Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/307

 79. THE INDIAN FRANCHISE

BEECH GROVE, DURBAN, December 16, 1895 AN APPEAL TO EVERY BRITON IN SOUTH AFRICA

The question of Indian franchise has convulsed the whole Colony, indeed the whole of South Africa, so far as the newspapers are concerned. This appeal, therefore needs no apology. It is an attempt to place before every Briton in South Africa, as shortly as possible, an Indian view of the Indian Franchise.

Some of the arguments in favour of the disfranchisement of the Indians are:


 * (1) The Indians do not enjoy the franchise in India.
 * (2) The Indian in South Africa represents the lowest-class Indian; in fact, he is the scum of India.
 * (3) The Indian does not understand what the franchise is.
 * (4) The Indian should not get the franchise because the Native, who is as much a British subject as the Indian, has none.
 * (5) The Indian should be disfranchised in the interests of the Native population.
 * (6) This Colony shall be and remain a white man’s country, and not a black man’s and the Indian franchise will simply swamp the European vote, and give the Indian political supremacy.

I shall take the objections seriatim. I

It has been said over and over again that the Indian cannot and must not claim higher privileges than he enjoys in India, and that he has no franchise whatever in India.

Now, the Indian in the first place does not claim any higher privileges than he enjoys in India. It should be borne in mind that the Government in India is not of the same type as here. Therefore, it is obvious there cannot be any analogy between the two. It might be said in answer to this that the Indians should