Indian Political Riddle-C Divanji

8/9/2019 Indian Political Riddle-C Divanji

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Published by P. Dinshaw for the^New Book Co., Kitab Mahal,Hornby Road, Bombay and printed at The Industrial Press,

9, Bastion Road, Fort, Bombay.


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FOREWORDMr. Divanji is an old veteran savant and it is surprisingto me that he should need someone like me to chaperon hisdebut in the world of political literature. But more surprisingthan this is that he should have fallen upon me as the personbest fitted for this work.If at all he wanted any one to do so, I think he shouldhave approached the President of the Hindu Mahasabha; for,much that forms the basis of Mr. Divanji's brochure, is a

chip of the same block which forms the creed of the HinduMahasabha. Since Mr. Divanji insists on my writing a Fore-word and that is I believe largely because I am now anExecutive Councillor I gladly do so, more especially onaccount of my association with him at the Bombay Bar.There can be no exaggeration in saying that there ismore talk of constitutional advancement in India, but verymuch less application to the problems involved in the makingof the Constitution itself. In view of the bewildering multi-plicity of points of view and claims for protection, there canbe no doubt that safety lies in having a multiplicity of plansdesigned from different angles for framing the constitution.As a new approach to the problem, this brochure willno doubt be welcomed by the public. But, there is also an-other reason for welcoming tills addition to the politicalliterature of the country. Mr. Divanji makes an originalapproach for solving what he describes as the Indian politicalriddle. We have altogether three approaches for the solutionof this riddle the purely territorial, the purely communal, andthe purely occupational. To these Mr. Divanji adds the cul-tural approach. I do not know how far his approach will findready acceptance from those whose task it will be to framethe new Constitution. I have my own doubts about his plan.Some of his concrete proposals would be regarded asretrogade by the advanced politicians whose one conservingpassion is to achieve complete independence for India. Formyself the cultural approach, so far as the Hindu group isconcerned, may have a very deleterious effect upon the sub-merged sections of the Hindu population. Mr. Divanji inhis booklet refers to the wars between the Brahmanas andthe Ksatriyas in ancient times wars in which each classvowed to exterminate the other. Mr. Divanji also brings out


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the fact that the two classes after a long- and bloody strugglearrived at a compromise. This is good and sound history.But when Mr. Divanji further proceeds to state that "thatcompromise had established such harmonious relations betweenmot only the two rival communities but also between themand the Banias (the Vaisyas) and the Sudras that never againin the long history of the Indian civilisation was there arecurrence of the internecine wars of the Vedic age above-referred to", one is compelled to ask: Yes, peace! but peaceof what kind? Was it peace with honour for the Vaisyasand the Sudras or was it a peace brought about by thesuppression of the Vaisyas and the Sudras by a conspiracybetween the Brahmanas and the Ksatriyas who compromisedtheir quarrels so as not to weaken their ranks and with acombined force be better able to put down the rising tide ofthe Vaisyas and Sudras which was taking place under thereligion of Buddha?This attitude is typical of the high-class Hindus. It givesthe clue to a proper understanding of how the higher classHindus coming from the Brahmanas and Ksatriyas havedeveloped an attitude of indifference towards the Vaisyas andthe Sudras and have developed a self-satisfying frame ofmind that there is nothing wrong with the Hindu Society orwith any of the numerous sections of which it is composed.In coming to these conclusions, Mr. Divanji is unconsciouslyexhibiting the attitude of the higher classes towards the lowerclasses in Hindu society. It is this attitude which one findsingrained in the Congress policy which holds to the view thatfor political purposes no distinction ought to be made betweenthe high and the low and that all power may be allowed topass into the hands of those who are higher up in Hindu societyaad that no means need necessarily be adopted to empowerthose who are lower to protect themselves against the injusticesof the higher. That has been the tragedy of Hindu India, andI have no doubt that it will be so in the future under Swaraj,unless proper precautions* are taken to guard against theresult. Mr. Divanji's cultural approach will no doubt beexamined by those who have a doubt whether it would besafe to leave the destinies of the suppressed and the oppressedin the hands of those who for centuries past have beenresponsible for reducing them to that status.New Delhi,20th August, 1942.

B. R. AMBEDKAR


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PREFACEThe scheme of an Indian constitution with a his-

torical background put forward in this booklet hadbeen framed by me as early as October-November 1941.In April 1942 when Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Member-designate, Viceroy's Executive Council was about toproceed to New Delhi he came to know through Mr.P. R. Bharucha, Secretary, Bar Association, Bombay,of my having drafted an All-Comprehensive SwadeshiScheme On Purely Non-party Lines and desired me tosupply him with a copy thereof and I did so. Afterhis appointment he pressed me to publish it, sayingthat though it may not be acceptable as a whole toany recognised political party some of them may pickup some novel suggestions therein. The trend ofevents ever since it was drafted, inspires me with aconfidence that although I am not a politician, I can,with the help of my study of political science, AncientIndian history, Sanskrit religious and philosophicalliterature and keeping myself in touch with the cur-pent of political events, make a contribution, bowfeverBlight, to the solution of a riddle concerning thelarger life of the Indian community as a whole. Itherefore, launch it with slight changes required bysubsequent events, hoping that it will attract theattention of those in whose hands lies the power toshape the destiny of the variegated population of this


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vast country and supply them with some useful sug-gestions which Sir Sultan Ahmed and Indian publicmen like Rajaji freely invite.

Those who will look at this scheme superficiallyare apt to carry the impression that I have suggest-ed a solution on communal lines. It is not so, how-ever. For the comprehension of the distinction be-tween communal and cultural groups I draw theirattention to Section IV and foot-note 17.Santa Cruz. Dated P. C. DIVANJI.10th Sept. 1942.

CONTENTS PageI Urgency of the Problem and its SuggestedSolutions . . . . . 1- 4n Inherent Defects of Those Solutions . . . 4-5IH Course of Development of IndianCivilisation . . . . f>-15IV Lessons to be Learnt from that Course 15-18V The Indian States and Their Subjects . 19-21VI The British Vested Interests 21-23VH Experimental Nature of the Proposed IndianConstitution 23-24Vm Outline of a Future Indian Constitution:

(1) Centre: (a) Administrative Machinery 24-26(b) Legislative Machinery . 26-28

(2) Provinces: (a) AdministrativeMachinery . . 28-29(b) Legislative Machinery 29-31

(3) Position of the Services 31-32(4) Judicial Administration . . . 32-33(5) Adjustment of Commercial and T^inancialRelations of India and Great Britain . . 33(6) War-period Arrangement . . . . 33-34DC Parties to the Proposed Changes . . . . 34-36X Special Features of the Scheme and theirEffects 36-37


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE:A HISTORICAL APPROACH TOWARDS ITS

SOLUTION

I. Urgency of the Problem and its SuggestedSolutions.

THE necessity for the different communitiesinhabiting this land to unite together as one nationand come to an agreement as to its future wasnever so great as it is now. For, although tillrecently the British nation had not in unequivocalterms expressed its willingness to transfer to theIndian nation the substance of power in this country,it has now done so on condition that the said com-munities agree amongst themselves as to the type ofconstitution suitable to their ideals. This is not for thefirst time that the necessity for such an agreementhas been brought home to them. It was the problemof the day in a somewhat different form even while thethree Round Table Conferences were held prior to thepassing of the Government of India Act, 1935 by theBritish Parliament. Attempts to solve it were alsomade sincerely by several well-meaning and influen-tial individuals but they were unsuccessful because


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2 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEno mutual agreement could be brought about betweenthe two major political parties representing the IndianNational Congress and the Indian Moslem League onthe question of proportional representation of theHindus and the Muslims in the legislative bodies. Theresult of the disagreement was that the late Mr.Ramsay MacDonald acted as an arbitrator and gavehis famous Communal Award and legislative sanctionwas given to it by the Act of 1935. The working ofthe portion of that Act relating to the Provinces,which had been tried from 1S37 to 1939, did notsatisfy the minor elements of the population. TheCongress-representatives who had undertaken to workit in 7 out of the 11 provinces on certain assurancesbeing given, were also anxious to clear off as earlyas a suitable opportunity presented itself and thatpresented itself when in September 1939 war was de-clared on behalf of India against Germany withoutconsulting them. Attempts were thereafter made toset up Coalition Ministries in those Provinces but theydid not succeed. Twice has H. E. Jhe Viceroy triedto ensure the co-operation of the r ajor political par-ties in enlarging his Executive C< mcil but the saidtwo parties have stood aloof. The 'Jongress party didso because it did not get a definite promise that Indiawould be granted, at least after the end of the pre-sent war, complete freedom to manage its own affairsand because it did not agree to the principle of thefreedom of any province or provinces to stand alooffrom any future scheme of Government and enter into


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 3a separate agreement with Great Britain. The Leagueparty did so because it did not get a promise of beingtreated for the purpose of representation in theCouncils of State as equal in importanc3 to the Con-gress which has a Hindu majority and because theCripps offer made the establishment of Pakistan con-tingent upon a demand therefor being made by aprovince by an 80% majority of votes of its legislators.Thus though the step forward has been taken it is nota step towards the solution of the problem before thecountry and the political stalemate, of which thepeople in Great Britain as well as in India have grownimpatient, continues.

The Pakistan scheme of the Muslim Lea-guers is that a partition of the countrybe made into two independent sovereignparts, one comprising Bengal, Punjab, North-westFrontier Province and Sind to be called Pakistan andthe other comprising the remaining seven Provinces tobe called Hindustan and that the respective portions beplaced under the absolute control of the Musalmansand the Hindus. This solution is not acceptable eitherto the Hindus or to the Britishers or even the inhabi-tants of the four Provinces because of the immensepossibilities of frequent civil wars occurring betweenthe two communities inside the country and the Pro-vinces and of the recrudescence of the danger offoreign invasions, from which the country has be-come immune since the paramount power has


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4 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEpassed to the British nation. Other solutions basedon foreign models, e.g., American, Canadian and Aus-tralian have also been suggested by students of west-ern political science. But none has as yet foundfavour with politicians and statesmen.

DL The Inherent Defect of those Solutions.I am of opinion that no solution which doesnot take into account the past history of this country

prior to the end of the 8th century A.D. when the firstMuslim incursion, which brought the followers ofIslam in contact with the Hindus for the first timetook place, is likely to be of any practical use in esta-blishing harmonious relations between the Hindusand the Muslims and the other minor communitiesand in winning for the country an honourable placein the comity of nations. Although authoritativewriters on its political history like Vincent Smith,Allan and Dodwell, Ray Chaudhary and others saythat Indian history as such begins from about 600 to650 B.C. they cannot and do not disregard the factbrought to light by Pargiter and other students ofVedic and Pauranic literature like Max Muller, Mac-Donald, Keith, Winternitz, Jacobi, Rapson, Muzumdar,Pradhan, Marshall, Bannerji and others that thereexisted a well-organised society in India long prior tothe dates of birth of Buddha and Mahavira, only a fewyears before which the political history of India isbelieved to commence, and that it had become suffi-


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 5ciently well-advanced in its knowledge of severalsciences such as linguistics, prosody, geometry, sculp-ture, archery, medicine, etc., besides metaphysics andphilosophy. A bird's eye-view of the development ofthe ancient Indian civilisation right from the Vedicage, whose commencement has been placed by a ma-jority of Indologists between 4,000 and 3,000 B.C., tothe beginning of the 9th century A.D. when Sankarabrought under one Smarta canopy Lhe followers of allthe different Vedic creeds that had sprung up in Indiaas the result of contact with many foreign and trans-border tribes, which had continued for more than athousand years prior to the Digvijaya of Sankara,would be far more helpful in solving the problem newbefore us than any ideas either imported from alienlands or formulated by thinking over the prcl3lc.ii inview of the present-day conditions only.1H. Course of Development of the Indian Civilisation.

If we hark back to the days of the com-position of the early Rg-Veda hymns, we find thatduring the period in which the early hymns v/c. c com-posed, there was no such assignment of functions be-tween the Brahmana, the Ksatriya, the Vaisya and theSudra as we find clearly marked in the days of thecomposition of the later hymns of the Rg-Veda andthe Yajurveda, of which the Purusasukta occurring inthe Tenth Mandala of the Rg-Veda and in the WhiteYajurveda is remarkable as containing a hymn dis-


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6 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEtinctly stating that out of the sacrifice ofthe Virat (Cosmic) Purusa the four Varnas,Brahmana, Ksatriya, etc., were created. 1 Twoevents of outstanding importance which hadoccurred during the long interval between thedates of composition of the two sets of works erethe Nihksatrikarana of the earth by Parasurama,2a son of Jamadagni, one of the Vedic Rsis, and theacknowledgment of the superior force of the Brah-mana sage Vasistha3 by the Ksatriya sage Visva-mitra and the subsequent attainment of the status ofa Brahmarsi by him by infinite patience and perse-verance.4 The first is to my mind an indication ofa bitter animosity between the Brahmanas and theKsatriyas, the priestly and military classes in theearly Vedic age, and the second that of the estab-

1. Rg-Veda X. 90. 12.2. Nihksatrikarana of the earth means making the earth devoid of

XBatriyas. The immediate cause for this wholesale slaughter of theKsatriyas by a Brahmana was a dispute between Parasurama and hiscousin Arjuna Kartavirya. the then ruling monarch at Mahismati inthe province of Cedi. This story occurs in Mahabharwta IV It con-tains seveia! other stories also indicating a bitter animosity betweenthe priests and the princes such as Pururavas, Tayati, Nahusa andothers.3. Ramayana. I. 61-65.4. Both of these wero Vedic Rsis The name of Vasistha survivesalong with that of his wife Arundhati in the names oi the stars in theconstellation Saptarsi (The Great Bear), in those of the seven great

gages, in a Mandala of the Kgveda, in the name of the great Agamawork on Advaila philosophy called Yojpavasistha, in anotherwork named Vasistha Samhita and in a work on Dharma-sastra called Vasistha Dharmasastra. In the Valmild Bama-yana Vasistha is the name of the priest of the family ofOasaratha. There Visvamitra treats him as a friend. The latterthough originally a. Ksatriya had by his exemplary patience andperseverance acquired the status of a Brahmarsi and hence his nametoo Is included amongst the seven great sages ; he composed severalhymns one of which is the Gayatri with which all those who areinvested with the sacred thread are expected to invoke the sun forthe development of their intellect and he is the first human beingto whom the Dhanurveda, the science of archery, is traditionallybelieved to have been revealed as a reward for his intense devotionand hard austerities.


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 7blishment of an order of the Varnas after a verybitter struggle between the two major Varnas, theone proud of its spiritual wealth and power, the otherof its material wealth and power. When at last thenew order was established the necessity of both wasrecognised and although in that order the Brahmanawas placed first his function was to act only as a guideto the other Varnas and in order that he may be ableto discharge it satisfactorily, he was enjoined to leada life of poverty and seclusion and was to be depen-dent for his protection, from the attacks of the sur-vivors of the previous race, on the Ksatriya.5 Thiskind of division of functions in practical life madeeach entertain regard for the other and interdepen-dent. It seems to have remained undisturbed fornearly two thousand years. It was not that all thislong period was uneventful. The Upanisads recordnumerous instances of Ksatriyas being dissatisfiedwith the old Vedic ideal of securing happiness in thisworld and the next by sacrifices and of their havingcommenced to form higher ideals and to devise newmeans of realising them such as Jnana, Yoga andBhakti.6 Nevertheless whatever changes took placein religious beliefs and practices during this longperiod, kept inviolate the social structure as it hadbeen once built up after a long and bitter struggle.

5. See Yogavasistha II. 10. 11-44; 11. 4-18. According to this workthere were in the beginning no kings and everybody's consciencealone was sufficient to keep his conduct within the limits of Dhanna(law, religion and morality), and it may therefore be inferred thatthere were no professional priests also.6. Sec Chandogya 1. 8; IV. 1-3; V. 3. 24; Brhadaranyaka II 1. 3;

IU, 1-9; IV. 1-5, Kausitaki Brahmana I, III; Jabala 4-6; Prasna VI. 1.


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8 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEThe rise of the ascetic school7 , of which the earlyBhagavata, Jaina and Buddhist doctrines, not thosereligions, are offshoots, according to my view, wasdue to this very dissatisfaction with the old religiousideal and method. It did not however disturb thesocial equilibrium because every individual adherentthereof cut off his connections with his family andthe organised society and betook himself to a forestin order to pursue his own ideal.8 Those Ksatriyaslike Janaka, Kekaya and Ajatasatru, who tried torealise their ideals while still discharging their dutiespaid due regard to the organic structure. And itcontinued till in the age of Dvaipayana Vyasa afresh problem demanded solution.

In the preceding age, of the state of societywherein the Ramayana has drawn a picture, the Ksa-triyas befriended some of the aboriginal chiefs as Ra-^machandra had made allies of Guha Nisada, Sugriva,*Vibhisana and others but did not enter into maritalalliances with them. But in the age of Krsna notonly Ksatriyas but also Brahmanas had begun to havefree social intercourse with them. The Mahabharata,Harivamsa, Harivamsa Purana of Jinasena and

7. As to the literature of this school which is found to have beenutilised by the Brahmanas, Jainas and Buddhists alike there is a lonediscussion in the History ol Indian Literature by Winternitz. vol. I.pp. 294-422.8. The Mahabharata contains scores of old instances of member*of ruling: families retiring to forests and engaging themselves in

severe austerities.


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 9Trisasthi-salakapurusa-carita of Hemacandra containnumerous instances in which Ksatriyas took to wifegirls of the non-Aryan tribes very freely. Santanuhad married a fisherman's daughter. Vasudeva hadnumerous non-Aryan wives besides Aryan. Jambuvatiand some other wives of Krsna were also of non-Aryan parentage. Bhima had married Hidambi, adaughter of a cannibalistic forest chief andArjuna had married Ulupi and CStrangada,both daughters of non-Aryan chiefs. These are onlyrecorded instances of the two upper classes. Theremay be unrecorded ones of the lower classes by thethousands. Though ruling princes could have afford-ed to keep their non-Aryan wives and their progenyapart, the ordinary folk could not have done so. Itis not also possible that they could all have beenAryanised in their religious beliefs and practices.Their spoken languages too could not be the same asthose of the Aryans. They were however required tobe taken into the Aryan fold because the Mahabhargtawar and its after-effects had so completely destroyedseveral Aryan families and disorganised the Aryansocial life that there was a danger of the old Vedicliterature being completely forgotten and the Aryanways of living and thinking being wiped out altogetherif some way out was not found. According to theBhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata Dwaipa-yana Vyasa was a devotee of Krsna but forthe conservation of the national literature andculture he entered into a pact with such


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10 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLErepresentatives of the Yajnika school ashad survived, collected together such of the Vedichymns as they could recollect and having classifiedthem according to the functions of the officiatingpriests revived the old Vedic religion of sacrifices forthe benefit of the priests and the princes. As how-ever all the Ksatriyas would not resume the sacrificialrites, he also developed the Karma-Yoga doctrine ofthe Bhagavadgita, which had several phases but ineach of which devotion to Vasudeva as identified withthe Visnu of the Vedas and the Saguna Brahma ofthe Upanisads was a primary factor. Similarly, for thesake of those who did not know the Vedic languagehe collected together the traditional literature, gaveit a Vedic colouring and taught it to the members ofthe mixed castes which had come into existence asthe result of a free intercourse between the Varnasinter se and between them and the non-Aryan tribesand of the disinclination of the priests to admit theprogency of such marriages into the pure Aryan socialhierarchy.9 Here, too, the guiding principle was, eachaccording to his inherent qualities and avocations.That is the reason why Vyasa says through the mouthof Krsna in the Bhagavadgita: "I have created theorder of the four Varnas, classifying them accordingto their inherent qualities and actions."10 I believethe first Dharmasastra of the Manava Sakha, whichseems to be the basis of the present Bhargawa re-

9. Bhagarata Purana XII, 6. 10; Bhagavadgita IV, 13.


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 11cension of the Manusmrti and is referred to even inthe old Dharmasutras, must have been composed inthis period.

This re-construction and expansion of thesocial organisation continued to be in force till thetime when Buddha and Mahavira began to preach thedoctrine of Ahimsa and dissuade the Ksatriyas fromperforming sanguinary sacrifices. The Jaina tradi-tion says that Candragupta Maurya had in later lifebecome a Jaina and had accompanied Bhadrabahu tothe Deccan.11 It is not therefore unlikely that he mayhave sympathised with their doctrine ever since hemay have come in contact with Jaina Sadhus and maynot have exercised his royal authority in order toenforce the observance of the strict VarnasramaDharma as established by the efforts of Vyasa. Andit is a historical fact that the Emperor Asoka hadbecome converted to Buddhism and used all his in-fluence in spreading its doctrine by sending out prea-chers and getting it inscribed on rocks situated andpillars put up at places where people would read them.This had again disorganised for a time the Aryansocial order and it was in and after 185 B.C. thatPusyamitra Sunga who had seized the throne ofMagadha made attempts to revive it.12. The authorita-tive work on Dhannasastra of his time is most pro-

11. Outline of Ancient Indian History and Civilisation by R. CMajumdar, pp. 220-21.12. Op. Cit, pp. 143-44; Early History of India by Vincent Smith,3rd edition; Political State of India in the 2nd Century B. C.;The Sungas; B. C. 185-149.


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12 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEbably the present Manusmrti, which, while retainingthe name of Manu, introduced certain changes in orderto establish a new social order. The most importantchange was the introduction of the caste-system.Though the old division into Varnas ?ras still main-tained nominally, the basis of tira distinction adoptedby it is birth since it speaks of Brahmanas who wereilliterate, greedy, etc., and of Ksatriyas who were notprofessional soldiers, indirectly permits them to taketo other occupations besides their traditional ones intimes of difficulty and contains a pretty long1 list ofcastes known by their occupations and not fallingunder any of the four traditional ones.13 There is thusfrom the date of this earliest metrical Smrti evidenceof the beginning of a caste-system but thase casteswere not so rigid in the matter of inter-dining andinter-marriage as we had them till very recently.Throughout the Smrti period i.e. from about the be-ginning of the 2nd century B.C. to about th3 end ofthe 8th century A.D., these restrictions do not seemto have baen imposed by the author of any of themore than 150 Smrtis which seem to have been com-posed during the said period according to th3 neces-sity of different localities and times.14The rule of the Sungas and Kanvas docs notseem to have lasted for a very long time.15 Even'during the continuance of the rule of the last Maurya

13. See Manusmrti X,14. This historic event is referred to in Yogavasistha II. 11. 4-12.15. The Sunga dynasty was in power at Patallputra from 185 to73 B. C. and the Kanva dynasty from 73 to 27 B. C. (Majumdar**Ancient Indian History and Civilisation, p. 146),


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 13Brhadratha the Bactrian Creaks had begun to pene-trate the frontier and the neighbouring provinces andthe Kushans, Parthian Greeks, and the Sakas lateron held under their sway important provinces in thenorthern and western parts of this country. Theymixed freely with the people and embraced either theHindu or the Buddhist religion. It was easy to absorbthem in the Indian social order as it was elasticenough to admit any number of alien groups withoutdisturbing the existing ones. The Yajnavakya Smrticomposed most probably in the reign of Samudra-gupta or Chandragupta n, though differing from theManusmrti in several other respects, differs little fromit in the matter of caste-organisation and the mutualrelations of the four principal castes.16 No otherSmrtikara of repute such as Katyayana, Brhaspati,Narada and others seems to have thought itnecessary to interfere with the social order as esta-blished by Manu although from the latter part of the5th century other non-Hindu tribes had come to Indiaand sought absorption in its social system. It cantherefore be safely inferred that tha said order work-ed well in giving each an opportunity to form his ownsocial circle and to earn his livelihood in the way hewas best fitted to earn it, unhampered by the caste-label which he bore. It is also well-known that iq al-most all the provinces of India the Hindus, the Jainasand the Buddhists were free to follow their religious

16. Of. Htou. XIX& tt-13 arid Yft* 1. OS.


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14 THE INDIAN POLTHCAL RIDDLEpractices, no matter who ruled over them during thesaid period.

But it was this very freedom to follow thedictates of one's conscience in the matter of religiousbeliefs and practices which allowed all sorts of doc-trines to be propounded and preached and all sorts ofcustoms, however disgusting to the others, to be follow-ed in the name of religion as the result of the influxand admixture of many spiritually-backward foreignor trans-border tribes who brought Tantric rites withthem. The consequence thereof was that there wasin the sixth and seventh centuries complete anarchyand chaos in the matter of religion. It was in orderto evolve order out of it that Kumarila Bhatta triedto revive interest in the Karmakanda (ritual portion)of the Vedas. His effort was supplemented by hisformer Guru and later rival Prabhakara. The worksof both on Karmamimansa are still considered autho-ritative but studied only by a few. Sankara who fol-lowed Kumarila gave a somewhat different turn tothe revival of interest in the Vedic religion and cul-ture, confining his efforts to the interpretation of theJnanakanda (philosophical portion) only of the Vedas.He did not however stop there. He also interpretedthe Bhagavadgita which was the Bible of the earlierBhagavatas and the Brahma-sutra which was thebasis of a large number of philosophical and theologi-cal doctrines. These works revived a taste for theVedic learning and knowledge. Moreover he movedthroughout the length and breadth of India, won over


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 15to his side such of the teachers of the age as heldsway over the minds of any considerable portion of thepeople of any province both by arguments and by theorganisation of the Siva-pancayatana and Vishnu-pan-cayatana worships in which all the minor Vedic godsthen worshipped were given places under the canopyof either Siva or Visnu, brop^ht the Hindu popula-tion of the whole of India under the one banner ofthe Smartas or Sanatanis and put them under thereligious guidance of four of his pupils for whom heestablished seats at Dwaraka, Puri, Srngeri andBadarinath. This organisation worked uninterrupt-edly for about 400 years only, but the revival of inter-est in the Vedic religion and philosophy which hestrove hard to bring about has continued even to thisday. Although later times produced many other inter-preters of the philosophical portion of the Vedas, theBhagavadgita and the Brahmasutra, and their worksare available for study, all disinterested seekers aftertruth, whether belonging to India or any other coun-try, unreservedly acknowledge Sankara as one of thegreatest philosophers of the world.

IV. Lessons to be learnt from that course.It can, be easily seen from the above bird's-

eye-view of the course of development of Indiancivilisation during a period of not less than 3000 yearsthat the problem of bringing about harmony betweentwo or more conflicting interests, whether in the


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16 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEsocial, economic or religious spheres is not new tothe Indian brain. Whenever possible, the leader of theage has persuaded his followers to pay a heavy pricefor the love and esteem of their rivals in a spirit ofmagnanimity and self-sacrifice. The political spherein which there is a struggle for power now is afterall not an end in itself but a means to an end, namelyliberty to shape one's destiny according to the dic-tates of one's own conscience. The Musalmans andthe other minorities can rest assured that the Hinduswill show the same spirit of magnanimity and self-sacrifice which their forefathers had shown whiledealing with the foreign immigrants of their times.At each of the above stages the nature of the conflict-ing interests was different and some solution orother was found out in order to maintain harmoniousrelations amongst their protagonists considered aschildren of the same soil. It might be argued againstthis that the other foreign tribes which came intoIndia were willing to be and were ultimately absorbedin the great Hindu community but the Musalmans,Parsees and Christians, who now constitute the minorcommunities, are not willing to be absorbed to theHindu community. The answer to this objection isthat the period of Indian history to which the presentage presents a striking parallel is that in which afterbitter struggles between the Brahmanas, the loversof peace and spiritual advancement, and the Ksatriyas,the lovers of martial prowess and material prosperity,a compromise was arrived at. That compromise had


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 17established such harmonious relations between notonly the two rival communities but also between themand the Panis (the Vaisyas) and th? Sudras andnever again in the long history of the Indian civilisa-tion was there a recurrence of the internecine warsof the Vedic age above referred to. The Kuru-Panduwar was a war not of that class but a war betweenKsatriyas inter se. On the occasion of that com-promise neither the Ksatriyas nor the Vaisyas hadgiven up their peculiar pursuits but only accepted theauthority of the Brahmanas in the matter of spiritualguidance and the latter in order that they may remainlit to give it agreed to live away from the hum andbuzz of city life and in consideration of that the otherVarnas agreed to look upon it as a religious duty toprotect them against inroads from the aborigines andto provide them with the means of sustenance by wayof fees, presents, etc. So far as obedience to Dharma(law) was concerned, it was incumbent on all. Simi-larly in this age, too, a compromise is possible andeasy if the cultural groups concerned17 agree (1) torespect the constitution that may be established by law,(2) to place the national interest above the communal

17. Although numerically considered there are only two importantcultural groups concerned, there are two other such groups which cannotbe ignored while coming to an agreement on the above points. Theyare those of th^ Parsees and the Christians, in the latter of which Iinclude both the European Christians arid the Indian Christians,to whatever Church they owe allegiance. The importance of the Zoroas-trian group lies in the fact that it has preserved its individuality formore than 1200 years and during1 the last 150 years of the Britishrule many outstanding personalities have left such indelible marks onthe politics, commerce, industry and education of this country thatone Parsee was included in the Interim government formed in Bombayunder the Government of India Act, l3.r), one was included in each


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18 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE(3) to recognise the cultural, not merely numerical,importance of each group in the body politicfor the purpose of fixing the proportion of representa-tion in the administrative and legislative frame-works at the centre and in the provinces and (4) todivide the power to be derived from the British nationat the end of the war in the same proportion and toagree to uic allocation of portfolios in the Cabinetson the basis of the outstanding qualities which arethe special products of the culture of each group,which alone matter so far as the other groups areconcerned, not the religious beliefs which differ con-siderably even amongst the votaries of the same kindof culture, e.g. those of the Hindus, Jainas and Bud-dhists, all of whom have the Indo-Aryan culture asmodified by the Dravidian, i;i common.of the popular governments formed by the Congress party under th>same Act in 1937 in Bombay and the Central Provinces, and, onehas been included even in the G. G.'s expanded Executive Council. Norcan the Christian or Western culture group be icnor^d because thoEuropean merchants had trained up many an Indian in inter-national commerce, in forming joint stock compann s in order to beable to trade on a large scale, etc. The number of t*.c Indion Christiansincluding the Eurasians' also who have adopted th Western civilisa-tion besides the Christian religion is not negligible. Men of meritcome out from amongst them also. It is therefore right thatone European non-official has been given a placo in the expandedExecutive Council of the G. G. Only equity demands that an IndianChristian also should be giveji such a chance when the non-officialEuropean vacates the post.The types of culture which, according to me, should be taken as unitsfor the purpose of representation are as a matter of fact, the Indo-Aryaa, as modified by the Dravidian, the Middle Asian as modifiedby the former, the Indo-Iranian, as modified by the two former andthe Modern Western. These terms have in fact a wider significancewhich takes no notice of religious and racial differences and theeconomic classes. However since these terms are incomprehensible tothe ordinary citizen I have made use of the popular terms Hindu,

Musalman, etc.


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 19V. The Indian States and their Subjects.The above reasoning applies only to onephase of the Indian constitutional problem. Another

phase thereof is what is to be the position of theIndian States and their subjects in the Indian con-stitution. Their rulers sit tight over their rightsrecognised by the late East India Company byseparate treaties made with them during the firsthalf of the nineteenth century when there were norailways, no telegraphs, no telephones, no wirelessstations, no aerodromes, no mail steamers, no air-ships. All these have since then come into being forthe use as well of the Indian Princes and their subjectsas of the British Indian subjects. With the exceptionof very few major states they have not even theirinternal independent coinage, paper-money, stampsand postal and railway services. None has its owntelegraph service. So, when the above services wereestablished the old treaty rights must necessarilyhave been modified by fresh agreements or conven-tions allowing the use of lands forming parts ofthe territories of the states affected, entrusting themanagement of their services and the administrationover the parts concerned to the Representative ofthe British Crown who has succeeded to all therights of the E. I. Company as the paramount powerin India and providing for the payment of certainroyalties to the states concerned in on& form or an-other. Again, during the last world-war many of theIndian Princes offered their personal services and


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20 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEsupplied men and materials, by way of gits and inthe present war they have been doing the same, overand above what they are under an obligation to giveunder their respective treaties, simply as a mark ofloyalty to the British Crown, although they are notconsulted in the matter of foreign policy. There is agreater reason why they should be prevailed upon toagree to the transfer of the rights of the para-mount power to the future Government of Indiaunder the proposed national constitution and to makesuch further concession In its favour as may benecessary for that government to govern India ineuch manner as would tend to establish the solidarityof the country as a whole and to develop its trade,commerce and industries for its economic advance-ment. The reason is that they would get a sharein the administrative and legislative machineries thatmay ba established under the proposed constitution.

As for the subjects of those states, theybelong to the same races as those of British India.The forefathers of most of them in the age in whichthe oldest of the present states came into existencemust have been the subjects of the Moghul Emperorsor the Peshwas and now they too look up to theCrown-Representative for protection if their RulingPrinces are gjiilty of unpardonable misbehaviour andthe said Representative (does as a matter of factput such Princes to the option of either abdicatingvoluntarily in favour of their heirs-apparent 6r sub-

of Inquiry s&t up specially by


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 21him in the exercise of the paramount power. He cantherefore easily prevail upon them to damocratis*their administrations, singly in the case of the majorstates and in groups in that of the minor ones.That would however be a form of directpressure. There is no reason why it should be resort-ed to if the same result is likely to be achieved byan indirect form of pressure in the shape of a denialof some right in the Indian body politic to thosestates which do not bring their administration in aline with those of the British Provinces in theirneighbourhood so far as circumstances permit. Ibelieve it is possible to frame a constitution withsuch a provision. It is a matter for satisfactionthat some of the states have already set up govern-ment by Ministers and representative legislativeassemblies. What they are required to do now isto take a step further in the above direction. Thisthey should be prepared to do in the interest of thecountry as a whole which is as much theirs as thatof the British Indian subjects for they belong toeither the Hindu or the Musalman cultural group.As for the rest, it can be hopad that they wouldrealise the situation and make up their minds to movewith the tim&s.VI The British Vested Interests.

The communal tangle is so much to tha forein the political firmament that it is forgotten thatthe Indian constitutional problem has yet a third


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22 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEphase viz. the arrangement to be arrived by the Indianparties to the constitution with the British nationthrough the British Cabinet. It might beargued that the said Cabinet has already declareditself prepared to accept whatever constitution isjointly agreed to and demanded by the said partiesbut it should not be forgotten that besides the pre-sent members of the civil sendees, there are the re-tired members thereof who have been drawing theirpensions and the higher military, naval and air forceofficers who do not belong to any Indian services butto the British Imperial services. Moreover, some Bri-tish joint-stock companies enjoy certain privileges.When India Ceases to be a dependency, a re-adjust-ment of the relations between them ^nd the Indiannational government would be necessary and unlessthe re-adjustment that may be proposed is acceptableto the Bri+^h Cabinet and the holders of such vestedinterests, the sanction of the British Parliament is notlikely to be obtained. Therefore, for the smooth pas-sage of the Bill that may be drafted, it is desirablethat a scheme of re-adjustment should be worked outand incorporated in the constitution. This wouldnecessitate a provision for a fixed period of transitionbeing made so that the holders of those interestsmay have sufficient time to choose either to continueto serve or trade in India on the new terms that maybe imposed or to cease to do so after a particular fixedperiod. As for the pensioners an arrangement wouldhave to be arrived at with the British Cabinet for


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 23the payment of their pensions. A provision for mak-ing an investigation into the extent of this country'sliabilities and obligations in these respects must there-fore be made in the proposed constitution.VH. Experimental Nature of the Proposed Indian

Constitution.

The following outline of a future constitu-tion for the Government of India has been drawn upbearing in mind the three phases of theIndian problem and considering the facts thatexcept the Musalmans no other cultural groupinsists upon being treated as constitiitfng a separatenation, that 20 years ago their leaders too were themembers of the non-communal political bodies such asthe Indian National Congress, the Liberal Federationor the Home Rule League and that when they begin towork shoulder to shoulder with the Hindus for thebenefit of the country as a whole, there is a likelihoodof their giving up their love for a separate Pakistan inIndia which is not looked upon with favour by a largeportion of their own community and is likely to widenthe gulf between the two major groups rather thanbridging it and to raise many insoluble economic,financial and defence problems. The nature of theconstitution offered by the British Cabinet throughSir Stafford Cripps was also such that it can be rea-sonably inferred that the said Cabinet while willingto pay due regard to the wishes of the Moslem Lea-


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24 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEguers, did not deem it a practical proposition toaccede to the demand for a partition of the countryon the lines drawn up by them. In view of thesefacts the following outline has been drawn up with aview to set up only a transitional constitution in whichboth the cultural end the national points of viewwould be put to the test. After both have been triedfor a period of, say, 10 or 15 years, it will be clearwhich should finally prevail and then a revision of theconstitution accordingly will have to be undertaken.This experimental, transition period would alsoenable the British vested interests to make up theirminds as to their future relations with India and theGovernment of India to train up the necessary num-ber of Indians for defending the country against aforeign invader by land, sea or &ir, independently ofBritish supervision and control. None with a realisticturn of mind can visualise the possibility of the newGovernment of India deciding to depend upon Mr.Gandhi's non-violent non-co-operation doctrineagainst an aggressive foreign nation, at least so longas a world-wide international machinery for enforc-ing its observance by all the independent states isnot set up. *

Vffl. Outline of a Future Indian Constitution.(1) Centre: (a) Administrative Machinery.

The administration at the Centre shall becarried on by a Governor-General, appointed by theCrown on the recommendation of the British


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 25Cabinet, which shall not include any Secretary ofState for India, and a Central Cabinet of 14 to 16Ministers presided over by a Prime Minister. Eachof these officers shall hold his office for a period of5 years and shall take an oath to discharge theduties of his office in the best interests of the coun-try.

The Prime Minister shall be chosen by theGovernor-General from amongst the distinguishedrepresentatives of the four great cultural groups ofthe Hindus, the Musalmans, the Parsees and theChristians by rotation, like the Mayor of Bombay.After his selection, he shall select from amongst therepresentatives of the four cultural groups in theLegislature at the Centre, 10 to 12 Ministers in thefollowing proportion namely: 5 or 6 Hindus, 3 or 4Musalmans, 1 Parsee and 1 Christian. To these theG.G. shall add two Ministers to represent the IndianStates, one of them representing States which haverepresentative institutions and the other whichhave not and one more to represent such specialinterests as he may in his discretion considernecessary to be represented in the Cabinet. Deci-sions of the Cabinet shall be by a majority of votesand the Prime Minister may give a casting votewhenever there is a division amongst the Ministersaccording to groups. These decisions would be atonce binding on the Cabinet as a whole but the G. G.may exercise a right of veto over such of them asare likely in his view to interfere with the security


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26 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEof the country as a whole or with the cordiality of therelations between India and Great Britain and betweenthe Central Government and the Indian States. TheMinisters including the Prime Minister shall be re-movable individually on a vote of censure being passedby the particular cultural groups represented by them.The division of portfolios amongst them shall bemade by the Prime Minister in consultation with theG.G., bearing in mind the qualifications and specialaptitudes of each eligible candidate.(b) Legislative Machinery.

The Legislative machinery at the Centre shallconsist of two Chambers, a House of Representativesand a Council of State.

The House of Representatives shall consistof 200 members, of whom 190 shall be elected and 10nominated by the G. G. on the advice of the PrimeMinister. The seats of the elected representativesshall be allotted to the four cultural groups in thefollowing proportion namely: 105 Hindus (includ-ing the Buddhists, Sikhs, Jainas, Backward and De-pressed Communities), 45 Musalmans (including themembers of all their political and religious organisa-tions, by whatever name they are designated), 10Parsees (including Kadamis and Sahensahis) and 30Christians (including the Anglo-Indians, Eurasians,and Indian Christians whether Catholics or Protest-ants.) The seats so allotted shall again be divided be-tween the Indian Provinces, and the Indian States


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THE INDIAN POLJTICALi RIDDLE 274

which may have established representative institu-tions, in the proportion of 2|3rds to l|3rd. Those sosub-divided may again be sub-divided between theProvinces inter se and the states inter se in view ofthe population of each cultural group in them and theseats so sub-divided may be further sub-divided byeach cultural group amongst its sub-groups. In caseol a difference of opinion between the Provinces anathe States the G. G. and in case of that between thesub-groups in each group the Governors of the Pro-vinces anid the Rulers of the Indian States shall be thesole arbitrators but in case of dissatisfaction with theaward of the Governor or the Ruling Prince, an appealshall lie to the Governor-General. This house shouldhave power to pass all such laws as may be necessaryfor the peace, security and advancement of thecountry as a whole. But no legislation affecting theInter-relation of any two or more cultural groupsshall be allowed to be introduced without the sanctionin writing of the Governor-General and none affectingthe internal social organisation of any cultural groupshall be allowed to be introduced without the consentof 3|4ths of the members of that group in the Houseand before being published at least 3 months ago forpublic criticism.The Council of State should be made up of therepresentatives of the Universities, the Zamindars,merchant princes, industrial magnates, and the repre-sentatives of such states as may not haveestablished representative institutions. It shall havein all 150 seats, of which l|3rd shall be allotted to the


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3$ THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEUniversities, l|3rd to the Indian States of the aboveclass (of which there would naturally be a largenumber, advisory bodies not being representativeinstitutions) and l|3rd to the other constituencies inproportion to their importance. This House wouldbe entitled to consider all Bills introduced in the LowerHouse and to allow new Bills to be introduced therein.If this House passes any Bill passed by the LowerHouse, it shall become the law of the land subject tothe assent of the G. G. If it rejects any by a majority,the [Lower House shall re-consider it and if passedagain, it shall become the law of the land subject tothe assent of the G. G. The G. G. shall have powerto return such Bills for re-consideration as in hisopinion relate to any of the matters on which deci-sions of the Cabinet are subject to his vetoing power.(2) Provinces: (a) Administrative Machinery

There are two classes of Provinces, majorand minor. Both should have the same kind ofadministrative machinery, namely, a Governor, whomay be an Indian or non-Indian, to be appointed bythe Crown on the advice of the British Cabinet givenafter previous consultations with the G.G., and hisCabinet of Ministers but the minor ones wouldnaturaljy require a less number of Ministers than themajor afaes. Their number in the cose of Provinces ofthe former class may be 3 to 5 besides the PrimeMinister and in that of the latter 5 to 9. The PrimeMinisters shall be selected by the Governor by rota-


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 29tion from the cultural groups represented in the Le-gislature of the provinces and the other Ministers shallalso be selected by him from the same groups accord-ing to the advice of the Prime Minister in proportionto the number of members of each group in the Pro-vince. All the Ministers shall hold office for a period ofthree years but they shall be individually removable atany time on an adverse vote of a majority of membersof the groups which they respectively represent.Allotment of portfolios to them shall be made on thesame lines as in the Central Cabinet. Decisions ofthese Cabinets have the same weight and the PrimeMinisters have a casting vote in similar circum-stances as in the case of the Central Cabinet.(b) Legislative Machinery

Each major province shall have two Legisla-tive Chambers, called the Legislative Assembly andthe Legislative Council and each minor province onlyone called the Legislative Assembly.

In the L.A.s of the major provinces thereshould be seats varying from 100 to 150 according tothe number of qualified voters in each. 10 of theseshould be reserved for being filled up by nominationby the Governor under the advice of the Cabinet. Theremaining seats shall be filled up by election fromamongst the qualified voters in each cultural groupin proportion to the qualified voters in each. Insidethe groups, seats may be reserved for backward sub-


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30 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEgroups (including the Depressed Classes) and anydispute regarding reservation shall be decided by theGovernor as the sole arbitrator or by an impartialcommission ot a non-communal character appointedtoy him. In the latter case an appeal would lie to him.

In the minor Provinces, the L .A . 's shall have80 to 100 seats. Of these l|10th shall be reserved tobe filled up by the Governor on the advice of the Ca-binet and the remaining 9jlOths shall be thrown openfor being filled up by election by the various culturalgroups in proportion to the number of qualified votersin each. All other procedure will be the same as inthe case of the major provinces.

The Legislative Councils in the major pro-vinces shall be made up of the representatives of theUniversities, commercial bodies, industrial organisa-tions, retired Civil and Military Officers who had beendrawing not less than Rs. 300 p.m., Municipalities,Local Boards, Merchants' Chambers, Labour Unions,Press Unions, etc. Their total strength shall be fixedat between 80 and 100 according to local requirementsto be determined by the Governor subject to appealto the G. G. There should be only one electoral list foreach constituency without regard to the culturalgroups in each.

The Provincial Legislatures, whether unica-meral or bicameral, shall have power to entertain allBills relating to the affairs of their respective Pro-


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDUE 31vmces but those affecting the social relations or thereligious customs of any cultural group or such as arelikely to disturb the harmonious relations amongdifferent groups in the same or a neighbouringProvince or Indian State shall not be intro-duced without the previous sanction of theGovernor. He may either refuse it or refer the Billfor sanction to the G. G. who may grant or refuse itafter consulting his advisers selected from themembers of the Central Legislature. The relationsbetween the two Chambers in the major Provincesflthall be regulated by the same principles as thosebetween the two Chambers in the Central Legislature.

(3) Position of the Services.Recruitment to the All-India Services, both

Civil and Military, shall be made and the examinationsnecessary therefor shall be held in India by a CentralPublic Service Commission. Britishers as well asIndians may be allowed to appear at such examina-tions. Those for the Provincial Services should be inthe hands of respective Provincial Public ServiceCommissions. Rules for the pay, leave and pensionof the new employees shall be framed by the Centralor Provincial Government concerned. The personnelof the Commissions shall be drawn from persons ofproved integrity and catholic views so as to ensurestrict impartiality in selection.

As regards the existing incumbents somesuch scheme as follows will have to be made. Those


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32 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEwith less than 5 years' service on the date of the newrules coming into force may be placed under them.For those with 5 to 15 years' service, special rulessuited to the conditions of the country and the Pro-vinces may be framed by the Commissions andput into operation by the respective Governments.Those having to their credit more than 15 years' ser-vice should be given the option of retiring on certainconditions or of submitting to the interim rules above-mentioned. Those so retired and others from Westerncountries, preferably England, may be employed fortraining competent Indians from the provinces aswell as the Indian States for military, naval and airservices in an independent India.

(4) Judicial Administration.The judicial administration in each Province

shall be under the control of a Supreme Court atthe Central metropolis. At the metropolis of eachmajor province there should be a High Court and atthat of each minor one & Judicial Commission-er's Court. These Courts shall exercise suchjurisdictions as such courts exercise at present but theCourt of Final Appeal shall be the Supreme Court inplace of the Privy Council. The Supreme Court shallalso have a Federal side which would take cognizanceof disputes between the Provinces and between themand the States as to boundaries, jurisdictions, inter-pretation of a legislative provision concerning them,etc.


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 35(5) Adjustment of Commercial and Financial

Relations between India and Great Britain.A Commission of Experts shall be set upwithin six months of the termination of the presentwar or the constitution of a stable Executive Govern-ment at the Centre, whichever is earlier, for makingan investigation and suggesting methods of re-adjust-ment of the relations between India and GreatBritain as regards all existing commercial andfinancial matters and recommending the terms onwhich a treaty should be drawn up between theaccredited representatives of the two nations as to thefuture relations between them in such matters, thedischarge of liabilities and the employment of tem-porary servants on a contractual basis. Both thecountries shall be equally represented on the com-mission. In case there is any matter on which themembers are equally divided, decision thereof shallbe referred to an arbitrator to be chosen by the Gov-ernments of both the nations from any third indepen-dent nation having experience of such matters.On the recommendations of the arbitrator, a treatyshall be drawn up and signed by the accredited re-presentatives of the two nations.

(6) War-period Arrangement.For the duration of the war the Govern-ment of India Act, 1935 shall continue to be in force


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34 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEbut the G.G. may re-constitute his Executive Councilso as to give effect to the above principles so far as itwould not be inconsistent with the provisions ofChapter IE of Part n of the said Act. Accordingly,though under S. 9 thereof he can appoint 10 Ministersonly, he can under S. 15 appoint one more officer to becalled his Financial Adviser; under S. 16 thereof hecan appoint the Advocate-General for the Federation;under S. 11 thereof he can appoint 3 Counsellors toassist him in exercising his functions with respect todefence, ecclesiastical affairs and external affairs aslimited by that section and under S. 17. (2) thereof hecan make rules giving such limited authority to hisCounsellors in the matters of defence and externalaffairs as may be consistent with the declaration to bemade by the British Prime Minister and as may notbe inconsistent with the other provisions of thesaid Chapter.DC Parties to the Proposed Changes.

It will have been seen from the above thatany agreement that may be arrived at as to the con-stitutional changes must, in order to be successfullyworkable, have the approval of the British Parlia-ment acting through the British Cabinet, the BritishIndian subjects and the Indian Princes. We are notconcerned with the fact as to whom the British Gov-ernt will authorise to represent it. Whoever takes partin the deliberations that may be necessary, whetherthe Crown Representative or some Member of theBritish Cabinet like Sir Stafford Grippe, the


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 35scheme must ultimately be approved by the Bri-tish Cabinet as a whole, and be submittedby it to the British Parliament for sanctionin the form of an Act replacing the present one.The point for consideration of Indians ie whoshould represent the British Indian subjects as awhole. The Indian National Congress would be outof the question if it would not agree to representa-tion on cultural lines because of its creed. Con-gressmen of the Gandhian cult would mot besorry for being thus excluded because their leader,Mr. Gandhi, has already visualised a state in whichthe Congress would be dissolved. In that case theHindu Mahasabha would naturally be taking its placebut it represents only those Hindus who have receiveda higher Western education. Besides them there arelarge numbers of Hindus in all the Provinces who donot see eye-to-eye with the Mahasabha. It cannot,however, be gainsaid that it is a well-organised body.Therefore, if it can manage to win over the sympathyand co-operation of the other sections of the Hindupopulation, in its cultural sense, it can be allowed tosettle the terms of the constitution with the othergroups. Similarly, the Moslem League may be recogn-ised as representing the Musalmans all over Indiaif it can manage to win over the sympathy andco-operation of those Musalmans who are now opposedto it. If both these organisations fail to bring all theirrespective brethren on their side, they may be treatedonly as representing certain sections of

their cultural


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36 THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLEgroups and other temporary organisations would haveto be started in order to represent other sections. TheParsees are a well-organised community. There wouldtherefore be no difficulty in getting representativesduly appointed by them with the consent of all adultpersons through their Anjumans. The Anglo-Indians,Eurasians and Indian Christians are not so weldedtogether yet. If in the interval that must elapse theyare so united, well and good; otherwise, each of suchsections may be allotted a quota of the total numberof representatives allowed to the group as a whole.

The Indian Princes are also well-organisedin the shape of the Chamber of Princes. All theStates are represented there either through theirRulers or Ministers. Their representatives can,therefore, be selected or elected by them.As regards proportion, as between British Indiaand the Indian States, that of 2: 1 would hold good;but among the cultural groups in British India, itis not easy to determine. Tentatively, therefore,I may say that the proportion recommended forrepresentatives in the House of Representatives atthe Centre would be the best in view of all the circum-stances. In case of a difference between the Hindusand Musalmans, the Governor-General and his Coun-cil may act as an arbitration-board and its decisionshould be treated as final.X. Special Features of tiie Scheme and their Effects:

This is professedly a tentative scheme which theBritish Government can put into operation, even with-


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THE INDIAN POLITICAL RIDDLE 37out waiting >r an express consent of the present poli-tical parties, in order that a suitable atmosphere canbe created within 10 to 15 years for the much-desiredagreed constitution. The checks and counter-checksprovided for herein, the presence of the Parsees andthe Christians in the Governments and the Legisla-tures and the several novel devices incorporatedherein will, it is hoped, ensure smooth-sailing duringthe transition period and tend to create a spirit ofgive-and-take, which is absolutely necessary for ar-riving at an agreement on any point of differencewhatever. It embodies an attempt to continue thepolitical unity of the country which exists underthe foreign rule and expand it when that rulegives place to a national democratic rule. Itseeks for that purpose to create a freshUnity on indigenous lines in the midst of Diversitywhile guaranteeing to the diverse elements theirright to continue their separate existence so far as itdoes not become inconsistent with the interests of thecountry as a whole, to which each is expected to re-main loyal. If this fundamental principle is foundacceptable and forms the basis of a fresh approachto the problem, I will consider the time and moneyspent in writing and publishing this thesis to havebeen usefully employed. I shall always welcome anyamendments that may be necessary in the details ofthe scheme.


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Indian Political Riddle-C Divanji