Vol. 10 · pages 541–545

SECTION III STATEMENTS 1 A Critique of the Proposals of the Cabinet Mission for Indian Constitutional Changes in so far as they affect the Scheduled Castes (Untouchables) by B.R. AMBEDKAR

* Does the Indian National Congress Represent the Scheduled Castes (Untouchables) of India ? The Cabinet Mission sent out to India by the Labour Government early this year to resolve the political deadlock in India set out a Scheme for the framing of the constitution by a Constituent Assembly. This Constituent Assembly is to be composed of representatives chosen by the members of the Provincial Legislatures by a single transferable vote. For the purposes of the composition of the Constituent Assembly the Cabinet Mission’s Scheme has divided the members of the provincial legislatures into three categories (1) Muslems, (2) Sikhs and (3) General, each with a fixed quota of seats. Each category has a separate electorate whereby the Muslem representatives of the Constituent Assembly will be elected by the Muslem members of the Provincial Legislature, the Sikhs by the Sikh members and the General by all the rest. The ‘general’ includes (1) Hindus, (2) Scheduled Castes, (3) Indian Christians, and (4) Anglo-Indians. 2. The Scheduled Castes of India were greatly surprised to find that they were lumped together with the Hindus. It has been declared time and again by His Majesty’s Government that His Majesty’s Government recognizes that the Scheduled Castes are separate element in the national life of India and that His Majesty’s Government will not impose any constitution to which the Scheduled Castes are not a willing party. The question is asked why the Cabinet Mission recognized the Muslems and the Sikhs as separate elements and why they refused to give the Scheduled Castes the same status ? In the debate that took place in Parliament on the 18th of July, on the proposals of the Cabinet Mission, Sir Stafford Cripps, Mr. Alexander and Lord Pethick-Lawrence tried to defend themselves against this criticism, Their argument was two-fold :— (1) That in the elections to the Provincial Legislature which took * Source : Printed booklet. —Ed.

524 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES place in February last the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes were captured by the Congress and that this shows that the Scheduled Castes were with the Congress and trusted their destiny to the Congress i.e. the Hindus and that there was no ground for separating them. (2) That there is to be an Advisory Committee on the minorities in which the Scheduled Castes will be represented and will have a voice in the framing of the safeguards necessary for them. The second defence is worse than useless. The reasons are obvious. The status and powers of the Advisory Committee are not defined. The quantum of representation of the Scheduled Castes is not prescribed. The decisions of the Advisory Committee are left to be carried by a bare majority. Lastly the Advisory Committee cannot be anything else than a mere reflection of the Constituent Assembly. The representatives of the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly all belong to the Congress Party and they do not represent the Scheduled Castes. They are therefore subject to the Mandate of the Congress Party. Those of them who will be put in the Advisory Committee will be subject to the same Party Mandate. They cannot put forth the real point of view of the Scheduled Castes either in the Constituent Assembly or on the Advisory Committee. The principal line of defence used by the members of the Cabinet Mission in justification of their failure to give the Scheduled Castes separate and independent representation is that the Congress won the Scheduled Caste seats in the last election. Even this line of defence cannot stand. It is true that in the final election the Congress did capture the Scheduled Caste seats. But the reply is that this election results should not have been taken as the test for various reasons. Firstly the parties such as the Scheduled Castes who had co-operated with the British Government were at a discount with the people on that very account. Secondly the trial of the Indian National Army men which synchronized with the election placed the Congress at an advantage