Date: 7 June 1932
Location: London
Speaker: Aga Khan III
Source: Speeches of Aga Khan III – K K Aziz
Full Text
Recent Hindu-Muslim outbreak in Bombay should not be used as a pretext for stopping constitution-making – causes of recent communal riots – provisional settlement and claims of Muslims and the minority communities – minorities and the civil disobedience campaign – position of Sind – Muslim claim for one-third seats in the federal legislature – representation in the native states – Muslim demands not recent.
In some quarters the recent lamentable Hindu-Moslem outbreak in Bombay has been used as an argument for closing down the work, begun on the appointment of the Simon Commission nearly five years ago, of preparing India for a new Constitution.
In other quarters it is suggested that the riots provide one more terrible proof that the realities of the communal problem lie wholly outside any political settlement, by whomsoever devised, and are simply a question of the level of civilization attained by the vast majority of the inhabitants of British India.
Neither view can be accepted by any informed observer of Indian conditions. Intense indignation would sweep through articulate India if the work of Constitution-building were brought to an abrupt end. That Hindu-Moslem differences existed and found occasional manifestation in pre-War days is not to be denied; but such conflicts were infrequent and altogether negli gible in comparison with the many sanguinary conflicts of the last few years. These latter have been due largely to the action of the dominant Hindu political organization in endeavouring to force its will upon the Musulmans, in obstructing the Adminis tration, and in raising the standard of civil-disobedience, whereby political ill-will has been created. Moslem citizens who have resisted the tyranny of boycotts and hartals have been attacked and have suffered severe loss in trade and property. The so-called “non-violent” civil disobedience cult has spread to urban masses unable to appreciate the subtle distinction between passive and active constraint in imposing duress upon fellow citizens.
The real moral of the unhappy events in Bombay is that of the deteriorating effect of continued uncertainty as to the future. All the world knows that efforts to settle the rival political claims of the communities by agreement have failed; and that his Majesty’s Government, at the instance of the Consultative Com mittee of the Round-Table Conference sitting in Delhi, is pledged to impose a provisional settlement “with no avoidable delay”. I am well aware that the preoccupations of the Cabinet at this difficult phase in Empire and international affairs are grave and constant, but I trust that the provisional settlement will be announced at the earliest practicable date so as to allay the growing suspicion and restiveness of minority communities.
Nothing is more obvious than that such an award must meet in a generous spirit the claims of the Moslems and the minorities associated with them for the safeguarding of their rights and interests. These minorities have consistently held aloof from the civil disobedience movement; they have no sympathy with the efforts of some misguided sections to bring about anarchy. The Red Shirt movement is a thing apart, having its roots in local frontier conditions, which it would take too much of your space to expound. The attachment of the minorities to the British connection is unquestioned. They are working not merely in their own interest, but in the interest of law and order, security and stability. It is obvious that no new Constitution can be made a success without Moslem cooperation. In respect to Bengal and the Punjab, the Moslems ask for no more than that their com paratively small numerical majority in these two provinces shall be given due weight, since they will be in an overwhelming minority at the Centre and in no fewer than six other provinces.
How is an overwhelming natural majority better than a statutory bare majority under the prevailing conditions?
Two further claims of great importance must be mentioned.
The Central Government should undertake responsibility for any deficit in the separated province of Sind. Provision is not made in the rough forecast of the Federal Finance Committee for a subvention to the province, for the reason that it has not yet been established that a deficit exists. The question should be lifted out of the rut of party warfare by a Government announce ment of readiness to pay the deficit if one should arise.
Further, the settlement must provide for Moslems to constitute one-third of the British India membership of the Federal Legis lature. In claiming such “weightage” the Moslems are asking for less than they agreed to at the Kashmir Conference in respect to the Hindu minority of the State under the proposed Consti tutional Reforms, as outlined in your columns ofJ une 1, although their interests are more vital and the percentage of Moslems in British India is much higher than those of the Hindus in Kashmir.
In regard to the Moslem share in the allotment of seats to the Indian States, it would be sufficient for the Princes themselves to arrive at a convention whereby a proportion may be secured satisfactory to Moslem India, making it one-third of the whole Federal Legislature.
The allegation that the renewal of civil disobedience has led the Moslems to advance their demands is contrary to the fact.
There is nothing in the claims I have outlined which goes a step beyond the resolutions which for years past have secured enthusiastic adoption at the meetings of the main Moslem organ izations. But there is a danger of increasing tension so long as the issues are clouded by uncertainty. Nothing can be clearer than that the announcement of a provisional settlement by his Majesty’s Government as soon as the necessary material for the purpose is completed is a matter of pressing necessity.
Source: The Times, London, 9 June 1932.
The letter is undated, and the place from where it was written not mentioned by the Aga Khan. An interval of two days between its writing and posting and its publication is a reasonable assumption.