The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 60
[ 60 ] minorities no differentiation was made between big and small minorities. In Poland, for example, where the minorities exceed 28 % of the population, their rights have been protected. ln Czechoslovakia, the Germans alone number about 25 % of the total inhabitants. In theit case too, safeguards have been provided. T d say that only small minorities require to be protected is therefore not only unwise but also contrary to a practice universally observed. I am, therefore, surprised to see the Nehru Committee boldly putting forward a theory. opposed alike to sense and precedent. In this connection, I cannot help remarking that to the powerful anything might suffice for an argument. For it is strange that here we find in India the major com munity viz. , the Hindus, trying in the ehru-Report to persuade us to the doctrine that only small minorities and not large ones stand in need of prot,�ctive laws. The Report says:-'' It ( protection) might have been neces sary for the small communities which together form )0 ° ' of the total. " ( P. 28 ). On the other hand, we find the Government of Estho nia, a small State formed out of the old Russian Empire, where the minorities form only 10 ° ,� of the population, in reply to the demand of the League of Nations that some legislative measure should be introduced to ensure the protection of minorities' rights, observes that • • the minority in their country is numerically so small that no need is felt for the protection of its rights. " ( Vide, The Protection of Minorities, p. 114). It is paradoxical indeed that while the Indian majority should be unwilling to accede to the Muslirn demand for protective laws on the ground that they are not so small in number as to require any protection, and that such a demand can be entertain --