The Lucknow pact

LALA Lajpat Rai has done well in issuing a letter to prominent Hindus all over the country with a number of questions, to which they are requested to send their replies not later than February 22. The questions are as important as they are pertinent and cover practically the whole range of subjects connected with the present controversy. We sincerely hope those to whom the letter has been addressed, whether in their individual capacity or as representatives of Hindu organisations, will make a point of sending a full and frank reply to them by the appointed date; and that similar efforts will be made be accredited Mussalman and Sikh leaders to ascertain Muslim and Sikh opinion on the subject. Only thus can the deliberations of the All-parties Conference be both fruitful in themselves and of lasting good to the country as a whole. We do agree with those who think that the Lucknow pact, so far as it provided for the representation of Mussalmans on the Provincial Legislative Councils by separate electorates, was a great blunder and that it has done incalculable mischief. This, however, is no reason for condemning the pact as a whole. A pact of some kind was absolutely essential at the time, if the national demand for self-government was to be formulated and put forward with any strength and effectiveness; and barring this one provision, there was nothing irretrievably bad in the Lucknow pact.