A little plain-speaking

Lahore, Tuesday, October 7, 1924

IN a recent issue, the Pioneer did a little plain-speaking about “the rabid and unscrupulous campaign that is being carried on in many Indian journals against British officials for their inability to perform miracles and to prevent Hindus and Mahomedans from flying at one another’s throats.” We can claim to be fairly close readers of Indian journals of all shades of political views, but have not yet come across any journal in which a rabid and unscrupulous campaign has been or is being carried on against British officials. The little that some of these journals have said is solely by way of a reply to the Pioneer and other newspapers of the same ilk to whom the occurrence of these unfortunate disturbances has been a veritable godsend and who have in every single instance exploited them for the purpose of proving the indispensability of British officials in India and the unfitness of India herself for a responsible government. It is necessary to remind the authors of this selfish and sinister attempt to mislead the ignorant English opinion or the more unwary and simple-minded among the people of India. These riots have taken place, not after the abdication of his authority by the British official, but at a time when he is still the supreme master of the situation, so far as the maintenance of law and order is concerned. It is neither logic nor common sense, let alone fairness, to construe his failure to either prevent these riots or suppress them before they would do any great mischief into an argument proving his special fitness for maintaining law and order in India and the absolute unfitness of the people of India themselves.