EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SOUTHBOROUGH COMMITTEE 273
1 2 3 4
III K ANARESE
(1) Belgaum . . 1,411,639 IX 4
(2) Bijapur
(3) Dharwar
(4) Kanara . . 1,193,202 XII 4
Total number of representatives for the 19 districts 39.
The Principal advantage of such a grouping is that the demand of the Marathas and the Lingayats can be satisfied without resorting to communal representation. There is no sacredness about a district that can plead against transcending its boundaries for political purposes when such a transcending enables us to minimise the field for communal representation.
I have differed from the Government of Bombay on the number of representatives to be given to the Mohamedans. Of the two bases, population and the Congress Scheme, the Government of Bombay have preferred the latter without even making a show of reasoning. In doing so they have contravened the most considered opinion of the authors of the Reforms Scheme who say that there is no basis other than that of negotiation for the proportion of Mohammedan representation fixed in the Congress League Scheme. It must be urged that looking to its composition the Congress is a body whose vicarious promises can never be binding on the vast population who have played no part in its deliberations.
The Mohammedans of this presidency form 20 per cent of the total population. On the basis of population therefore, they are entitled only to
20 seats out of the 100 elective seats. But tempering population by need I think 24 seats ought to satisfy them. Any excess over this cannot be tolerated as it will be at the cost of the other communities. Of these 24, the 7 districts of Sind on the basis of 2 per district will return 14 Mohammedans. The other 10 seats may be distributed as follows :
Population No. of Representatives
(1) Bombay City . . . 179, 246 2
(2) Northern Division . . . 342, 696 2
(3) Central Division . . . 367, 509 3
(4) Southern Division . . . 457, 997 3 Total . . . 10
I should prefer linguistic grouping to divisional grouping even in the case of the Mohammedans. I fail to see how a Mohammedan from Thana can have any affiliation with a Mohammedan of Surat though both the districts come under the same division. To group together for political purposes people who are ethnically different is absurd.