History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c96.s2.102

v7.c96.s2.102

²⁶⁵⁴ For a somewhat captious and depressing portrayal of our difficulties by an apparently unsympathetic and unhelpful critic, vide 'India, the most dangerous decades' by Selig S Harrison (Oxford University Press, 1960). The trend of the whole book is mainly to drive home one point viz. that democracy will not live or be successful in India. The book, it is believed, is mainly intended for non-Indian readers. The author insists too much on the obscurantist tendencies of some Indian people in the matter of caste. If he felt real sympathy and real friendship for the new democracy in India, he should have emphasized the points that make for unity in India, viz. the absence of an organized Church (like Protestant or the Roman Catholic Church), that Hinduism is a personal religion, that Hindus can easily adapt themselves to the requirements of modern democracy as shown by the three elections held so far without any serious disturbances when there were millions upon millions of voters, men and women. If he really wanted to help the Indian people, he should have stressed matters that favour democracy and not constantly harped on North India and South India, on Hindi and anti-Hindi, many States and language difficulties