PARTITION REVISITED 115 of the Hindu bhadralok was bred by this and manifested itself in various 'realms', most noticeably that of 'culture'. Bhadralok cultural idioms were to draw a marked differences between their 'class' and that of the 'other' bengalis: the Muslims. However, this dominance did not manifest itself politically in the period after 1932 as the 'communal award' introduced in that year reduced the Bengali Hindus to a statutory minority in the Bengal legislature. According to Chatterji, bhadralok politicians instead of confronting the colonial state for engineering such an ingenious 'award' blamed their fellow Bengali Muslims for the award. Chatterji also underlines the inability of the Bengal Congress to form an alliance with the Muslim tenant dominated Krishak Proja Party after 1937 election due to its refusal to give primacy to peasant welfare. This, in her opinion, gave rise to political understanding between the Krishak Proja Party and the Muslim League and resulted in the creation of a new ministry which, Chatterji has argued, concentrated on promoting the interests of the Muslim tenantry through a plethora of legislation. All this happened in a period when the incomes from land holdings were declining steadily due to a worldwide depression. Chatterji maintains that the Muslim League's attempts to impose a moratorium on the collection of rent arrears and its championing of the cancellation of outstanding debts owed by peasants fortified the Hindu bhadraloks' opposition to the 'League ministry'. The bhadralok were further incensed by the gradual rise in Muslim representation in the local boards even in the Hindu dominated districts of West Bengal by the nomination of Muslim members by the existing administration. A section of the book also describes bhadralok attempts to win over low caste Hindus to counter the growing Muslim influence. Chatterji argues that it was difficult for the bhadralok, who constituted a small minority of the Hindus in Bengal, to speak for the entire Hindu community in order to resist the 'Muslim legislative onslaught' on their privileges. She links this up with their attempts to mobilise low caste Hindu peasants (whom they otherwise despised for their low caste background). According to her, this caused the bhadralok to initiate various social reform movements to uplift the ritual status of the lower castes within the Hindu caste hierarchy and proselytise semi-Hindu tribals. Chatterji effectively links up the changes in the social and economic spheres in Bengal under the league period with the changes in the strategies of the Congress party. The association of the Congress,