{ "book_metadata": { "book_name": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials", "book_author": "M. K. Kuriakose", "publisher": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge", "published_on": "2011" }, "chunks": [ { "chunk_index": 1, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 351 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00375-c60dbac3bb90ed735ec2.webp" ], "chunk_title": "S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address", "chunk_data": "172. S. K. DUTTA'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE ALL-INDIA CONFERENCE OF INDIAN CHRISTIANS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCES TO COMMUNAL ELECTORATES (1932-33 A.D.)\n\nS. K. Dutta was a prominent Indian Christian nationalist. In his Presidential Address to the eighteenth session of the A.I.C.I.C. at Nagpur, he reviews current constitutional developments in the country and opposes the Government policy of dividing constituencies on a communal basis. His arguments had considerable influence upon Indian Christian thinking on this subject. Report of the XVIII Annual Session of the All-India Conference of Indian Christians, Nagpur, 31st Dec. 1932 & 1st January, 1933, pp. 7-13.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 12, "start_date": 31, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": 1, "time_display": "31 Dec. 1932–1 Jan. 1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Nagpur" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta delivered his Presidential Address to the eighteenth session of the All-India Conference of Indian Christians.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Religion", "Indian Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 351 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00375-c60dbac3bb90ed735ec2.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Dutta Thanks the Conference", "chunk_data": "A decade has gone by since the last occasion when I had the privilege of addressing you in my capacity as President of the All-India Conference of Indian Christians. At Lucknow, in 1922, it was my lot to make a pronouncement on your behalf on matters that affected the interest of our community. Once again you have entrusted me with this responsibility, and I would at the very outset express to my constituents throughout India my thanks for the great honour they have done me in inviting me to be their President.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 12, "start_date": 31, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": 1, "time_display": "31 Dec. 1932–1 Jan. 1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Lucknow", "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta recalled his earlier presidency in 1922 and thanked Indian Christians for electing him again.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 351 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00375-c60dbac3bb90ed735ec2.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Election as Community Endorsement", "chunk_data": "Your election of me to this office gives me at this time particular gratification, for I accept it as an endorsement by the community of the representation I exercised on their behalf at the second session of the Round Table Conference.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 12, "start_date": 31, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": 1, "time_display": "31 Dec. 1932–1 Jan. 1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta interpreted his election as an endorsement of his representation of Indian Christians at the second Round Table Conference.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Representation" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 351 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00375-c60dbac3bb90ed735ec2.webp" ], "chunk_title": "India’s Political Struggles", "chunk_data": "Ten years is a long span in the history of India. For these years have been filled with our strivings and demands, with objectives, some of which have been attained, and others have receded. There has been victory and defeat, success and failure. But all through these years, as we now reflect upon them, there are signs that our people have at last awakened to the importance of the issues which to-day are in the progress of settlement.", "time": { "start_year": 1922, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1922–1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta reflected on a decade of political struggles, demands, victories, and setbacks in India.", "tags": [ "Politics", "History" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 351 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00375-c60dbac3bb90ed735ec2.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Four Community Relationships", "chunk_data": "In order to be concrete and definite, I shall attempt to address this gathering on certain aspects of our problems which affect us as a community. I shall speak first of our relationship with the Government; second, our relationship with other communities; third, our relationship with the Catholics; and fourth our relationship with ourselves.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 12, "start_date": 31, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": 1, "time_display": "31 Dec. 1932–1 Jan. 1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta outlined four subjects: relations with the Government, other communities, Catholics, and the Indian Christian community itself.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Politics", "Community" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 352 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00376-1246500ecd145f8a1a3a.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Indian Christians and Constitutional Reform", "chunk_data": "1. Our Relationship with the Government\n\nThe country for the space of some years has now embarked on the intriguing problem of drafting a political constitution for India. In this effort our community too has taken some little share and the Government, at any rate, at certain stages, has been willing to consult us either directly or through our organisations, or through individuals. At times it has definitely asked for our representation on certain important matters. Thus our organisation gave evidence before the Simon Commission. Subsequently some of our leaders definitely presented Memoranda to the Franchise Committee.", "time": { "start_year": 1927, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1927–1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Indian Christian organizations participated in constitutional discussions, gave evidence before the Simon Commission, and submitted memoranda to the Franchise Committee.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Constitution", "Representation" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 7, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 352 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00376-1246500ecd145f8a1a3a.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Indian Christian Representation", "chunk_data": "At the time of the first Round Table Conference, Mr. K. T. Paul, who had held office in our organisation, was nominated to represent our community. After his lamented death I was thus nominated and represented the Indian Christian Association at the second Round Table Conference. Subsequently His Majesty's Government, in consultation with the Government of India, after the close of the second Round Table Conference appointed a Continuation Committee as well as a Franchise Committee. The official designation of the former was the Consultative Committee.", "time": { "start_year": 1930, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1930–1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "K. T. Paul", "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India", "London" ], "event": "K. T. Paul and later S. K. Dutta represented Indian Christians at the first and second Round Table Conferences.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Representation", "Constitution" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 8, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 352 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00376-1246500ecd145f8a1a3a.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Exclusion from Government Committees", "chunk_data": "Now on both these committees our community was left unrepresented, though every other community with the exception of the Anglo-Indian (a community of not more than two hundred thousand souls) were actually represented. Whether this omission was intentional or whether the Government felt that no good purpose would be served by the inclusion of representatives of the Indian Christian community, I think that, in view of this omission, we are justified in our attitude as regards the conclusions of these Committees, that we are not bound to accept their recommendations.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta protested that Indian Christians were excluded from the Continuation and Franchise Committees.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Discrimination", "Representation" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 9, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 352, 353 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00376-1246500ecd145f8a1a3a.webp", "raw\\pages\\00377-b55a4d6f408048678020.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Rejection of the Prime Minister’s Award", "chunk_data": "The Consultative Committee for example recommended that His Majesty's Government should undertake the responsibility for a communal settlement. We were not a party to that request, and I would like to say immediately that we repudiate the Prime Minister's Award as far as it applies to Indian Christians, for communally speaking, our interests have been sacrificed to placate other communities. Take for example the most glaring instance of the position of the Christian community in the Madras Presidency under the terms of the Award. Under the Montague Reforms, the Christians of the Madras Presidency received five seats in the Madras Legislature, whereas the Moslems had 13 seats accorded to them. This proportion had some relationship to the comparative population figures of the Muslim and Christian communities, but under the Prime Minister's Award, however, the Madras Christians will receive 9 seats, and the Muslims 29 seats. While we have no right whatsoever to disturb the extraordinary weightage given to the Muslim community, yet we cannot allow to pass without protest the subordinate position as a minority to which our community is now relegated. But our position is still worse when it comes to the claims of the Anglo-Indian and European communities. In the Central Provinces, the 4,000 Europeans and the 6,000 Anglo-Indians receive at least one seat. The claims of 45,000 Indian Christians are dismissed in a few words, i.e., that the community is a scattered one, and it is difficult therefore to form it into a constituency.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 8, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Madras Presidency", "Central Provinces" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta repudiated the Prime Minister’s Award and protested the political disadvantage imposed on Indian Christians.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Indian Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 10, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 353 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00377-b55a4d6f408048678020.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Omission from the Third Conference", "chunk_data": "The Third Session of the Round Table Conference was marked by the complete elimination of all Indian Christian representatives though it included the redoubtable representative of so minor a community as the Anglo-Indian. Here I tread on ground which is naturally very delicate. A certain section of the press is always ready to attribute base motives to Indians in public life with whom they happen politically to disagree; such organs will readily say that we are soured by our experience just because we were not included in the final delegation to the Round Table Conference. Whatever motives may be attributed, the fact remains that the claims of the Indian Christian community were completely overlooked by the Government.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 11, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": 12, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Late 1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "London" ], "event": "Indian Christian representatives were excluded from the Third Round Table Conference.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Representation", "Discrimination" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 11, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 353 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00377-b55a4d6f408048678020.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Pannirselvam’s Exclusion", "chunk_data": "Even though as has been alleged in certain quarters that I was personally unrepresentative of the Indian Christian community, what was there against my senior colleague, Rao Bahadur Pannirselvam, who has twice represented the majority section of the Indian Christian community and who was a signatory to the Minorities Pact in such good and unquestionable company as His Highness the Aga Khan, Col. Sir Henry Gidney, Dr. Ambedkar and Sir Hubert Carr. Why was the Rao Bahadur's name omitted from such an unimpeachable list? All the others found their way to the third and we hope the last Round Table Conference, but his name was omitted.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": 11, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": 12, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Late 1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta", "Rao Bahadur Pannirselvam", "The Aga Khan", "Henry Gidney", "B. R. Ambedkar", "Hubert Carr" ], "places": [ "London" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta questioned the exclusion of Rao Bahadur Pannirselvam from the final Round Table Conference delegation.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Representation", "Minorities" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 12, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 353, 354 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00377-b55a4d6f408048678020.webp", "raw\\pages\\00378-33957dcfa5ba74f01dcd.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Separate Electorates Challenged", "chunk_data": "That the Indian Christian community and only that community was singled out for omission from representation at the Round Table Conference has proved a disillusioning experience to those of our number who have looked to the present Government for the protection of its interests.\n\nSome members of our community, and they are not unsubstantial in number, have demanded separate electorates as a device for protection. Their deputations have waited from time to time on Governors asking for the recognition of their claims. In these efforts a certain amount of quite natural self-advertisement is discernible, but on the other hand we have not shown any capacity to demand effectively that our rights are recognized. Jobs and seats have been the tunes we have played, but neither the Government nor other communities have danced to our tunes. It is humiliating to realise that our efforts have been more or less in vain and will continue to be in vain unless we show our capacity to assert ourselves. The device of separate electorates without some force at the command of the community is of no use whatsoever in obtaining for us either protection or the satisfaction of our claims.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta described Indian Christian disillusionment with the Government and criticized separate electorates as ineffective protection.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Indian Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 13, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 354 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00378-33957dcfa5ba74f01dcd.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Relations with Other Communities", "chunk_data": "2. Our Relationship with other Communities\n\nDuring the year very substantial advances have been made towards an understanding with other communities, but in this connection it will be necessary to use plain words, to indicate the concrete objectives to which your leaders have applied themselves.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta introduced the Indian Christian community’s developing relations with other communities.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Community", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 14, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 354 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00378-33957dcfa5ba74f01dcd.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Debate over General Constituencies", "chunk_data": "First, so far as the electors from the Hindu community, who now will be veiled under the term of the General Constituency, is concerned, we have been asked to throw in our lot with them. We would, in other words, become a portion of the Hindu Constituency. Naturally a proposal such as this which alienates our community from the Muslim community in the Punjab and in Bengal must give us a certain amount of trepidation. The General Constituencies in these Provinces, from which the Muslims and the Sikhs have been withdrawn, might exhibit the very communal tendency of a minority community. We could not expect anything otherwise. Whatever protestations to the contrary may be made we can rest assured that in such a constituency the Christian candidate and voter will have little chance, for the simple reason that it will be impossible for him to become a Hindu communalist. Our position from time to time has been made perfectly clear. We do not ask for separation, but we do consider it necessary before we merge our identity into a larger group, that that group will be representative of all Indian communities.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Punjab", "Bengal", "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta opposed absorbing Indian Christians into Hindu general constituencies unless those constituencies represented all Indian communities.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Communalism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 15, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 354 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00378-33957dcfa5ba74f01dcd.webp" ], "chunk_title": "National Unity and Electorates", "chunk_data": "We have in our midst very substantial groups of Indian Christians who have not yet been diverted from the lure of the pursuit of the separate electorates. These groups are vocal, and indeed sometimes, their importance has been exaggerated by the British press in this country. But yet most of us will admit that it was quite possible by agitation and suggestion to get large masses of Indian Christians to declare their allegiance to the principle of the separate electorate for the argument is based on what seems to be self-interest. But on the other hand an increasing number of Indian Christians recognize the impossibility of erecting a National State on the basis of the separate electorates, which in essence must result in weakening Indian unity generally.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta", "Indian Christians" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta contrasted support for separate electorates with the growing recognition that they weakened Indian national unity.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Nationalism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 16, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 354, 355 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00378-33957dcfa5ba74f01dcd.webp", "raw\\pages\\00379-053d3f50db55c0b3a3c8.webp" ], "chunk_title": "French Revolution and National Unity", "chunk_data": "Readers of European history will remember the great struggle which took place between the people on the one hand and the Crown on the other with regard to the composition at the time of the French Revolution of the States General Assembly. The Crown insisted that the Nobility, the Clergy, and the Third Estate should be members of separate chambers, which would vote and deliberate separately, thus nullifying the influence of a larger nationality. In other words it was open to each of these groups to hold up progress or to work for their own selfish ends. The Third Estate fought the battle for unity for it realised that in this separatist arrangement, the Crown would play off one class group against the other.", "time": { "start_year": 1789, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1789, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1789" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Louis XVI" ], "places": [ "France" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta invoked the French Revolution and the struggle over the Estates General to illustrate the political dangers of separate communal bodies.", "tags": [ "History", "Politics", "Nationalism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 17, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 355 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00379-053d3f50db55c0b3a3c8.webp" ], "chunk_title": "The Unity Conference", "chunk_data": "When your Council received an invitation to be represented at the Unity Conference the invitation was accepted for it was clear to them that the only basis on which the communities could be brought together would be by acceptance of the joint electorate with reserved seats. Thus the two divergent points of view of the Separatist and the Unity Groups could be harmonised. Indeed, our presence at the Unity Conference was in direct line with the whole process of our development since 1922, when I had the honour of presiding over your deliberations at Lucknow. These succeeding ten years will have a significant place in the general history of our community.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Lucknow", "India" ], "event": "The Indian Christian Council accepted representation at the Unity Conference to support joint electorates with reserved seats.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Unity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 18, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 355 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00379-053d3f50db55c0b3a3c8.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Indian Christian Electoral Demands", "chunk_data": "What then were the definite proposals that we put forward and the demands which we asked the other communities to recognize? In the first place we desired in some way to restore the balance which the Prime Minister's Award had overthrown or even overlooked. We asked that within joint electorates reservation should be made in the Madras Presidency of at least 12 seats for Indian Christians, as against 9 seats under the Prime Minister's Award. We also asked that a seat should be reserved in the Central Provinces for Indian Christians. In the Punjab we asked for and ultimately our claim for a third seat was recognized.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Madras Presidency", "Central Provinces", "Punjab" ], "event": "Indian Christian leaders sought reserved seats in the Madras Presidency, Central Provinces, and Punjab.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Representation" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 19, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 355 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00379-053d3f50db55c0b3a3c8.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Safeguarding Minority Claims", "chunk_data": "The second set of objectives was to ensure that our community was safeguarded against the claims of other minorities which, if acceded to, would have meant that we would have been disqualified permanently in certain directions. The Sikhs of the Punjab have insisted that they should be adequately represented in the Central Legislature. The Moslems have already asked for 33% of seats, and their claim for 32½ per cent was conceded by the Unity Conference on condition that they accepted joint electorates with reservation of seats. The Sikhs have demanded that in a house of 300, 4 per cent of the seats should be reserved for them, but no provision had yet been made for Indian Christians. We have now asked for the reservation of 12 seats in the Central Legislature, and our claim has been recorded.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Punjab", "India" ], "event": "Indian Christian leaders demanded twelve reserved seats in the Central Legislature while responding to Sikh and Muslim claims.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Minorities", "Elections" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 20, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 355, 356 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00379-053d3f50db55c0b3a3c8.webp", "raw\\pages\\00380-0635d4e885d26f3e269b.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Cabinet Representation Demanded", "chunk_data": "We have also felt that we must pursue our task still further. At the Unity Conference we stated that as the Sikhs in the Punjab had claimed that their community should be represented in the Cabinet, so in Madras a similar claim on behalf of Indian Christians was recorded. In the Central Government we shall be compelled to follow the example of the Sikhs and the Moslems to demand representation in the Federal Cabinet.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "Punjab", "Madras", "India" ], "event": "Indian Christian leaders demanded representation in the Madras and Federal Cabinets.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Representation", "Minorities" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 21, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 356 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00380-0635d4e885d26f3e269b.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Consequences for the Constitution", "chunk_data": "In making these demands, we realise fully that by pursuing these claims Unity will be difficult to achieve. Furthermore, the recognition of all these claims is bound to change the whole nature of our future Constitution. For example the country may be compelled, if the Minorities insist on their alleged rights, to change the Cabinet into an extra Parliamentary body, very generally responsible to the Legislature but not in detail. Further it would have to be appointed for a term of years, and could consult the communalised legislature only from time to time which would exercise some further control over the Budget and Legislation. You will then have a Cabinet not after the British System, but rather like the American executive, without the periodical appeal to the nation at large.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta warned that minority claims could make unity difficult and transform India’s future constitutional system.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Constitution", "Minorities" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 22, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 356 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00380-0635d4e885d26f3e269b.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Willingness to Join a Common Roll", "chunk_data": "We would announce once again to our countrymen that in the event of the abandonment of these devices of protection by the majority community and the largest minority community, we are willing to take our place as citizens of the country. We are willing to work for a common Electoral Roll, open to all citizens, we are willing to abandon all these makings of separate communities, for places of power and prestige. Indeed it is our interest to do so, for our ambitions are greater than the narrow limits of our community.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta declared that Indian Christians would accept common citizenship and a common electoral roll if other communities abandoned protective devices.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Elections", "Nationalism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 23, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 356 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00380-0635d4e885d26f3e269b.webp" ], "chunk_title": "An Open Field for Indian Christians", "chunk_data": "In the services for example, or in the Legislatures, we do not desire our community to be marked with these percentages. In a community such as ours, an open field is the best incentive, and in the long run will pay us best.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta", "Indian Christians" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta argued that Indian Christians would benefit from open competition rather than fixed communal percentages.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Representation", "Indian Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 24, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 356 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00380-0635d4e885d26f3e269b.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Anglo-Indian and European Communities", "chunk_data": "In our enumeration of the communities, we have omitted, so far, mention of the Anglo-Indian and the European communities of India. In one sense we are linked to them through the bonds of a common religion far more than to the other communities; but our vital connections with them are so flimsy that they may be disregarded. The reasons are not far to seek, and they are inherent in the character of the British race. In the French and the Dutch colonies, the attachment of the European foreigners to the indigenous people who profess the Christian faith is far closer than in India. All Christians without distinction of race are usually amalgamated into a general group, and placed under the same civil and electoral laws.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1933, "end_month": 1, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932–1933" }, "meta": { "people": [ "S. K. Dutta" ], "places": [ "India", "French colonies", "Dutch colonies" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta distinguished Indian Christians from the Anglo-Indian and European communities despite their shared Christian faith.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Colonialism", "Community" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 25, "chapter_name": "1932-1933. S. K. Dutta’s Presidential Address to the All-India Conference of Indian Christians with Special References to Communal Electorates", "page_numbers": [ 356 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00380-0635d4e885d26f3e269b.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Pannirselvam and Minority Inferiority", "chunk_data": "The Europeans and Anglo-Indians in India in matter of legislature representation have done extraordinarily well for themselves. We are surprised however that the pure communalists on our side have not made larger demands on behalf of the Indian Christian community. Rao Bahadur Pannirselvam gave away the Indian Christian case when he became a signatory to the Minorities Pact in London. He accepted the permanent inferiority of the Indian Christians to the small but claimant groups of the Europeans and Anglo-Indians in this country.", "time": { "start_year": 1932, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1932, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1932" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Rao Bahadur Pannirselvam" ], "places": [ "India", "London" ], "event": "S. K. Dutta criticized Rao Bahadur Pannirselvam for accepting Indian Christian inferiority in the Minorities Pact.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Minorities", "Representation" ] } } ] }