The Triple Stream

 

…………..he that laboureth right for love of Me
Shall finally attain! But, if in this
Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!
THE SONG CELESTIAL

‘Cease-fire’ in Kashmir

THE new year begins well for India and Pakistan. Fighting has stopped in Jammu and Kashmir, and the resolutions of the Security Council will be implemented and the way prepared for a plebiscite on the question of accession. This is a personal triumph for Sheikh Abdullah who has always held that the people of the State must be utterly free to decide their future. What Pakistan wished to achieve was a forcible annexation of Kashmir through bands of freebooters and a faked-up ‘Azad Kashmir’ Government. The theory was that as the majority of the people of the valley are Muslims, they ought to become subjects of Pakistan, irrespective of the wishes of the National Conference. In a time of crisis, the National Conference took charge of the administration and, with the help of India, kept the invaders at bay. After prolonged fighting for over fourteen months, and interminable discussions at Lake Success and Paris, the Government of Pakistan saw the wisdom of accepting the proposals of the Kashmir Commission of the U.N.O. Starting with a flat denial of all complicity in the invasion of Kashmir, Pakistan gradually worked its way, through tortuous diplomacy, to a realisation of its folly. The Government of India accepted the accession of the State, subject to the result of an eventual plebiscite, and they have never resiled from this position. But no plebiscite, according to them, could be held so long as peaceful conditions were not restored and the last of the ‘raiders’ from Pakistan and Pathanistan were withdrawn.

Heroic Kashmir has set a splendid example of non-communalism in politics. Through the long months of travail and the uprooting of normal life, the leaders of Kashmir forged a new nation. The valley where Pakistan and India came into armed conflict may yet be the scene of friendly relations between the two Dominions. Understanding on the Kashmir issue must lead to similar understanding on other issues. It is too early to strike a note of optimism, but the hope is being expressed everywhere that the cessation of fighting in Kashmir may mark the beginning of a new phase in Indo-Pakistan relations.

Jaipur–a Landmark

The first session of the Indian National Congress in free India was appropriately held in the Indian State of Jaipur, to mark the reintegration of ‘Indian India’ and ‘British India.’ The President of the session was himself a champion of the rights of the States’ people as against the autocracy of the Rulers, and the supervisory control of the Crown Representative. Amidst scenes of unmatched splendour, the citizens of free India held high festival. But the pomp was allied to a commendable sanity of outlook and a wise resolve to set about the task of national reconstruction in an atmosphere of goodwill between community and community, capital and labour, Provinces and States.

From now on, the Congress must function as a party organisation. The annual session must be a business-like gathering, laying down the policies and programmes for the guidance of the party chiefs whether in power or in opposition. The Congress will thus be a body like the Liberal or Labour Party of England. The Constitution that is now being framed at New Delhi is predominantly of the parliamentary type, and every general election will witness a contest between parties based on political and economic programmes. And since we have eschewed the dictatorship of a single party, all parties who accept the basic principles of Indian democracy will be free to educate the electorate, win seats in Parliament, and function as an Opposition which may, at any time, step into office as Government. While the Congress is the leading political organisation of India, it is also, at the moment. The party in power at the Centre and in the Provinces, It is in a position to determine the new Constitution, for Congressmen are in an overwhelming majority in the Constituent Assembly. During its tenure of power, it has acted with the foresight befitting our first National Government. It fulfilled great tasks, planned great schemes, and generally looked after the interests of all sections of the nation. But even the Congress in power will profit by the emergence of a well-informed and healthy opposition. The Socialists seem to be preparing for this role. Even the Communists are welcome to contest the next elections and function as an Opposition group, provided they eschew violent methods and accept the position of a parliamentary party in a free democracy.

With the growth of parties based on definite programmes, and the willingness of all of them to build up a strong and progressive State, India will take her place with the great democratic republics of the world. Jaipur marks the first stage on this path.

Nehru in the States

In his first visit, as Prime Minister of India, to the States of Hyderabad and Mysore, Pandit Nehru was welcomed as a nation’s hero, as the man of destiny who will raise India to lofty heights of achievement. He brought the message of unceasing work in the interest of national well-being, for India cannot afford to sit idle and let the fruits of freedom slip through her hands. Between the meeting of Nehru and the present Nizam, and the meeting of British Viceroys with the same Prince or his predecessors, there is all the difference between the glow of freedom and the twilight of subjection. The Prime Minister discussed the future political set-up of Hyderabad with the Ruler, the Military Governor, and the leaders of political parties. A civil administration is likely to function even before the holding of elections to the Constituent Assembly. But the differences between rival Congress groups, and the propaganda carried on by one group against another, have caused embarrassment in the highest circles in Delhi. All efforts to bridge the gulf have so far proved ineffectual. But the leaders of both sections have agreed to abide by the decision of an arbitrator like Sardar Patel. Either the Sardar or the President of the Congress must intervene in time to prevent further deterioration in Congress affairs in Hyderabad.

In Mysore, there are no complications of this nature. A popular Government is already in existence, and the Constituent Assembly will soon conclude its labours. The formation of a United Karnataka, comprising Mysore and the Kannada-speaking areas of Madras and Bombay, is the dream of all Kannada patriots. As Sri Diwakar stated during his recent visit to his home-province, if only the two parts could coalesce, the Government of India cannot object to the formation of an integrated Karnataka. United Kerala can also take shape when the States of Travancore and Cochin agree to form parts of AikyaKerala. It is the intense desire of the peoples of Southern and Western India to form themselves into homogeneous cultural and linguistic groups. Despite the hostile attitude of the Dhar Commission which went beyond its terms of reference in condemning linguistic division, the Big Three of the Congress–the Rashtrapati, the Pandit, and the Sardar–have undertaken to review the entire position.

Pandit Nehru need not, however, persist in his view that the formation of linguistic Provinces should be postponed indefinitely. Congress leaders from the North, and particularly from the Hindi-speaking Provinces, have shown themselves incapable of assessing the strength of the feeling in favour of linguistic re-distribution. It is not independent sovereign States that are contemplated, but administrative units of the Indian Union. In condemning narrow provincialism, Pandit Nehru and others almost invariably assume that the advocates of linguistic Provinces are narrow-minded and parochial in their outlook, and that they do not care enough for the ideal of a United India. This assumption is hardly fair. Congressmen of these areas played a leading role in the fight for freedom, and they were content to wait for their homogeneous Provinces till the attainment of Swaraj. Their vision of India is that of a federal republic, wherein the component parts are well-knit homogeneous units, striving to share the common life of India and to contribute their own share to the enrichment of that life. To plead perpetually for the postponement of a major issue of this nature, is to invite the criticism that the men at the top are either unimaginative or unsympathetic. Having agreed to serve on the sub-committee appointed by the Congress at Jaipur, Pandit Nehru was bound to maintain an attitude of neutrality till that Committee had made its recommendations. If the mischief done by the Dhar Committee is to be rectified, the Congress chiefs should re-iterate the Congress resolutions of the past two decades, and implement them by mentioning the new Provinces in the schedule of the new Constitution. That way lies wisdom, and peace between linguistic groups in the present multi-lingual Provinces of Madras and Bombay.

The Universities Commission

In the discussion between the Indian Universities Commission and the scholars and publicists who tender evidence before it, one of the outstanding questions is that of the medium of instruction at the University level. There is general agreement that for some years English should continue to be the medium. How soon it should be replaced, and by what language, is the problem engaging attention. Opinion is divided as between the provincial languages and the future federal language. The recent recommendations of the conference of vice-chancellors appear to be sound. They were in favour of developing the provincial languages as the vehicles of modern knowledge, and allowing the respective literatures to grow to their full stature in a free India. Uniformity may be secured by the employment of the federal language, but that would result in a set-to the provincial languages, which will sink to the position of inferiority held by them when English was the dominant tongue. A language test in the federal language may be made compulsory for all University students as well as for all entrants into the Federal services. When the federal language is taught compulsorily in all secondary schools, the knowledge of that language will be widespread, and every educated person will have learnt the provincial and the federal languages. Those who go to the Universities will learn a third language like English, and become equipped for wider cultural contacts. Two languages for the general mass of students and a third for University men is a convenient formula. In such a scheme, the provincial languages will occupy their rightful place as the media of instruction from the lowest to the highest stage.

K. Ramakotiswara Rao

MADRAS, January 3.