DIFFICULTY NOW OVERCOME

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1931, Page 2

DIFFICULTY NOW OVERCOME

HINDUS AND MOSLEMS

AGREEMENT REACHED ON MINORITIES.

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, January 14. A renewed effort to solve the Hindu

Moslem problem was made to-day. Kir Muhammad Shafi, on behalf of the Moslem delegation, made a proposal which Dr Monje, Hindu leader, described as showing a. spirit of accommodation. Sir Muhammad Shafi, speaking before a meeting of' the Minorities Committee, over which the Prime Minister, Mr MacDonald, presided, recalled that in previous negotiations certain approaches to an agreement been made, it was over the representation of the Punjab and Bengal, where Meslems are in a majority that the failure had occurred. He was now authorised by the Moslem delegation to make an offer that tlie Punjab Moslems should have through communal electorates j 40 j)ei : cenr of the.eut.fre number of seats ill the whole House, and should have liberty to contest Special constituencies which it was

oropesed to create there, 111 Ik'hgl the ,Moslems should Have, through the communal electorates, 46 per cent representation in the whole House, ana the -right to contest special constituencies there.

Insofar as ’ the minority province . were 'concerned,, the Modems should continue to enjoy the weightago they had at present through separate electorates, . similar' weight-go- tc ne given the Hindus in Sind and the Sikhs in’the : North-West Frontier Prbv.uce. It, at times after this, two-thirds ol the representatives of an eomrVirunin any Provincial Legislative* Council or in the Central Legislative Council, desire to give ,up the communal, electorates'and .to accept joint electorates, then the system of joint electorates could come into being in the particular provincial or central Legislature as the case might be.

The resujlt ' of the proposal : n • Bengal would he that the Moslems, although they constitute a minority, although they constitute a majority of the population. The special constituencies it was proposed to get up were such that the Moslems could hope at the best to secure only one seat, namely, Dacca University. In the Pun* jab they might secure two of the special constituency seatSj in which case they might have ii majority of one.

Sir Miihrttiimttd Shaft said that this was 4liß Moslems’ filial offer. They could nbt pOssibly ttgree to any greater sacrifice than it resolved . Mr grinivasa Snstri said that ho had listened to the offer with respect. He and his friends believed that their difficulties were capable of settlement, and, indeed, had been more or less settled in regard to the greater part of India, and remained only in Bengal and tbe Punjab. This offer was one which, it seemed, might be accepted by these two provinces. He pointed out that non-settlement of the Hindu-Moslem problem imperilled the whole work of the Conference*.

Ujjal Singh said that the Sikhs could in'no casa have more than 24 per cent representation in the Punjab Council. Dr Mitter feared that the offer would not lead to peace in Bengal, and for that reason he considered it unacceptable.

Nath Sind, a delegate from the Punjab, pointed out that 32 per cent of the population would he reduced by the offer to having 27 per cent representation. Dr Moonie, Hindu Mahasabha leader, expressed the opinion that if the spirit inspired the offer was strengthened and continued he thought that accommodation was at least within sight. '! The committee adjourned so that a few representative members of each side could consider the situation privately with Mr MacDonald present as conciliator, but the meeting failed to reach an agreement. It is understood that the points of disagreement • have been reduced to the narrowest possible margin, and that actually an agreement was reached between’the Hindus and Moslems, and that the delegates representing both committees joined in making an appeal to the Sikhs, who, however, refused to give way.