The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 134
134 J I Jindu8 pn:ponderatc. It has f urth<:r proceeded to $how. ,+ t. hi1t, aa the area, where the J-fjndu elernent preponder-- ateB, i,; srnallcr than the area, where the Muslirns pre pon<lcrc1te, the Mu8lims aha1l be in a position of advant-- age over the Sjkhs and the Hindus. It holds the &ame vjcw with r<!gard to the position in Bengal. In my opin:on it is a mistaken view. �fhe Nehru Committee seems to have; assumed that a district will form a constituency, while as a matter of fact a constituency is much smaller in area. According to the Nehru Committee every 1,00,000 inhabitants will select one representative. Ac cordingly, a population of 2,06,50,000 in the Punjab would elect 7 ½ candidates from each district, the total number of districts being 28. In many of these divisions the 1-lindu or the Sikh population would certainly not be so insignificant as it would, otherwise, be in the whole district. The matter will be clearer when seen in the light of the fact that a minority differing with its sister communities, as a rule, settles in towns and cities, instead of in rural areas. The Hindus general1y do so. In all those tracts, where Muslims are in majority, the Hindu population lives in towns and not in villages and prefers to live together. And euch of them, also, as happen to go to the villages for business, invariably have their property in towns, and do not sever connections with the cities. For illustration, one has not to go far. In the Punjab the Muslim popuiat:on amounts to 55% of the total, while the Hindu and the Sikh population is on1y 43 %. But in the city elections, where eight Hindu and Sikh members are electer:l, only six Muslims are returned, i. e. , Hindu and Sikh representation from the municipa}i. . ties amounts to 57%, and that of the Muslim only 43 �lo. No doubt the introduction of adult sufferage would dimin-- ish the non-Muslim proportion, and increase the Muslim ,. proportion, but it cannot be gainsaid that from the pre--