The Nehru Report and Muslim Rights — Page 74
[ 74 ] 1oremost people of the present time. Most of the Hindus, both men and women, are to-day burning with a spirit of vengeance against the Muslims on account of the imaginary wrongs committed by them. They most sin cerely believe, that the Muslims alone were responsible for their national downfall, and are convinced of the justice of rearing the foundation of their national progress upon the Muslims' ruin. The following incident would give an indication of the extent of this dangerous attitude. A relative of mine employed a Hindu laciy, there a convert to Christianity, to coach his children. She hailed from remote Mysore and was a highly educated woman. She was so much prejudiced against the Moslems that while teaching history to her pupils ,,vhenever she came across the story of any Moslem King she would skip over the pages, and when press�d by the boys, she would curtly say that she knew best which part was to be taught first and which was to be taught last. The present mentality of most of the Hindus can be best gauged by that of this woman who was a highly educated lady and had been to England several times. Why are they so much wroth against our dead kings? For no other purpose than to awaken their own people. And can the Mussalmans afford to shut their eyes to the dangerous awaken1n� that ¼"ill result from such ment ality? Certainly not. They are quite justified to deman d such special measures as will save their national exist ence from destruction? And no doubt, the responsibility for such a state of things lies in part '1vith the Britishers,. although not to the same extent as with· the Hindus. (ii) The second reason which leads a majority to at t � m. pt to destroy a mi � ority is cultural and social supe riority of the latter, which leads the majority to fear the minority. The present day Hindu-Muslim problem is not