Pax, not pact

IN a recent issue, the Times of India had an interesting leading article dealing with the present communal tension between Hindus and Mussalmans, in the course of which it pointed out that the need of the hour was not a pact but Pax between the two communities. Referring to certain recent pronouncements regarding the nature and scope of the Sangathan and the Tanzim movements, our contemporary said: “We confess that we are amazed at the way in which these eminent leaders calmly disregard the recent history of India. They seem to assume that on a word from them, the bitterly opposed Sangathan and Tanzim movements can be immediately and wholly changed in character. Yet the Maha Sabha movement was designed to foster the growth of a militant spirit for the progress of the Hindu community and for the reclamation of converts from Hinduism. The Tanzim movement organised by the Mahomedans was in reply to that move and aims at the enlargement of the Mahomedan community by conversion from other creeds and by the organisation of a body to protect Mahomedan interests. It is impossible by any stretch of imagination to describe those movements as being of a purely social nature, and it is mere misuse of words when Dr Kitchlew, speaking of ‘my Tanzim,’ contends that Tanzim is, or can be, anything different from what we have described.” One may agree with the Bombay journal that these movements, however unexceptionable or even laudable be the objects with which their leaders are inspired, have generated a considerable amount of communal heat.