Hindu-Muslim differences

IT is inevitable that in the general discussion on the best way to address Hindu-Muslim differences and promote Hindu-Muslim unity, the question should be asked from time to time as to what the government itself can and ought to do in the matter. There is, therefore, no reason to be surprised at the fact that it has been asked simultaneously during the last three or four days in the two provinces in which the Hindu-Muslim problem is more acute than in any other major province. In the United Provinces, more than half the time of Tuesday’s meeting of the Legislative Council was devoted to the discussion of a resolution moved by a Swarajist member on this subject. A number of Swarajists spoke on the resolution. According to the telegraphic report of their speeches, everyone expressed the opinion that the government’s policy was the prime cause of the trouble and that a committee with a non-official majority should be formed which should not only suggest the ways and means of a permanent settlement of the trouble, but also look into the conduct of officials at the time of communal riots. In our own province, the same question was raised in the address presented by the Ahmadia community to the Governor on Wednesday, in which the belief was expressed that the government could try to bring about harmony and concord between the chief communities through their leaders. In both cases, the government pleaded its inability to accept the suggestion, in the first, because the proposed committee was “the least likely to be of any value,” and in the second because the government’s intervention would do more harm than good.