Local self-government in Punjab

IT is now more than two years since the Mohammadan minister in this province devised a scheme calculated to reduce Hindu and Sikh residents in the towns to a condition of utter helplessness in matters of local self-government. The scheme aimed at giving representation to the communities in proportion to their numerical strength, thus virtually taking away all the power which the non-Mohammadan classes had so far wielded in the sphere of municipal government by reason of their wealth, education, property and the contributions made by them to the upkeep of these bodies and placing it in the hands of the representatives of a majority community with a stake in the towns admittedly less than that of the minorities. In no self-governing country — and Punjab is nominally self-governing in the sphere of local self-government — could a measure of this kind have been taken without a direct mandate from the people, i.e., the electorate. Not only did the minister not obtain such a mandate, but it is a matter of common knowledge that he did not even consult the bodies that were to be so vitally affected by his scheme before he initiated it. Nor was the scheme ever placed before the Legislative Council or other members of the Local Government, with the possible exception of the then Governor of the province. No wonder the proposal was strongly objected to by the wronged communities and, in a number of municipalities, including that of Lahore, Hindu and Sikh members demonstrated their indignation by resigning their seats on committees.