The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 137
[ 137 ] putting a straight question. Would any sensible man ever draw general conclusions from the results of a parti cular occasion? For such conclusions, what is necessary is to have figures of at least ten elections, and to find out from their average, what proportion of seat$ has been captured by different communities. If the disparity in figures is to be found only in the near past both in the Punjab and Bengal, then we shall be forced to ascribe it not to the adriotness of the Muslims, but to the wave of rabid communalism that reached its climax during the past four or five years. The riots in Multan, Calcutta, Barisal, and Lahore and the sufferings of the Moplas were shock$ powerful enough to make any Mussalm:1n·s blood boil within him. But this temporary excitement of feelings can hardly be considered a permanent feature. Do the protagonists of non-reservation of seats mean to assure us that they would continue exciting communal passions, and fomenting communal warfare? If not, and their love for the motherland should prompt them to say no, then I ask whether the result of a temporary excite ment in the two communities can justly be regarded as the standard of future elections. There is no doubt that a community, which suffers an irreparable loss, becomes indifferent for the time being to other influences, and sets to work free from every kind of restraints, their numbers only adding to its strength. Since the Muslims have been victims of grave inequities in the past, their feelings were excited more than those of any other com munity. To judge therefore of their future activities by their present efforts is simply unwise. The validity of the figures of the recent elections would be proved only when the average of at least ten consecutive elect:ons approximates the present figures. To a statistician, the inference d:rawn from the comparison of figures is valid only ( 1) when r,ircumstances of an extraordinary nature