The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 89
[ 89 ] tions are cordial or strained. It is therefore, natural, that Muslims should be apprehensive of the Central Govern ment and not the Hindus. The Muslims of the Punjab may well fear that the Hindu Central Government Plight convert the province into a Hindu province, but there is no ground for the Hindus of the· U. P. to be afraid of a Central Government in which Hindu element preponder ates. To argue, therefore, that the system would affect all uniformly is mere deception. Neither can it be urged that, in the event of such -circums�ances arising, the Governor-General of India or the Government of Great Britain will interfere, for the simple reason that the �en, who are not prepared to meet the reasonable demands of the Muslims to-day, can hardly be expected to do so in future. Besides. can we afford to leave such an important issue for the Governor ·General alone to decide? If we have so much trust in the judgment of a fore1gner, what justification is there for this great indignation against the Simon Commission which consists not of one but of seven persons, whereas -in future, the Governor-General will be single to decide the issue. It should also be borne in mind in this con nection, that under a constitutional Government, the Gov ernor-General will be no more than a mere figure-head. It may be urged that, in order to dispel the fears of the Mussalmans and to �ake their position secure, pro vision may be made in the constitution, that the Central Government shall have no power to 1nterfere with the provincial Governments, nor shall it undertake any terri torial redistribution without the consent of the provinces concerned. To this our simple answer is that if the Nehru Cominittee recommendations be so amended as to remove their defects, we can have little objection to