The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 94
[ 94 J their rights. And if the 1-Iindus are not pr<. . . pared trJ grant • to the Muslims their just rights, which entail no sacrifice on the part of the Hindus, and which are rneant mer ly to afford protection to the minorities, then they should never hope to secure the co-operation of such rninorities. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NO BAR TO PHOCH£SS. As regards the second point that the demand in question may hamper the country's proriress, suffice it to say that the federal form of government is not a new experiment in any way. On the contrary. it has been tried long and proved to be the best form of Government. The British Commonwealth of Nations itself is a sort of Federation, in the free working of which, the C ·ntral Government does not interfere. The experiment. how ever, has been made with the best result in the United States of America, where from the beginning the very basis of the constitution was laid on federal lines. ·rhis country has had a career of uninterrupted progress and is to-day the wealthiest and foremost power. It is hardly a matter of 25 years, when the British Empire used to build a navy as large as the cornbined fleets of two major naval powers, but to-day even this vast Empire in the presence of the United States has to recede from the field of competition. Only recently, a Labour leader, in course of a speech declared that, it would be a mad Government that would provoke the United States of America and land itself into difficulty. 1---low can it there- fore, be said, in the face of such a successful experiment, that under a federal system, a government fail to crrow. n in power? This form of Government obtains in South Africa, Australia and Switzerland as well. And although in South Africa and Australia, the British constitution has played an important part in moulding the form of the � focal governments ; and Switzerland, because of the small�