Govt and Borrowers’ Protection Bill

A SIGNIFICANT feature of the proceedings of the Punjab Legislative Council on Monday was the attitude adopted by the government on the occasion of the voting on Lala Diwan Chand’s amendment for restricting the exemption of loans by landlords to tenants, lessees or partners in cultivation, to those made for the purpose of agriculture alone. The case made by the supporters of the amendment was so strong and unanswerable that it disarmed all opposition from the official benches, direct or indirect, to such an extent that for once in the history of the Bill it stopped government members from being led into the Noes lobby as has been their practice in case of all amendments emanating from the Hindus. But such appears to be the mentality of the government that even when this amendment succeeded in carrying conviction to its mind, and this was evident from government members refraining from voting against it — the fear of displeasing Muslim members, particularly the landlords among them, was so preponderating that government members did not go into the lobby with the supporters of the amendment. We could understand this neutral attitude in the case of a weak-minded, timid, vacillating individual; but when such a sorry exhibition is made by a government which takes pride in its strength and its sense of fairness and justice, we cannot but ascribe it to a desire on its part to humour a particular section of the people, even when such humouring is clearly unjustified.