Date: 16 November 1909
Location: London
Speaker: Aga Khan III
Source: Speeches of Aga Khan III – K K Aziz
Full Text
Muslims will accept them as fulfilling the pledges made to them earlier – the representation of landowners is complicated – the principle of Muslim participation in the general elections – one day Indians will be united into one nationality – Muslims ready to co-operate with the British and show goodwill to the other communities.
In confirmation of the brief telegram already sent to you, I write to set forth in detail my reasons in welcoming, both personally and in my capacity as president of the All-India Muslim League, the settlement of Muslim claims in respect to representation in the Viceregal Legislature embodied in the regulations under the Indian Councils Act now promulgated. I feel I can do so consistently with my public declarations at a time when fears were entertained by the Mussalmans that the Government was disinclined to adhere fully to the pledges which were made by the Viceroy to the representative Muslim deputation I headed in October, 1906, and which were repeated even more specifically by the Secretary of State in February last.
It would be idle to pretend that the regulations now issued give us all that we could have desired, or that they constitute an ideal solution to the problem. But I regard them – and have every reason to anticipate that my people will regard them – as a real fulfilment in the case of the Supreme Legislature of Lord Morley’s pledge of the grant to us of a number of seats in excess of actual numerical strength, and election of our own representarives to the Councils in all stages. The essential point is that our interests as a most important element in Indian life are to be safeguarded; and that being clear, the vast mc:9ority of the Indian Mussalmans will not, I am persuaded, stand out in the spirit of Shylock for every jot and tittle that can be read into the pledges.
At a time when greatly extended powers are being trusted to the people, a discontented and impracticable spirit would be unworthy of the traditions of the Indian Mussalmans.
The plan propounded by my friend the Hon. The Rcya of Mahmudabad in the summer had some advantages over the present scheme. It was upon a much simpler basis. It guaranteed nine Mussalman seats as against the eight definitely provided now. It had the support of a large number of responsible Mus salman landowners in Northern India, and, with certain modifications, it was endorsed by the London branch of the [All India Muslim] League in a representation submitted with my full concurrence. On the other hand, the accepted scheme had the great advantage of conserving in a somewhat fuller degree the principle of separate Mussalman representation. There will be an elected representative of the Mussalman community in Madras, Bombay, Bengal, and the United Provinces, and Eastern Bengal and Assam; and – pending the formation of’ a suitable electorate in the province – a Muslim will be nominated to represent the community in the Punjab. This will give six distinct and separate Mussalman seats to represent the community in the majority provinces, as has all along been asked. It is in respect to the landowners’ seats that the system becomes, perhaps, unduly complicated. At the first election, and alternately at subsequent elections, the Mussalman representatives will be a landowner elected by the zamindars of Sind and one nominated (or on later occasions elected) to represent the Punjab landholders. At the intermediate elections – the second, fourth and so on – the Mus salman landowners of the United Provinces and of Eastern Bengal will each return a representative. The arrangement is confusing, and stands in the way of continuity of the services of capable representatives. But I recognise the advantages of a system of alternation in preventing either the Hindu or the Mussalman landowners of the province concerned being left permanently unrepresented. I also see how difficult it would be in the case of the Bombay Presidency to constitute a homogeneous landowning constituency in the absence of some method of alter nation. Incidentally, this difficulty points to the justice ·and reasonableness of the consistent Mussalman claim to the creation of separate constituencies.
The arrangements I have outlined assure a total of eight Mus salman representatives in the Supreme Legislature. I should have been glad to see a further seat assured by the hypothecation of one of the nominations reserved to the Viceroy for a Mussalman member from the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan.
However, I trust that, in practice, there will be such nomination in the event of the Muslims failing to return any candidate in the general elections. I recognise that there is a possibility of their securing a seat or two in the general electorate, as, for instance, when a majority of the unofficial members of the Punjab or Eastern Bengal Legislatures are Muslims. I rejoice that the arrangements made introduce the principle of Mussalman par ticipation in the general elections. My public declarations throughout have shown that, while I regard separate Mussalman electorates as a very real necessity of existing conditions, I look forward to a time when the various sections of the Indian popu lation will be a united people of one nationality. Though the Mussalmans cannot hope to win more than a seat or two, at best, they will welcome the opportunities for association with other communities that will be provided in the general electorates.
It is both our bounden duty and our privilege to live and work with the Hindus and other Indian races as loyal subjects of the Imperial Crown. The plan now published does not give the Mussalmans all they could wish, but it will be accepted unre servedly, I hope, as an earnest of our readiness to co-operate with our rulers and to help them in their difficult task of introducing the principles of constitutional government in so diversified a country as India, and also as exhibiting our cordial goodwill towards other communities. It is our earnest hope and cherished expectation that a reciprocal spirit will be shown in other direc tions. The keeping open of this controversy after a final decision of [the] Government has been reached could only be advised by responsible leaders of a community if the alternative. had been a political extinction. Happily, such an alternative is not presented, and it behoves all parties to receive this grant of liberalizing institutions with gratitude, and to do all that lies in their power to make the new arrangements successful. For my own part, I shall feel that any contribution I may make, or have made, to this end will constitute the greatest service it has ever been my lot to render my community.
My confidence that the plan now adopted will be accepted and carried out loyally by the vast majority of the Indian Mussalmans is confirmed by the information that reaches me that so earnest and foresighted a leader of the community as my distinguished friend Mr. Ameer Ali, the president of the London branch of the [All India Muslim] League, is prepared to recommend this course.
Source: The Times, London, 18 November 1909.
A day earlier The Times had published a letter from Sayyid Ameer Ali on the same theme, which had been written on 15 November. For the text of Ameer Ali’s letter see K K Aziz, Ameer Ali, pp. 327-8.