipt. ‘That seats in the Federal Council of State have ot been distributed according to any equitable principle will appear from the fact that the rulers of the Indian states ruling a population of about 79 millions have been given the right to nominate 104 members and the people of British India, more than thrice as many in number (more than, 257 millions), have been given 150 seats, the remaining six seats to be filled by persons chosen by the Governor-General in his discretion. In British India also, no just principle has been “followed in giving seats to the provinces, as will appear from the following table : Provinees or Population in community. millions. Seats. Madras 45.6 20 Bombay 18.0 16 Bengal 20 Ue 20 Panjab- 16 Bihar 16. -C. P. & Berar & Assam N-W. F..P. f Sind ° THE MODERN REVIEW FOR MARCH, 1985 Provinces or Population in millions. Seats. community. Orissa Delhi Ajmer-Merwara British Baluchistan Coorg Anglo-Indians 4 Europeans i Indian Christians ‘That the distribution of seats in British India has not been according to the areas of the provinces will appear from the following table : tO A ee ee oe Provinces. Areain Seats in Seats in sq.ms. Assembly. Council of State. Madras 37 20 Bombay 30 16 Bengal 37° 20 U; Be 106,248. 37 26 Panjab 99,200 30 16 * Bihar 69,348 30 16 C.P.& Berar 99,920 15 8 13,706 5 55,014 10 13,518 5 aluchistan 54,228 Ajmer-Merwara 2,711 Coorg 1,593 Delhi 573 Sind 46,378 If, according to the principle followed in the United States of America, all provinces, whether large or small, had been given an equal number of seats in the Council of State, the reason could be understood. But that has not been done. Nor has the basis of population or area been followed } nor, even population-cum-area, if that were at all possible according to any kind of arithmetic, ‘The distribution of seats in the two Houses of the Federal Legislature has not been made according to the number of literates in the units. For the British Provinces contain a total literate male population of 15,845,287 and a — total female literate population of 2,239,046, and the Indian States contain a total make literate population of 4,488,674 andea, total female literate population of 919,761. Int wee oR eho i az NOTES British India the distribution of the literate population is as follows according to provinces : Province. Literate Male. Literate Female. Madras * 3,706,975 611,905 “Bombay 0,010 273,375 {including Sind) “1, ~ Bengal 4,033,282 660,451 ULE? 9,043,410 + 216,228 Panjab « 1,097,044 150,713 Bihar & Orissa 1,574,506 129,360 ©. PB. & Berar 790,918 76,784 Assam 591,690 74,626 N-W. F. P. 89,058 11,308 Baluchistan 81,986 3,858 Ajmer-Merwara 51478 . 7,188 Coorg Bld Delhi 16,095 Tt is not our idea that the inhabitants of the very small provinces should not have any representation. But’ in our opinion, areas with a population which would not be enititled to even one seat on the population basis should not have been constituted into separate pyovinces. They should be amalgamated sith some adjacent big province, and then their inhabitants can have representa- tion by becoming parts of some constituencies. Bat if they cannot be amalgamated with big provinces, groups of them can be given one seat each, just as has been done in the case of the smaller Indian States. Or these smallest provinces may be given a seat by rotation. None of these arrangements may be satisfactory. But neither is the allotment of seats according to the schedule of the Government of India Bill at all satisfactory. For giving seats to small provinces, or for giving extra seats by way of “weightage” to some provinces, some other provinces have been deprived of some seats to which they were entitled. And this deprivation also has not been carried out according {0 any just principle. Britishers have taken full advaitage of the divisions of race, religion, caste, language, etc., which exist in India, and in addition they have set up new divisions, One of the objects of this Note has been to show that, as ip ,the Monta; d-Chelmsford constitntign, so gin the overnment of India , Bill now under discussipn in the 373 House of Commons, not only have communities, asses, races, etc, been favoured or diserimi- nated against, but provinces also, ‘This shows that British imperialists are adepts in the application of the divide et émpera maxim, Tt is quite usual for people, whether they be nationalists and patriots or not, to condemn favouritism and discrimination, when they are not the party favoured and when they are discriminated against. But what is expected of true patriots and nationalists is that, if in pursuance of the divide el impera maxim or of some other Machiavellian policy, they are favoured, they should reject such favours with disdain. No favoured race, community, province, class, ete., in India has yet acted in accordance with this ideal, Basis and Principles of Representa- tion in Some Countries Tt has been stated in the previous note that. under the Representation of the People (equal Franchise) Act, 28, the seats in Great Britain were redistributed on the basis of one member of the House of Commons for every 70,000 of the population, By a separate Act, redistribution in Ireland was made on the basis of one for every 43,000 of the popula- tion. According to the constitution of the Irish Free State, “the total number of members of Bireann (exclusive of members for the universities) shall not be fixed at less than one member for each thirty thousand of the population, or af more than one member for each twenty thousand of the population: provided that the proportion between the number of members tobe elected at any time for each constituency and the population of each constituency, as ascertained at the last preceding census, shall; so. far as possible, be identical throughout the country.” In the United States of America, the Senate consists of two members from each State. In the Honse of Represen‘atiyes, the number of members to which each State is entitled is determined by the decennial census. By the Appointment Act following the census of 1910 the number of representatives was 433%one for every 210,415 inhabitants), but” igdye with the admission of Arizona and ew Mexico, it became 435. The census of >374 1930, while leaving the total membership at 435, suggested an alteration, due to populaticn shifts, in the representation of 36 out of the 48 States; this redistribution, as determined by the census, became effective in 1933, by virtue of legislation passed by Congress in 1929. Tn Belgium Senators are chosen on the basis of one for 200,000 inhabitants. The number of members of the Chamber of Representatives, at present 187, is proportion- ed to the population, and cannot exceed one for every 40,000 inhabitants. In the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, “One Deputy shall be elected for each forty-thousand inhabitants. If the excess population of an electoral area is more than twenty-five thousand, an additional deputy shall be elected for that area.” Tn Bulgaria, the members of the National Assembly are elected at the rate of one member to every 20,000 of the population. In the republic of Mexico, Congress consists of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. Deputies are elected at the rate of one member for 100,000 inhabitants. The Senate consists of 58 members, two for each State and the Federal District. Tue highest authority in Soviet Russia is the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which consists of representatives of town Soviets on the basis of one delegate for 25,000 electors, and of Regional Congresses of Soviets on the basis of one delegate for every 125,000 inhabitants. Tn Sweden, the country is divided into 28 constituencies, in each of which one member is elected for every 230th part of the population of the Kingdom it contains. In Switzerland, in the Swiss Federation, the Nationalrat or National Council consists of 187 representatives of the Swiss people at the rate of one deputy for every 22,000 souls. But we must stop. Major Graham Pole on Declaration of Dominion Status in Govern- ment of India Act ‘The following letter of Major D. Graham Péle’appeared in the leader page of The Times of January 28 last ; THE MODERN REVIEW FOR MARCH, 1935 ‘TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,—When so much doubt has been east on the pledges that have heen given India by Cabinet Ministers, Vieeroys, and even by the King-Emperor, it must indeed be gratifying to Indians to see in the leading article of The Times today that “there has been no deviation by so much as a hair's breadsh from a single one ‘of the pladges given to India by the Sovereign, his Viceroys, and his Ministers in. th last decade,” As The Times points out so forcibly, “the Secretary of State can make this clear when he introduces it (the Government of India Bill), and it is essential that he should do 69.” This is the more necessary because India has ‘been very much perturbed by the words of the Chairman of the Conservative M,P.s’ India Committee in the House of Commons during the debate on the Joim ommittee’s Report, that “no pledge given by any cretary of State or any Viceroy has any real legal bearing on the matter at all. ‘The only thing that Parliament is seally bound hy is the This attitude was explicitly reaffirmed in the House of Lords by Lord Rankeillour, on December 13 last, in these words: “No statement by a Vicero: statement by any representative of the Sovereign, no statement by the Prime Minister, indeed no state: ment by the Sovereign himself, can bind Parliament against its judgment.” While Lord Rankeillour's words are no doubt technically true in a strictly legal sense, as Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru has pointed out, “it is’ very poor statesmanship to say so and to act on it.” As The Times points out, there is no preamble te the present Bill, so that “the preamble of the 1919) Act will remain on record, and during the debite =... the Government will’ make it clear that they adhere to all the pledges which have been given to India and that they have no doubt in their. minds as to what the ultimate future of India should be.” What Indians now realize, however, is that the only thing that is binding on Parliament is the actual text of an Act of Parliament—and that nothing said in a Parliamentary debate can be taken as interpret- ing or qualifying that text. There is much foree therefore in the contention of HLH. the Aga Khan and the other British-India delegates who sat with the Joint Select Committee, that “since it is apparently contended that only a definite statement in an Act of Parliament would be binding on future Parlia- ments, and that even the solemn declaration made hy his Majesty the King-Emperor on a formal occasion is not authoritative, we feel that a declara- tion in the preamble is essential in order to. remove present grave misgivings and avoid future misunder. endings! : 3 om my close touch, by mail and cae, wi Indians of all shadoa of” opfaion, Ltecl eoreta teh only such a declaration in the Act itself will remove Indian douvts as to our bona fides and enable us to fet the cooperation in India that we all $0 earnestly desire. Yours faithfully, ‘ D. GRAHAM POLE, Vice-Chairman of the British Committee: : on Indian and Burman Affgirs, We agrev, with this addition that the Act should contain provisions making for Dominion Status automatically, that the provisionsNOTES | should be such as would enable Indians to obtain Dominion Status for their country (including the right of secession at option) within a définitely fixed period, without further reference to and enquiry and legisiation by the British Parliamént. Mr. P. Kodanda Rao's Tour Abroad Mr. PR. Kodanda Rao, the able and well- informed secretary of the Servants of India Society and Mditor of The Servant of India, Poona, is now in the United States of America engaged in serious study in the Department of Race Relations in the University of Yale. Before returning to India, he wishes to visit some of the countries in which Indians are settled in some numbers and study their problems. Our countrymen there would do well to give him every assistance to become fully conversant with their problems and discuss with him.as to how they could be best solved. Organizations which would like him to visit their countries may communicate direct with him. His address is : Hall of Graduate Studies, University of Yale, New Haven, Conn., U.S. A. Mr. C. F. Andrews on “Repression in India” The following letter on “Repression in India,” front Mr. C. If, Andrews, appeared in The New Statesman and Nation of February 2, 1925: REPRESSION IN INDIA Sik,—We have blamed France, year after year, for not taking count of the rising tide of national feeling in Germany after the war; yet when’ we outselyes are put to a similar test in India we seem to he equally foolish. ‘The defencelessness of India today, under the present rule of repression, which has reached something near to martial law in Bengal and the “North-West Frontier Province, . We have made the press law so severe, that the editor of the Modern Review has been warned twice, and threatened with what would amoun? to confisca- tion, for publishing Tagore’s a The number of detenus, many of whom aresképt for long ars in imprisonment, seems to be continually increasing. Concentration camps, where they are kept, make life intolerable for them, as their whole future is blighted and their families brought to ruin. 4 The “following information has been given me by one whos ily hag thus suffered, +“ Those in jail have been there in many cases for over six, fears withbut trial; and yet the Indian penal ole itself has few punishments of over five 48—14 sas = 378 ears. Many were placed before the Courts, dis- Sharged, and then rearrested, Here, there could be no question of want of evidence which could be placed before the Court. Available evidence must have been produced and have been insufficieat for conviction. ‘There are cases where a man, convicted in connection with Civil Disobedience, has been arrested at the jail gate as soon as he was released.” ‘The writer then gives specific instances, which need not be detailed here. He goes on as follows Numerous instances of suicide, insanity, infection of tuberculosis, have come to light, and the pitiable tales of neglect, .... are many. These — reach hundreds of homes in Bengal and accounts of them are sent to members of the Legislature, ‘The yentila- tion of such cases brings sharp denials, accompanied by rebukes such as were given by Sir Harry Hai in the Legislative Assembly. 1 wish a Committee of ‘s could come out and receiye facilities for inquit- ing into the misery of the detenus and their fa My own relation (he gives the name which I omit) is a detenu, at a malarial village, going through his filth year of detention. His allowance has been reduced 10 15 rupees (under £1 3s. Od.) per month. ‘a college student, champion swimmer, d sportsman, and must have been quite incapable of any direct connection with terrorism, He is now broken in health and was at one time suspected of being tubercular.” My friend then goes on to mention in his letter a schoolmistress, who had heen arrested under similar conditions and’ is now shattered in health, after nearly four years’ imprisonment: also a college pro- fessor, who has been in jail (as a Regulation IIL prisoner) for very many years and his family brought to ruin, ‘ No one in this country ean ever immagine the horror that is connected with this “ detention” system. Recently, conditions have been made less inhuman, owing 10 continued public pressure, but the whole process of detention without tial is rotten to the core. ‘The innocent suffer with the guilty; . Tam writing about what I know from ‘personal experience, and my only regret is. tha write long ago. While wearing Bengali dress, and therefore mistaken for a Bengali, 1 have been myself maltreated by the police. Some of my own students from Santiniketan, who were as innocent of terrori 8 have been arrested and_impri Harry Haig denounced in the Legislative one who signed his name to a petition asking that the Andamans should no longer be used as a penal settlement. I myself signed that petition, and came under the same condemnation, If any attention in India is called to these things the answer is usually a prevaricaton, and a bullying tone is adopted. The writer from whom I have quoted states further that the number now imprisoned or interned must have risen to nearly 2,000 detenus, He gives details about the different “camps.” He then goes on to say: “With the grant of reforms, under which they could honourably undertake to give up subversive setivites, a huge majority ‘would ‘come oul. You can—I am letting you know on good ‘ity"your- self ofler such assurances.” Fee ane ier his letter is already long, but one of the regrgts of my life is that I did not take a this cause. actively before; and I would wish to redtest that mistake now if 1 possibly can do. so. : C.F. Ayprews.NOTES established the point of Sir N,N. Sirear's that discussion on a motion for reduction of grant Tike this must he confined to questions of administra- tion under the existing acts and not discussion of any proposed legislation on the subject. Mr. Bhulabhai Desai had referred to 1934 debate but on that @easion no point. of order was raised and no objection was taken that on a motion for reduction of grant in the railway budget any such discussion was not rele Apparently Government for purposes of expediency or convenience did not raise any such objection and discussion was allowed to paoceed, It seemed to the Chair that practice had. been well-established that general questions of policy might be raised in. general discussion on the railway budget or in the case of the general budget on the Finance Bill, but when motions for reduction of particular grant eame up, only ques tions of administration could be discussed. The Chair therefore, held that discussion of any proposed legis. lation regarding the railway authority would not he in order on this motion. At the same time, the Chair would give liberty to members to. make passing references to proposed legislation as motive for refusal of grants, Mc. Jinnah’s “personal self-respect” Jn the course of his speech in support of his motion in the Assembly for the acceptance of the Communal Decision “so far as it goes,” Mr. Jinnah said that : “His peesonal self-respect would never be satisfied unless the Indians themselves worked out an agreed formula.” And, therefore, in the meanwhile his non-personal and communal — self-respect could not be satisied without accepting a formula worked out by non-Indians which has insulted and wronged the vast majority of Indians and caused great disagreement among all of them. The Communal Decision Accepted by Government and Muslims As the members of the Assembly who were returned as nominees of the Congress Parlia- mentary Board refrained from voting on Mr. Jénngh’s motion for aceeptance of the Comimuna) Decision, it was carried by a large majority, consisting of — official members, Government-nominated members and Mr. Jinnah’s “independent” party. ‘of Muslim inembers. The neutrality of Congress Parliamentary members was equivalent te tacit, though not to explicit and open, acceptance. This is tantamount to ininfended betrayal of the calise ‘of nationalism, “As Congress adheres to. the poligy*of neither accepting nor xrejecting the 3389 Decision, these members should have yoted against the motion for its acceptance, as they would be bound to vote against a motion for its rejection also. This is a rather farcical position, but Congressmen have only themselves to thank for it. Sir N. N. Sircar Does His Duty Though a member of the Government, Sir N. N. Sircar, the Law Member, did not vote with the other official members for the acceptance of the Communal Decision, but abstained from voting. He-having as a non- official taken a leading pgrt in the agitation against the Decision, his action was quite correct, and cotrageous. A non-Bengali ex-M. L. A. writes thus in The Amrita Baxar Patrika on this incident : ‘The lead of Sir Nripendra Sircar, who could not consi Communal Award even though he the House, shows at once that the Hi s the leader of div community Government of India a a leader of outstanding charac: abinet of the rage. « in the man of rare ter, who is prepared to sink or swim with the cause of the Hindus, s is the first time in the history of Indian nationalism and of the Central Legislature that its leader remained neutral. Sir Nripendra has fought for us at th no other Hindu hack on his past? of his community. Sir N. N. Sircar asked the conerete view of as to what de; subordinate commun; in national interests.” Mr. A. C. Chatterjee Mr. A. C. Chatterjee, a brother of Sir Atul Chandra Chatterjee, who was an officer in the League of Nations office, and who had come out to India on leave, was killed in a motor Round Table Conference as leader fought. How can he go He looks to the future.the good Assembly to take a ings and to answer the question ce “we have been prepared to sctional_ and local conflic accident last month in Calentta. His untimely and — tragie death creates a void in the ranks of the very small group of Indians who are employed in the ‘League office or in its International Labour Organization, Before going to Geneva he was the chief officer of the Associated Press in Bombay. In Geneva he was at first employed in the League of Nations Information Section. Later he was transferred to the Polifical Section. Many Indian visitors to” Geney’ recall with sadness his and his wife’s genial hospitality. ntionsly go into the Government lobby on the,390 Srimati Priyambada Devi : Srimati Priyambada Devi, the Bengali poetess, who died last month in Caleutta at the age of 63, was a niece of the late Sir Ashntosh Chaudhuri, Her mother is still alive. Srimati Priyambada Devi was a con- tributor to the leading Bengali monthlies and was connected with some women’s organi- zations. She was the author of a book of poems named Dhara and of Anath, a novel. An Absurd Demand The Council, of the All-India Muslim ue demands unanimously that British Baluchistan be raised to the standard of a “Governor's province.” Just think of an area containing only 463,508 inhabitants being made a Governor's province. It is easy to call the tune when others have to pay the piper. The alternative demand of the Council, namely, that. British Baluchistan be amalgamat- ed with Sind, is not unreasonable. — Its practicability ought to be considered. Subhas Chandra Bose’s Book Sir Samuel Hoare has said in the House of Commons that Mr, Subhas Chandra Boso’s book on the Indian struggle has been proscribed by the Government of India “on the ground that it tended generally to enconrage methods of terrorism and of direct action.” . On the other hand there have been eulogis- tie references in the Manchester Guardian and some other British papers aad Mr. George Lansbury, leader of the opposition in the Commons, has praised it. a Also, the following is the opinion of Mr. W..N. Ewar, the foreign editor of the Daily Herald of London. Iu the course of a review of the book which appeared in. that paper on the 28th January last, Mr. Ewar writes : “Bose, of course, is stamped 7 a wild man, a menace to society. Well, here is his’ book. “It is calm, sane, dispassionate. I think it the ablest work I ‘have read on current Indian polities. He has,his own opinions, vigorously held, yet never unfairly” expressed, * This is the hook of no fanatic but of a singularly able mind, the book of an aenie, thoughtful, cone tructive mind, of a man who, while still under fobty, would be an asset and an ornament to the political. life of any country. T “But for the past ten years he has spent most as an extremist, THE MODERN REVIEW FOR MARCH, 1935 of his life in jail: and is now ani exile broken in health, “That is one tragedy of the Indian situation.” Insteument of Instructions 5 Clause 13, Sub-clause (2) of the Govern- ment of India Bill rans as follows : “The validity of anything done by the Governor. General shall “not be calleé in question on the ground that it was done otherwise than in accor- sae ith any’ Instruments of Instructions issued to him Even without this provision the Governor- General, armed with the other powers given to him in it, would have been a great autocrat. But this provision absolyes him from all responsibility for his actions. Therefore, it very greatly minimizes the value of the Instrument of Instructions, of which the draft has been cabled out to India by Reuter, Ravages of Malaria in Ceylon Malaria has been taking a heavy toll of lives in Ceylon. ‘The sufferers deserve every sympathy “and help. Bengal being perhhps the most malarious province in India, we ean realize the distress of the Sinhalese, Madame Halide Edib Hanum’s Advice Tn the course of her impressive address to an andience of some 7000 persons in the quadrangle of Ashutosh Hall in Caloutta Madame Halide Edib Hanum said: How 10 Cneatr a Nation. “Let me say that no matter how ‘inany great men and great women you may have, how. many universities you have, unless you go down and solve the economic problems of the masses so that they have a decent standard of living, if you do not go down and give them edueation and teach them to love India above everything else you cannot create a nation,” Hiypu-Mostem Urry. Referring to the contents of a letter which she had received from a gentleman of this city she said: “the letter touched one important question and. as your ancellor had described, the fundamental duestion of Hindu Moslem unity. ‘It is your family affair. You will have differences but it 4s best that young Indiang who love India above everything else should come” together and solve it themselves, Whatever you may think in India, we in Turkey do not believe Islam to be a communal religion, Islam understood in its fundamentals, which in its purest sense mean co-operation, and equality of men, | believe if there.is a single Muslim in sp. many hundreds of Hindi brothers for him India’ shoul! be;a part and parcel of his religion. ‘Therefore, to bin it is India first and not, his community fret, May he be one o one milliot, bis duty is to. stand, shoulder to shoulder with eveky child of, India’ tadia belongs to him as it belongs to everyone else, Pruvte anp Punwistiep by Manik Cuanpra Das, Pranast Press, Carcurra 2