The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 122
[ 122 ] a moment leave the communal view-point and consider whether or not it is good for the country that the Muslims should have no voice in its administration, or that their share should be next to nothing. Every student of poli tics is well aware that a good legal code a. lone is not enough to run a good government ; a proper appl:ca tion of the same is equally necessary. It is clear that the administration of India will be divided into Provincial Governments, and while it will be necessary for the Cen tral Government to have an Executive Council, it will be similarly necessary for the Provincial Governments to confer occasionally in a Council on matters relating to general administration. According to the Nehru Com mittee it is quite possible that, in the Punjab and Bengal, all the members of Government may at one time be Hindu, and at another time Mussalmans. Now the ques tion will arise how will the Muslim view-point be repre �ented in the deliberations of the Executive Council during the Hindu regime? Of course, no body can expect that small provinces like Sindh, and the N. W. F. Provinces will be able to fulfil this need. Thus, even from a broad national view-point it is imperative to ensure the inclusion of Muslim elements in the Governments of the Punjab and Bengal by means of legi. $lation, and the only way to do so is to grant reservation of seats for the Moslems. Fifth Argument. The Nehru Committee also agree that different com munities have distinct cultures of their own, and are desirous of national development according to their re spective traditions, and that in spite of living together in the same land under the same political organisation, the divergence in culture may continue to exist. The