Sir, the amendment moved by Mr. Ibrahim has raised a little tempest in a teapot. I submit that it is better to look at it from a practical point of view. I admire the splendid idealism preached by the Honourable lady from West Bengal who spoke just now. I cannot aspire to be as eloquent and as persuasive as she can claim to be. But I think that though it is a good thing to be an idealist it is a useful thing to be a realist. I do not like the prevailing situation at all; I do not like that there should be any difference between the Hindus and the Muslims. I do not believe that the better classes have any differences in the higher walks of life. But after all our community consists of men who are not idealists; there are men who have a communal outlook. We find this exemplified in the elections. In municipal and other elections where joint electorate prevail, the voting, as is well known to those who have experience, has for long been carried on on communal lines. As I said before, I do not like this and no right thinking man likes it. But the situation should be looked at, as I said, from a practical point of view and with a due sense of proportion. What is the percentage of the majority community in India? It is something like 75 and the percentage of Muslims would be about 25. In order to appreciate the enormous difference between the two I shall refer to a famous cartoon in a very well-known paper here, where the attitude of the great Hindu community towards the Muslims in this House was depicted by the famous cartoonist Shankar.
