Grievances of Hindus

IN a previous article, we referred to some of the observations made by His Excellency the Governor regarding the grievances of Hindus in this province. In attributing the grievances to the growth of representative institutions, His Excellency observed that there must be general advance in political education of the people for the removal of the troubles. We pointed out the difficulty of making any real advance in this direction so long as the representative institutions to which His Excellency referred were constituted and worked on a communal basis. Evidently, this difficulty is not considered to be a serious one by the Government. The official theory probably is that while the people are opposing each other and claiming advantages to themselves on religious and social basis, they may also cultivate sound political ideas on an administrative and ethical basis. We fail to see how this can be done and wish that more light will be thrown by His Excellency on the subject. Not only is society divided on a religious and social basis, but rigid distinctions are sought to be made between agriculturists and non-agriculturists and between urban and rural population. The result of such divisions and distinctions that obtain recognition by the Government instead of discouragement is that people vie with one another in making these a permanent basis of their advancement. What the Government should do logically under the circumstances is to discourage the communal spirit, as far as possible, and do everything to make the people realise the serious harm that would be caused to the province as a while.