The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 14
[ 14 ] tried and followed in the United States of America, Switzerland South Africa and Australia, it will give us , ' a Central Indian Government administering foreign affairs, national defence, posts, telegraphs and customs depart ments only, the rest being dealt with by the Provincial Councils according to local needs, the Central Govern ment having neither the power nor the right to interfere in such matters. The reason why the Mussalmans advocate a federal type of Government, is that they want every community to have full scope for progress, and that the Mussalmans where they are in a majority, should not be the victims of intervention by the Central Indian Government in which the Hindu element is bound to preponderate. Supposing that a federal type of Government did not exist in India, the progress of Bengal, or the Punjab, or Sindh for instance, where the Mussalmans are in a majority, will always be liable to be interfered with by the Central Indian Government who may at any time find fault with the int�rnal administration of those provinces and in consequence withdraw certain privileges, supersede certain laws, and thus render the majority impotent and powerless. This is not a baseless fear for even the Nehru-Report itself has aggravated it. For the com mittee in discussing the question of the separation of Sindh, observes :- '' We suspect that the real opposition to separation is not due to any high national considerntions but to grosser economic considerations ; to the fear of the Hindus that their economic position might suffer if Muslims had