Abstract
THE course of recent events in India tends to confirm apprehension, such as has found expression in the columns of NATURE from time to time while the terms of the new constitution were under consideration, lest the introduction of the forms of Western democracy among a population of so heterogeneous a character in culture, creed and tradition might encounter difficulties well-nigh insuperable. It was hoped by those responsible for decision that the communal solution would at once secure the rights of minorities and ensure their acquiescence in the rule of the majority which is essential for the successful working of damocratic institutions. It has been made evident by subsequent events that the necessary community of outlook was lacking. This is to be seen on one side in the breakdown under provincial autonomy, on the other in the difficulty in formulating a scheme of federation in which the claims of democracy can be reconciled with the autocracy of the native States and the fears of the Princes lest they should endanger rights based upon tradition and further secured by the treaty with the British Crown.
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Hindu and Moslem in India. Nature 145, 544–545 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145544d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145544d0