Vol. 17, Part I · pages 141–145

116 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES received from the farthest Untouchable corner of India—from the places which he had never visited and from the men he had never seen—telegrams supporting the stand taken by him. He then told the Committee that either the Committee should solve the problem or the British Government should undertake its solution. In his utter disappointment and fear he said that the Depressed Classes were not anxious about the transfer of power under the present circumstances, but if the Government wanted to transfer power, it should be accompanied by such conditions and by such provisions that the power should not find itself into the hands of a clique, into the hands of the oligarchy, or into the hands of a group of people whether Mohammedans or Hindus; the solution should be such that the power should be shared by all communities in their respective proportions. The Prime Minister appealed to the Delegates not to attribute causes to any method by which they had been elected or to their own personal shortcomings. He asked them to face the facts and asked them whether the problem existed in India or not. The speech of the Premier was rather pungent in tone and some called it ingrate, full of bitter sideshafts against Gandhi. Dr. Ambedkar’s vigorous propaganda did not stop here. He wrote from London, on October 12, a letter to The Times of India throwing light on the whole episode. “We are, however, reliably informed,” he wrote, “that in carrying his negotiations with our Muslim friends, Mr. Gandhi demanded that as one of the conditions for his accepting their fourteen points, they should oppose the claims of the Depressed Classes, and the smaller minorities.” “To say in public,” Dr. Ambedkar observed with his caustic ruthlessness,” I will agree if all others agree, and then to set out to work in private to prevent others from so agreeing by buying off those who are willing to agree, is, in our opinion, a piece of conduct unbecoming a Mahatma and to be expected only from an inveterate opponent of the Depressed Classes. Mr. Gandhi is not only not playing the part of a friend of the Depressed Classes, but he is not even playing the part of an honest foe.”

117ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY In his letter home Dr. Ambedkar foretold that the Round Table Conference would end in a fiasco, and in his opinion Gandhi was responsible for that failure. According to Dr. Ambedkar, Gandhi’s partiality, discriminating conduct in solving the problem of the minorities, his equivocal manner of dealing, his absolute disregard for the other representatives, the insults he inflicted upon them—all these qualities did not help Gandhi to solve the problem tactfully, Dr. Ambedkar further observed that Gandhi’s diabolical way of playing one community against another was now quite clear ! His undemocratic mental set-up, Dr. Ambedkar concluded, had given a rude shock to a man like Harold Laski, and Congress leaders, like Vithalbhai Patel. were murmuring disapproval of Gandhi’s mishandling the situation ! Gandhi’s hostility to the demands put forth by Dr. Ambedkar had wide repercussions and reaction in the quarters of the Untouchables all over India. The All-India Depressed Classes Conference. under the presidentship of Rao Bahadur M. C. Rajah, at its Gurgaon session, declared that Gandhi was misrepresenting the case of the Untouchables, and strongly denounced the claim made by Gandhi that the Congress had been taking care of the Untouchables from the beginning and had championed the cause of the Untouchables. “I say,” said Rajah, the President of the Conference, “that these statements are untrue.” The Conference supported the demands put forth by Dr. Ambedkar and declared that no constitution would be acceptable to the Depressed Classes which did not include in it the system of Separate Electorates for the Depressed Classes. Messages requesting Dr. Ambedkar not to put faith in Gandhi and in the Congress were sent to Dr. Ambedkar in hundreds by the Depressed Classes leaders and associations from all parts of India, and by public meetings and conferences held at Tinnevelly, Robertson (Madras), Lyallpur, Karnal, Chidambaram, Calicut, Banaras, Kolhapur, Yeotmal, Nagpur, Chanda, Kanpur, Kamptee, Belgaum, Dharwar, Nasik, Hubli, Ahmedabad, Tuticorin, Colombo and at several other places. These vociferous cablegrams demonstrated who was the real representative of the Depressed Classes. Gandhi, no doubt received a few cables, but they were insufficient to meet the queries which Gandhi was pestered with in his talks and discourses at

118 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES different places in London. Such was the powerful effect of Dr. Ambedkar’s fighting propaganda that Gandhi was really nonplussed, and his assumed guardianship of the Untouchables lay exposed ! This exposure became more pronounced at this juncture by the temple entry movement launched by the Depressed Classes in India, at Nasik and at Guruvayur. The revival of Satyagraha at Nasik gained a tremendous momentum. Five thousand volunteers poured in Nasik. Dr. Ambedkar’s devoted lieutenant, Bhaurao Gaikwad, Depressed Classes leaders like Rankhambe, Patitpavandas and trusted lieutenant Deorao Naik, fought out the struggle, exposing the Orthodox Hindus and the pretended sincerity of the Hindu leaders in their true perspective. The shame was so carping that Dr. Moonje appealed from London to the Hindus not to deny these civic and religious rights to their kith and kin at their own peril. The gates of the Kalaram Temple were closed as was done during the previous Satyagraha. Dr. Ambedkar was happy over this timely support from his people in exposing the caste Hindu behaviour. He sent a message to his people from London.* The Nasik Satyagraha was carried on with unique enthusiasm and determination. Mass meetings were held, and big procession were taken out. Several volunteers and leaders were arrested. They bravely courted imprisonment and faced jail. The News in the London Times about these arrests and the developments of the Satyagraha added to the weight of Dr. Ambedkar’s say. After the clash with Gandhi, Dr. Ambedkar took part in the discussions on the Fiscal system which was adumbrated by the Sub-Committee for the Federal Government. He made a very thought-provoking and illuminating speech on the composition of the Federal Court in which, Jinnahh, Jayakar, Lord Sankey and * See Pp 192-193, of this part.

119ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY Lord Lothian, too, took much interest, and he was asked to clarify some of his points. In spite of this heavy work, Dr. Ambedkar was very busy giving private interviews and explanations, issuing statements and counter-statements and making speeches at different instiutions in London in support of his stand at the Round Table Conference. His speech at the Institution of International Affairs proved very effective in demolishing Gandhi’s platform. Those who were puzzled by Gandhi’s extreme opposition to the demands of the Depressed Classes ran to Dr. Ambedkar to seek clarification of his stand. Miss Muriel Lester, with whom Gandhi was staying, saw Dr. Ambedkar who explained his standpoint to her. A common friend of Ambedkar and Gandhi invited both the leaders to tea and tried to reconcile them. Ambedkar admitted that Gandhi had done work for the uplift of the Untouchables in his humanitarian way and was striving to abolish Untouchability : but they differed fundamentally on the question. By the end of October 1931 elections were held in Britain and the Tories came into power. As regards the defeat of the Labour Government, Dr. Ambedkar said that their programme was too scientific to be understood by the labourer and average Britisher. In one of his letters Dr. Ambedkar said that the Depressed Classes leaders, who supported Gandhi, did not understand that Gandhi was opposed not only to the Special Electorate but also to the Special Representation for the Depressed Classes : otherwise the problem would have been solved long before.” 1 In addition to the first memorandum submitted to the Minorities Sub-Committee at the first session of the Conference, the supplementary Memorandum dated 4th November 1931 was submitted Jointly by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Rao Bahadur R. Shrinivasan. The Supplementary Memorandum reads as follows:—Editors. 1: Keer, Pp. 169-181.

120 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES “Supplementary Memorandum on the Claims of the Depressed Classes for Special Representation By Dr. Bhimrao R. Ambedkar and Rao Bahadur R. Srinivasan In the Memorandum that was submitted by us last year dealing with the question of political safeguards for the protection of the Depressed Classes in the Constitution for a self-governing India. and which forms Appendix III to the printed volume of Proceedings of the Minorities Sub-Committee, we had demanded that Special Representation of the Depressed Classes must form one of such safeguards. But we did not then define the details of the Special Representation we claimed as being necessary for them. The reason was that the proceedings of the Minorities Sub-Committee came to an end before the question was reached. We now propose to make good the omission by this supplementary memorandum so that the Minorities Sub-Committee, if it comes to consider the question this year, should have the requisite details before it. I. EXTENT OF S PECIAL R EPRESENTATION A. Special Representation in Provincial Legislature— (i) In Bengal, Central provinces, Assam, Bihar and Orissa, Punjab and the United Provinces, the Depressed Classes shall have representation in proportion to their population as estimated by the Simon Commission and the India Central Committee. (ii) In Madras, the Depressed Classes shall have twenty two percent representation. (iii) In Bombay— (a) In the event of Sind continuing to be a part of the Bombay Presidency the Depressed Classes shall have sixteen per cent representation. (b) In the event of Sind being separated from the Bombay Presidency the Depressed Classes shall enjoy the same degree of representation as the Presidency Muslims, both being equal in population. B. Special Representation in the Federal Legislature— In both Houses of the Federal Legislature the Depressed Classes shall have representation in proportion of their population in India.