The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 100
[ 100 ] From what the committee has said about Sindh, it pains me to find that, the provnice would be refused independence on the ground of. financial incapacity, but if the people undertake to bear the burden, then such an unweidly machinery of administration would be recom mended that it might not be possible for them to carry on; and when, as a consequence, the people of Sindh would be despaired of an autonomous Government, they would be offered as an alternative the form of Govern. . ment contemplated in the passage :-'' We might add that the separation of an area and the formation of a new province does not necessarily imply a separate economic life. Nor does it mean a duplication of al1 the organs of Government. For instance, it is qu·te pos sible for one High Court to serve more than one pro vince. " ( Ibid. p. 68. ) It is clear that� a disappointed people with little hope of getting the ,vhole, will be glad to strike a bargain ; and as a result, Sindh will be left with a sort of semi-independent Government. FATE OF MUSLIM MAJORITY IN BENGAL AND THE PUNJAB. I have already pointed out that the Nehru Com mittee has left a door open to reduce the Muslim majority in Bengal into a minority. The following quotation from thei. . t Report makes my contention clearer :- " Our colleague, Mr. Subhas Chandra Bose, is how ever satisfied that the Oriya speaking areas should be amalgamated and constituted into a separate province, if this is financially possible. He is further of opinion that the demand for the amalgamation of the Bengali speaking tracts in Assam, and Behar and Orissa is a , reasonable and legitimate one. " ( Ibid. p. 63 & 64. ) The committee has, very cleverly, avoided entering into a discussion of the de�and, urged by Mr. Subhas