The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 92
r 92 1 Government. Under this arrr. 1ngr-,rnent, F;at:h provint:e will hav the fullcst opportunity for d<; veloprn�nt in it& own way. ·rhc Muslim provinces wiJI have no fear of inter• f ·rcncc from a f lindu Central C�ovcrnrnent, and the Hindu provinces will not havc their progress retarded. An ob j ccti on may be raised that under such an arrangement, redress wi11 be impossible in case of oppression of the Muslims in a 1-lindu province. The answer is plain. ln any case the Central Government will be dominated by the 1-lindus. The Mussalmans can have no hope of re dress from such a Government. If the Hindus would be prepared to listen to the complaints of the Mussa1mans, then the Government of the province concerned would naturally be the proper body for them to approach. By vesting the real authority in the Central Government, there will be no single province in which the Muslims will have free exercise of power. Another advantage of this form of free Provincial Governments will be that, it will restrain the Central Gov ernment from taking any unjust action. For it will know that the expansion of its powers depends solely on the votes of the Provincial Governments. If it harassed a province where a certain religion preponderated, it would naturalJy be difficult for it to obtain more powers. In this connection, it must also be borne in mind that, according to this arrangement, there shall be five Muslim provinces as against eight or nine Hindu pro. . vinces, thus securing for the Muslims, rights in excess of their proportion in the population, i. e. , more than a third. And as regards the granting of additional powers to the Central Government, it should b� provided, as in the case of other Governments, that such extension will depend upon the vote of three-fourths of the provinces. ◄ 'This will make the Muslim position still more effective.