JOINT VS. SEPARATE . . . . . . . . . VIA MEDIA 291
separate questions and the considerations that have to be taken into account for their solution are quite different. Having separated the two questions, my advice to Hindus and to Muslims is to accept that part of the Communal Award which deals with the number of seats if not permanently, Pro tem, leaving it to be decided on some more equitable principle at some future stage. But with regard to the question of electorates let the Communal Award be modified by the acceptance by Hindus and Muslims of this simple proposition, that the question of electorates is a matter for the minority in the Province or strictly for a minorty in a particular constituency of the Province whether the election before the Central or Provincial Legislature and the majority should abide by the decision of the minority.
Minority Must Decide
If the minority wants separate electorates the majority should have nothing to say against it; equally if the minority wants joint electorates, the majority should be bound to accept their decision.
The proposal could be applied even in cases where there are many minorities and where they are not of a common mind on the issue of electorates. In such cases the minority which wants a separate electorate will have a separate register for itself, while the minority wishing to have a joint electorate will have a common register with the majority. Nothing could be better if the agreement accepted the principle that the decision in the matter of electorates is to rest with the minority in each constituency. But if that cannot be achieved, it would be some advance if an agreement could be arrived at on the basis that the decision as to the electorates is to be left to the minority in the Province.
By such an agreement the Muslim minorities in the Hindu majority Provinces like Bombay, Madras, the Central Provinces, the United Provinces, etc, will get separate electorates if they choose to have them. On the other hand, in the Muslim majority Provinces like the Punjab, Sind, Bengal and the N. W. F. Provinces