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the wake of the partition of India, which accompanied independence
in 1947, Nehru was the only Congress leader who could have won the
loyalty of Muslims. Just as he was the only prominent socialist left
in the organization en masse in 1948 to form their own party, and
the only neutralist in the East-West struggle, he was also the only secularist
in the topmost Congress leadership. Thus as far as Muslims were
concerned, he alone could have presided over the foundation of the
kind of support base for the Congress which has helped it stay in
power most of the time since independence.
The scheduled castes and tribes too
trusted him more than they trusted any other Congress leader
precisely because he was the most Westernized of them all and most
insistent in his opposition to the Hindu social order which
sanctioned untouchability. Among themselves, the scheduled castes
(roughly 15 per cent), Muslims (12 per cent) and tribes (6 per cent)
constitute one-third of India's population and are generally
believed to have provided the Congress one-half of its total vote in
most elections. Caste Hindus, accounting for two-thirds of the
population, have supplied the other half.
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