Another Communal Clash
The communal rioting at Bombay, resulting in 100 deaths and injuries to the number of over 1,000, is a deplorable example of what religious passions in India can lead to. What was involved was simply a clash betWeen Indians and Indians, arising out of the Moham- medan celebration of Muharram. No anti-British-clement entered into it, and no British were concerned eieept the troops and volunteers who were called out to check the riot. Without them the conflict would have grown to far more serious dimensions. It is in the face of events like this that the British Government is called on to give its ruling on the communal question in con- nexion with the new legislatures. Whatever it may be, it will not please both sides, and will very likely please neither. But it must be given. The Government is pledged to it, and without a decision On so vital an issue the new constitution cannot be set working at all. Lord Lothian's return to LOndon conies at an opportune moment. The reports he brings of feeling
in both British and Indian circles, and in both the Hindu and Moslem camps, will necessarily carry much weight in Whitehall. The fact has to be faced that as British .administration in India is replaced by Indian, the 'Hindu:Moslem conflict may become even more acute than to-day, and its consequences more serious. But that cannot justify a refusal to grant the self-government India has been promised. The effects of it will be both good and ill, but the effect of with- holding it would be far more ill than good.
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