The necessity for emphasising this point has arisen because of what has been happening in certain provinces in this country, especially since provincial autonomy came into force in 1936. The Bengalees in Assam and in Bihar and the Andhras in Orissa, have been feeling that the majority community has not been treating them fairly. In Bihar and Orissa the demand of domicile certificates from Bengalees and Andhras respectively has been causing both worry and hardship. Instead of treating them as children of the soil and fellow citizens, entitled to equal privileges and opportunities and comradely treatment they are treated as inferior in status and even occasionally with hostility. This is probably due to a wrong sense of provincial patriotism. And this new chauvinistic sense of provincial patriotism should not be allowed to lead to an attempt at suppressing linguistic and cultural autonomy of minorities as it is bound to prove suicidal to all.
