Vol. 17, Part I · pages 131–135

106 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES “ The Kesari and several other news-papers expressed satisfaction at the nomination of Dr. Ambedkar. Congratulating the Doctor and N. M. Joshi, the Journal of the Servants of India Society observed : “Being drawn from the humble ranks of the society. one representing the labour classes and the other Depressed Classes, they are necessarily strangers to ‘high politics’ as they are understood in this country. They have the simple faith of the simple folk whose cause they have espoused, and they will not be deterred by the superior smile of the eminent personages surrounding them, from insisting on the literal application of certain principles which they have been taught to hold as inviolable.” A little before this the London representative of the Free Press Journal, a leading nationalist daily in Bombay, in his reply to Miss Mayo had eulogised the services which Dr. Ambedkar had rendered at the first session of the Round Table Conference, and said that Dr. Ambedkar was a fearless, independent and patriotic-minded leader whose fearlessness was unbearable to both Hindus and Muslims, and that his opening speech at the first session of the Round Table Conference was the best speech in the whole proceedings of the Conference. It was not decided as yet whether Gandhi would attend the Round Table Conference. Naturally all eyes were focussed on Manibhuvan at the Malabar Hill in Bombay, owing to the mysterious suspense created by Gandhi’s stagecraft and statecraft. In the bustle and hurry Gandhi wanted to sound Ambedkar as to his demands. So Gandhi wrote to Ambedkar on August 6, 1931, informing him that he would come to see the latter at eight o’clock that night if Dr. Ambedkar could spare the time. Gandhi added that he would gladly come over to Dr. Ambedkar’s residence, if it was inconvenient to Dr. Ambedkar to come to him.” 1. Accordingly the meeting between Ambedkar and Gandhi was held on August 14, 1931, at Manibhuvan, at two in the afternoon. “SEGREGATING UNTOUCHABLES Dr. Ambedkar, the Depressed Classes leader, who saw Mr. Gandhi before he sailed by the Mooltan to take part in the Round Table Conference, is said to have told the Mahatma a few hometruths 1 :Keer;Pp. 163-64.

107ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY about the insincere attitude of the Congress towards the grievances of Untouchables. What can the poor Mahatma do when the whole country simply believes in Untouchability ?” 1 The next day was Saturday, August 15, 1931. Almost all the Round Table Conference delegates were to sail for London by the S. S. Mooltan. The Ballard Pier at Bombay presented a picturesque appearance on the day. From princes to paupers all soils of people were present at the Pier. Friends, admirers, followers and devotees assembled to wish bon voyage to their Princes and heroes. One leader who received a great ovation as soon as he got down from the car was Dr. Ambedkar. Over two thousand volunteers had collected on the road outside and greeted him as he arrived at the Mole Station with shouts of “Dr. Ambedkar ki jai ” and “Long live Dr. Ambedkar ”. 2 “On boardship Dr. Ambedkar came across Sir Prabhashankar Pattani, who asked him about the outcome of the latter’s interview with Gandhi. Sir Prabhashankar told Dr. Ambedkar that as he had left the hall in the middle of the interview, he was not in the know of its outcome or end. Dr. Ambedkar, who got the clue from the strange note in the voice of the Knight, asked him why he had left the hall in the middle. The Knight said bitingly that according to Hindu scriptures a gentleman should quit the place where a detractor reviled a good man, if the hearer could not cut out the tongue of the detractor on the spot. Dr. Ambedkar was all the more tickled by the growing insensible temper of the Knight and, without any sign of irritation on his face, asked him what punishment was prescribed by Pattani’s Hindu scriptures for a rank hypocrite and an abject flatterer. At this crack of the whip Pattani got wild and asked Dr. Ambedkar what he meant by such a brutal attack. Dr. Ambedkar replied that he meant what the knight understood and added that Gandhi should be freed from the grip of abject flatterers like him. The Police Commissioner, Wilson, intervened, and a further scene was averted. The Knight must have left a wiser man. Indeed, the world would be no less benefited, if all its great men turn introspective and get themselves rid of the flattering functions of men surrounding them ! 1 : The Times of India, dated 18th August-1931. 2 : Keer:Pp. 168-169.

108 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Sarojini Naidu and Malaviya, who were to go by the same steamer, cancelled their passages, as Gandhi had not yet decided about his departure. In the interview which Dr. Ambedkar gave on the steamer he referred to Gandhi!s refusal to go the Round Table Conference and said it was the height of folly to place the interests of Bardoli above those of India. “to bother about petty grievances and to be unmindful of bigger problem the settlement of which will enable him to exercise control over those very officers is a thing which I cannot understand.” Ambedkar was now deeply thinking of Gandhi’s decision to oppose his demands. So he sent a message to his people in India through his secretary to hold meetings to denounce the attitude of Gandhi towards their claims. From Suez he wrote another letter to Shivtarkar asking him to send copies of the Memorandum which he had submitted to the Minorities SubCommittee of the first session of the Round Table Conference. He also asked him to send with Rao Bahadur R. Srinivasan the leather bag which he had left behind. On the steamer, Jayakan the Maharaja of Rewa and other leaders expressed their satisfaction at the imposing sight of the Samata Seva Dal of the Depressed Classes. Shaukat Ali was glad ; Dr. Moonje was pleased and even expressed his hidden joy that in spite of the failure of the Hindu Mahasabha to raise such a disciplined volunteer corps, there was one organization of the Untouchable Hindus to stand face to face with the Muslim volunteers ! Moonje even congratulated Dr. Ambedkar on his being the leader of the Untouchables, who were conscious enough to know Dr. Ambedkar’s services to their cause, and added that they were not indifferent and ungrateful, like the Caste Hindus, who knew not their benefactors ! On reaching London on August 29, Dr. Ambedkar was down with influenza and suffered terribly from vomiting and diarrhoea. The illness sapped his energy, so much so that he wrote to Shivtarkar that his health was on the brink of a crisis. From Monday, September 7, he began to feel better but weakness still lingered. All the time he advised Shivtarkar not to utter a word about his illness to his wife. One thing weighed on his mind. Defeated at the Mahad Sub-judge’s Court the Orthodox

109ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY Hindus had appealed to the District Court at Thana, and the judgment of the District Judge at Thana was due. He asked Shivtarkar to inform him about it as soon as it was delivered. In the meanwhile, Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sir Prabhashankar Pattani met the Viceroy at Simla where the differences were patched up, and Gandhi left for Bombay to catch the earliest steamer to go to London. Gandhi, alongwith Sarojini Naidu, Pandit Mataviya, and his party, sailed for England on August 29, and reached London on September 12, 1931, The second session of the Round Table Conference commenced on September 7,1931. This time the personnel of the Conference was enlarged by including a few more delegates such as Sir Muhamed Iqbal, the Muslim League President : Dr. S. K. Dutta. the Christian representative ; G. D. Birla, the great financier ; Pandit Malaviya, a Sanatani reformer ; Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India ; and Sir Ali Imam. The outstanding feature of this session was the presence of Gandhi’s enigmatic personality. The first session of the R. T. C. was ‘Hamlet’ without the Prince of Denmark ! Shortly before the Conference met, a change had come overBritain. The Labour Government was replaced by a National Government, the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, remaining in the saddle as before. The Secretary of State for India, Wedgwood Benn, was replaced by Sir Samuel Hoare. Conservative leaders like Churchill vehemently opposed the proposed transfer of power to India. The main work of the Round Table Conference was to be done in the Federal Structure Committee and the Minorities Committee. The Conference was to re-examine and amplify the reports prepared by the corresponding Committees of the first session of the Round Table Conference. Mahatma Gandhi made his first speech in the Conference on September 15, 1931, in the Federal Structure Committee. He claimed that the Congress represented all Indian interests and classes. He told the Conference that the Congress represented the Muslims because it had Muslims as Presidents and Muslims as members of its

110 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Working Committee. It represented the Depressed Classes because removal of Untouchability was a plank on the political platform of the Congress. Gandhi told the Princes that Congress stood for States also inasmuch as “even now the Congress had endeavoured to serve the Princes of India by refraining from any interference in their domestic and internal affairs”. The Congress represented women, Gandhi observed, because Congress had Dr. Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu as Presidents. And because he was the sole representative of the Congress, it followed that he was the sole representative of the Indian nation ! Dr. Ambedkar sensed from this speech of Gandhi in what direction the wind was blowing. Dr. Ambedkar made his first speech in the Federal Structure Committee on the same day. He told the Princes that the Federal Structure Committee could not blindly give to the State what they wanted. This put the Maharaja of Bikaner on his legs, and he replied that nor could the States sign a blank cheque either. Dr. Ambedkar, emphasizing his point, said that before a State was allowed to join the Federation, it must prove that it had the necessary resources and the capacity to give its citizens a civilized life, and the main condition laid down by Dr. Ambedkar was that the States’ representatives to the Federal Assembly should be chosen by election and not by nomination. It was his confirmed opinion that nomination made the Executive irresponsible to the Legislature giving a false appearance to the outside world that the Legislature was working normally on the basis of a majority rule. He added that the principle of nomination was against the principle of responsible Government. As regards the demand of the landlords for special representation, he said that they should not be given special representation as they sided with the orthodox, and thereby defeated the ends of freedom and progress. Obviously, this was the first and best speech made in defence of the rights of the States’ people. These strong views gave a shock to the Princely Order, the landlords and their benefactors, who favoured the view of the Princes that their representatives to the Federal Assembly should be selected by nomination. The result was that every speaker devoted some part or other of his speech to refuting or supporting Dr. Ambedkar’s speech as a majority of them thought that his views were radical and revolutionary.