Editorial
THE AGA KHAN ON INDIAN DISCONTENT
His Highness the Aga Khan has contributed to the “National Review” an article which, in view of the writer’s recognised position in India, must be regarded as an extremely important contribution to current controversies. Though the Aga Khan has not identified himself with the Congress movement, he is perhaps less opposed to it than are some of his co-religionists. He is, however, emphatic in this article in repudiating one of the arguments on which the supporters of the Congress movement are much too apt to rely. Some months ago we called attention in these columns to the unwisdom of basing the case for more liberal institutions in India upon an alleged increase of poverty under British rule. We pointed out that it was extremely doubtful whether this allegation could be made good, and that the answer of the official party would be that the remedy for economic distress was not to be found in political reform. We also pointed out that in the history of the world poverty alone had never secured political progress. People who are suffering from starvation do not make revolutions – they starve. it is not poverty, but prosperity, that leads to the demand for political liberty. These propositions, we are glad to see, are fully accepted by the Aga Khan.
Ismailimail 