Communal representation

WE are as far from seeing eye to eye with the present Governor of Punjab as any Indian, whether in this province or outside, but fairness compels the admission that on the vexed question of communal representation, his utterances have, as a rule, been characterised by a breadth of view which one does not usually find in the average official utterance, and of which one sees no trace in His Excellency’s own utterances on other subjects. It is for this reason that we desire to say a word regarding the observations made by His Excellency in his recent speech at Ludhiana on the relation between communal representation and communal estrangement. He said: “I shall not attempt here to decide the more difficult question on which you touch, whether communal representation has in reality been the cause of communal estrangement. It has certainly had the result of giving the two communities a new aspect as political parties, and where one party is in the minority, it may lend emphasis to the political predominance of the majority. That does not necessarily imply that it has in itself created or increased real antagonism between the two communities. Where such antagonism exists, I believe that it has its origin in other causes, both social and material, and is not in itself due to any change in our political forms. It still remains to be decided whether a continuance for any lengthened period will actually keep communities apart...” This, from the representative of a government which is itself responsible in no small measure for the existence of communal representation, is undoubtedly welcome.