The vote of censure

THE debate that took place in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday on Pandit Motilal Nehru’s motion for the omission of the whole grant for the Executive Council is of more than ordinary importance. As had been expected, it covered the whole range of subjects connected with the administration and the policy underlying it. Nehru catalogued the grievances of the Legislature and the country in a speech of great power to which we have already referred. The Assembly, he said, had by an overwhelming majority passed a resolution for a Round Table Conference, and as there was no satisfactory response from the Government, had rejected various demands and thrown out the Finance Bill last March. Similarly in Bengal, the salaries of ministers had been twice rejected. Then in the September session, the Assembly had passed a resolution about the Lee report and the Taxation Committee, which was ignored. Soon after the Assembly dispersed, the Bengal Ordinance was enacted and practically all arrested under it were Swarajists. This session, the Assembly had censured the ordinance, and again the censure had been ignored. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya made a very forceful speech in which he drew attention to the unsolved Sikh problem and the troubles of the Hindus in the North-West Frontier Province generally and Kohat in particular. Mr Jinnah referred to the serious defects inherent in the Constitution and said it was unworkable and that there was no scope for further advance under it. More than one member referred to the question of the Indianisation of the Army and condemned the Government’s policy in regard to it.