THE NEW INDIA
SrPo—The Spectator of June 4th has only just reached me, but I hope it is not too late to refute the misstatement contained in the last paragraph of the letter from Mr. Godfrey Barrass on the subject of Hyderabad, namely " . . as in most parts of the sub-continent except Hyderabad, anarchy and chaos born of the British withdrawal still continue . . ." Whatever may be the circumstances of Hyderabad, there is neither chaos nor anarchy in the U.P. or the other Provinces of the Indian Union. I have been in charge of a district of the UT. for the last six months and we have had a perfectly peaceful and normal time. Crime was heavy during the last few months of 1947; there was less respect for authority and much communal tension. But during the first six months of 1948 crime has been light and relations between the communities good, particularly after the death of Mahatma Gandhi. Unhappily fanaticism on both sides renewed by the Hyderabad dispute is again bringing the lives and property of Muslims into jeopardy.
To assert that the British withdrawal has already given rise to anarchy and chaos "in parts of the sub-continent ..." is to asperse unjustly the work of our predecessors who have laid the foundations of administration and of my Indian colleagues who are devotedly continuing to work in the same tradition and upon the same foundations. We handed over a going concern and that cohcern would have been indeed a sham had it broken down so soon. Great stresses have been survived and dangers overcome, the future holds many unpleasant possibilities as we all know, but I assure you, Sir, that the machine grinds on much as it did before.
To the ordinary citizen frontiers are a nuisance and politics based upon religion a horrible danger. It is just the " balkanisation " of India that must lead to anarchy and chaos. Nehru and his Government are trying to keep religion out of politics because they know their own countrymen and the horrible things that can be done in the name of religion. If they do not succeed, then indeed will Mr. Barrass's words be justified.—
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