Social Reform and two Liberals

THE Times of India recently made the extraordinary observation that the Liberal Party as such is more favourable to social reform than the Congress. “The Indian Social Reformer completely refutes the statement by saying that the Liberal Party, apart from a few individuals, has been a drag upon social reform. In support of its contention, our contemporary points out that the two great Liberal leaders, Srinivasa Sastri and Sir Surendranath Banerjee, fought hard against the enfranchisement of women in the Southborough Committee, and they were responsible for the recommendation of the Committee shelving the question. In Madras, Sir Sivaswami Iyer may be held to be partly responsible for the origin of the Non-Brahmin Party as a political party. The Mylapore school, of which he was a teacher, had scoffed at the claims of non-Brahmins for their legitimate share in the public life of the country. Sir Dinshaw Wacha distinguished himself quite recently by opposing in the Council of State the raising of the age of consent against procurers from 16 to 18 on the extraordinary ground that ‘social reforms are better accomplished from within rather than from without. In regard to the excise policy, one need not refer, says the Reformer, to the ways in which three good years have been wasted by the Liberal ministers. “It is precisely because the Congress movement today,” concludes our contemporary, “is essentially a social reform movement that the bulk of the social reform party, including the large majority of educated and intelligent women, is to be found within its fold.”