THE RECORD OF CONGRESS SIR, —As Dr. D. M. Sen says,
no fair-minded person would accuse Congress of complicity in the Communal disorders which took place in their rigime. But this is beside the point. The Moslem case is put moderately and clearly in the Pirpur Report. Congress claims to repre- sent all India, but in practice it is Hindu Raj. pure and simple. Moslems never got their fair share of public appointments. Though the pro- vincial Cabinets comprised a few Congress Moslems, they in no way represented their community. In schools, there was a deliberate attempt to stamp out Moslem culture. The children had to bow to portraits of Gandhi and sing the Bande Mataram, in which the Motherland is adored as a Hindu goddess. Both in Moslem eyes are idolatrous practices. The medium of instruction was not Urdu but Hindi. The Moslems think that no tyranny Can be so great as the tyranny of the majority. It is not only a question of religious and cultural freedom ; they must obtain their due share in the government of the country.
Some of these acts were the work of irresponsible Hindu "cocks in the walk," as Sir Reginald Coupland styles them, and the Congress High Command did what it could to temper the exuberance of its followers. But this is not enough. Unless the principle of Hindu-Moslem equality is conceded, the only alternative is civil war. The most reasonable proposals to this end were those put forward by Sir Zafrullah Khan in the columns of The Spectator. The course of events in the next few weeks will show whether Congress is prepared to profit by its previous experience and give up its attempt to force a unitarian policy upon the country. The solution to the Indian problem lies in coalition and not absorption.— Yours faithfully,
H. G. RAWLINSON.
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