JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’S NOTE ON MINORITIES

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09415777229, 094055338

E-mail- [e-mail];[e-mail]

 

 

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’S NOTE ON MINORITIES

 

 

  The curtain has gone up again on the Indian stage and all the world is witness to our struggle for freedom. It is a strange struggle and our methods are novel. But it is also a grim struggle and the pledge that India took on Independence Day, January 26th, will not be forgotten. The spark that was lit by our leader on the banks of the Sabarmati is already spreading like a prairie fire throughout the country, and soon the whole land will try to redeem that pledge. Many a tragic scene will be enacted and many an actor on this vast stage will suffer torment before the curtain rings down finally on a free India. But even when the fight is fiercest and consumes all our energies we must remember that the true solution of our difficulties can come only when we have won over and given satisfaction to our minorities. Today it is unfortunately the fact that some of them fear the majority and for fear of it keep apart from the struggle for freedom. It is sad that some who were our comrades-in-arms ten years ago are not with us today. None of us who had the privilege of marching shoulder to shoulder with they then can forget the brave part they took and the sacrifices they made. We cherish that memory and we are assured that when the fight thickens they must take their rightful place in the forefront. The history of India and of many of the countries of Europe has demonstrated that there can be no stable equilibrium in any country so long as an attempt is made to crush a minority or to force it to conform to the ways of the majority. There is no surer method of rousing the resentment of the minority and keeping it apart from the rest of the nation than to make it feel that it has not got the freedom to stick to its own ways. Repression and coercion can never succeed in coercing a minority. They but make it more self-conscious and more determined to value and hold fast to what it considers its very own. It matters little whether logic is on its side or whether its own particular brand of culture is worthwhile or not. The mere fear of losing it makes it dear. Freedom to keep it would itself lessen its value. The new Russia has gone a long way in solving its minorities’ problem by giving each one of them the fullest cultural, educational and linguistic freedom. Therefore we in India must make it clear to all that our policy is based on granting this freedom to the minorities and that under no circumstances will any coercion or repression of them be tolerated. There is hardly any likelihood of economic questions affecting the minorities as such, but should they do so we can also lay down as our deliberate policy that there shall be no unfair treatment of any minority. Indeed we should go further and state that it will be the business of the State to give favoured treatment to minority and backward communities. In a free India political representation can only be on national lines. I would like this representation to be on an economic basis which would fit in with modern conditions far more than territorial representation and would also automatically do away with the lines of demarcation along communal lines. With religious and cultural and linguistic freedom granted, the principal questions that will arise in our legislatures will be economic ones and divisions on them cannot be on communal lines. But whatever the method of representation adopted may be, it must be such as to carry the goodwill of the minorities. If these principles are accepted and adhered to, I do not think any minority can have a grievance or feel that it is ignored. It is possible however that, while agreeing to these principles, the minority may doubt the bona fides of the majority in giving effect to them. To that the only effective answer can be the translation of these principles into action. Unfortunately the ability to translate them into action can only come with the conquest of power in the State. If the bona fides of the majority are doubted, as they might well be, then even pacts and agreements are of little value. A general and countrywide adoption of certain broad principles can create a public opinion strong enough to prevent even an aggressive and evil-intentioned majority from going astray. But temporary pacts between individuals or even representatives cannot have the same value. These principles should apply to all minority groups. To the Muslims who really are in such large numbers in India that it is inconceivable that any majority can coerce them; to the Sikhs who, although small in number, are a powerful and well-knit group; to the Parsis; to the Anglo-lndians or Eurasians who are gradually drifting to nationalism; and to all other minorities. What is the present position of the Congress on this vital question? The Nehru Report has lapsed, but surely the non-controversial parts of the report remain. The Fundamental Rights, as stated there, included religious, cultural, linguistic and educational freedom. This declaration must remain, and it removes at once the major fears of a minority. So far as other matters are concerned, minorities as such will hardly be affected, and the Lahore Congress has declared that in an Independent India such questions should be solved on strictly national lines. It has gone further. It has assured the Muslims, the Sikhs and other minorities that if any solution of any communal problem is proposed in future, it will not be accepted by the Congress unless it gives full satisfaction to the parties concerned. A more complete guarantee could not have been given, and if the Congress remains true to its word no minority need have the least fear. Thus the Congress has endeavoured to give effect to the principles that should govern the treatment of minorities. If in the eyes of some it is still suspect, it is not because of what it has done but because of want of trust and unjustified fear. The Congress, I trust, will remain true to these principles and will demonstrate to the country that in communal matters it will not deviate to the right or the left and will hold the centre impartially. It will, I hope, prove to the minority communities that in Independent India, for which we strive, theirs will be an honoured and a favoured place. And by its sacrifices and its determined courage in the fight for freedom it will convince all of its bona fides.