The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 135
[ 135 l sent relative proportion, it is clear that 1--lindus and the Sikhs are more thickly {Jopulated in towns. On the in troduction of adult suffrage this tendency would grow stronger, and even in predominantly Muslim areas, the Hindus who will live in towns, shall exercise their right of vote more largely than the Muslims, and thus secure their share even in places where they happen to hold a minority position. The Nehru scheme is thus to all in tents and purposes at best but make-belief; for most surely the powerful factor, namely, that of Hindu-Sikh intellectual and economic superiority would assert itself anyhow. The Nehru Committee has fortunately taken cognizance of this fact. DISTRICT BOARD ELECTIONS. (v) The only questio. a that now remains to be con sidered is that of elections to the District Boards in the Punjab and Bengal. It has been stated that in these elections, the Muslims in spite of their economic back wardness, succeeded in capturing more seats than they were entitled to, and the inference has been drawn that with a good organisation which it is hoped they would possess shortly, the co1nmunity would, by dint of its numerical strength, be able to secure the lion's share. As this di�cussion ha8 already occupied longer space than expected, I would cut short by taking up the ques tions of the Punjab and the Bengal District Board elec tions under the same head. First, as regards Bengal, the Nehru-Report has taken up the question in detail, and it has sought to establish that the Muslims in some districts captured more seats than their numbers entitled them to. But the point at issue is the gross proportion of seats captured by the Muslims in the Dis trict Boards of the province as a whole. Of the total