Sri Aurobindo
Karmayogin
Political Writings and Speeches — 1909-1910
Karmayogin: A Weekly Review
Saturday 20th November 1909 — No.20
Facts and Opinions
The Municipalities and Reform
Under the new conditions, the Municipalities and District Boards form a substantial part of the electorate and return a certain proportion of the members.
We do not think we exaggerate when we say that the only chance of any really independent popular representatives entering the new Councils is provided by these bodies.
The University member or one or two of the landholders may occasionally assert independence, but the chances, at present, are in favour of their belonging to that type of representatives who are satisfied if they can pose as representatives of the nation by merely refusing to agree with the Government in all the details of their policy and measures.
The one chance of a robust and healthy opposition lies in the election of independent men by the Municipalities and, to a lesser extent, by the District Boards.
They will, however, be in a hopeless minority and will always be liable to disqualification by any of the engines provided for that 
purpose in the rules, if they support their opposition in the Council by agitation in the country.
And we have yet to see what changes will be made in the District Boards and Municipalities under the new policy.
Great hopes have been entertained that, whatever may be done in the Councils, the Municipalities will be made really free and popular bodies, and, we remember, that expectation was urged at the Hughly Conference as a reason for not rejecting the reforms.
We doubt whether this expectation will be any more fruitful than the hopes of a great advance towards popular institutions in the reform of the Councils.
Under the new scheme the Municipalities are the only weak point in the Government armour, and we rather fancy the Government will follow the policy of thorough and mend that point as well.
Time will show whether we or the Moderates are right.
So far we have always been right in these matters and they have always been wrong, the new Councils being only the latest of numerous instances during the last few years.