Vol. 17, Part I · pages 241–245

216 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES for me is the bitterest possible and I am therefore obliged to take things lying very low indeed. Under the circumstances I am for the present unable to return the money spent by the State much as I wish to do. If the Baroda Government interprets my inability to pay as an unwillingness to pay then the way for them is to go to Court, get a decree and execute it if they think that it will be really to their advantage. It may be true that if matters go to court then the name of the community will suffer. On the other hand it is my belief that if the community were to know as it will in the course of the suit the way in which I have behaved towards the Baroda Government, I am sure there will be nothing which it shall have to be ashamed of on my account. On the other hand I have no doubt that in the mudslinging that will follow the contemplated suit some mud will stick to His Highness and to the Baroda State of which both shall have to be ashamed. Of course it will be better if all this were avoided. But the only way in which it can be avoided is by the Baroda Government giving me time till I am in a position to pay. The Baroda Government don’t seem to know me sufficiently well. I have once shown them that I am a man of character. If I had not had sufficient character I would never have returned at Baroda. I had immeasurable offers to enter British service who would have thrown them away except by a man of character ? They only know me as an independent fellow. But they forget it is only a man of character who can be independent. Be that as it may I hope you will understand that I am most anxious to meet my obligations to the State and if I cannot do it immediately it is only because I am hard up. The moment I am in easy circumstances you may depend upon it that I will commence to repay. More than this I cannot for the present say or do. My real object which I have disclosed to repay it to the University of Bombay and to request the University to

217I AM A MAN OF CHARACTER establish Scholarships for Depressed Class boys out of that sum in the name of the Maharaja of Baroda. The money was spent on me as a member of the Depressed Classes and in my view it should not go to the private use of the State but should be utilized for the benefit of the Depressed Classes. But as the State has been acting in such a commercial way I submit I do not think it would appreciate my plan. With this I leave it to you to judge between me and the Baroda State. I have not misunderstood the spirit in which you have written to me and I trust you will not misunderstand the spirit in which I have replied to you. Hoping to hear from you occasionally. I am, Yours sincerely, (B. R. Ambedkar)” 1 zz 1: Rattu : Little known facts of Dr. Ambedkar, Pp. 21-24.

2 INSTEAD OF A STATUE, A PUBLIC LIBRARY WILL BE THE BEST MEMORIAL OF SIR MEHTA “This is the earliest letter of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar sent for publication while he was a student of Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. in 1916. A proposal to erect a statue of Sir Pherozshah Mehta was mooted in the city of Bombay to be erected in front of the Municipal Office. Dr. Ambedkar having learnt this through the newspapers, considered it a most trivial form of memorial of a great man. According to him the memorial should have utility to the society especially for spreading the knowledge. He, therefore, proposed a memorial in the form of a public library in memorium of Sir Pherozshah Mehta. This letter may be found instructive and guiding even to-day to the Indian people who have craze for erecting statues of illustrious personalities.” 1— “The Late Sir Pherozshah Mehta To, The Editor of ‘The Chronicle’ Sir, You will agree with me when I say that in a country like India so badly situated socially, economically and politically, the paramount need of the hour is for honest leaders to take upon themselves the enormous task of regeneration. Such leaders were found in the persons of the late Messrs Gokhale and P. M. Mehta, both of whom were entitled to everlasting gratitude for the zeal and sacrifice with which they represented our cause. Their identification with the people and the latter’s repose in them were so complete that their sudden death seemed for a while as though it was all nature’s trick. It is to their lasting credit that they grappled with many of our problems, solved a few of them and left the rest for us to face. But our feelings for the work done by them have completely set aside our feelings of the future work to be done by us- so much is our devotion to them. And it is quite natural that we should be more concerned about raising fitting memorials for those who have 1: Lokrajya : Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Special Number, April 16, 1981, P.33.

219INSTEAD OF..................SIR MEHTA unremittingly exerted themselves in our behalf than about meeting the problems that confront us to-day. The Indian papers so far to hand indicate that the memorial of Mr. Gokhale is to take the form of establishing branches of the Servants of India Society at various places, while that of Sir P. M. Mehta is to stand in the form of a statue before the Bombay Municipal Office. Permit me to say that individually I regard this particular form of Sir P. M. Mehta memorial to be very trivial and unbecoming to say the least. I have been at pains to understand why his memorial cannot be in a form which will not only be a true memorial of him, but will be of permanent use to posterity. As combining these two purposes, I would suggest that in my humble opinion the memorial of Sir P. M. Mehta should be in the form of a public library in Bombay to be called “Sir Pherozshah Mehta Library.” It is unfortunate that we have not as yet realized the value of the library as an institution in the growth and advancement of a society. But this is not the place to dilate upon its virtues. That an enlightened public as that of Bombay should have suffered so long to be without an up-to-date public library is nothing short of disgrace and the earlier we make amends for it the better. There are some private libraries in Bombay operating independently by themselves. If these ill-managed concerns be mobilized into one building, built out of the Sir P. M. Mehta memorial fund and called after him, the city of Bombay shall have achieved both these purposes. As to the funds for the purchase of books and management of the library on modern lines, I trust there will be many generous souls to endow it. As a student in one of the biggest universities of the U.S.A. I am thoroughly convinced of the place a library has in the intellectual and social development of a people and being painfully conscious of its lack in the city of Bombay, I take this opportunity of urging on the Bombay public of what I think can be the fittest and, most lasting memorial of the greatest hero of modern Indian history.

220 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Being 10,000 miles away from India it takes time to get home-news. Consequently, I am a little late in submitting my proposal, but better late than never. Yours etc. Bhimrao R. Ambedkar Livingston Hall, Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A.” 1 zz 1: Bombay Chronicle : Tuesday, 28th March, 1916. Reprinted in Lokrajya : Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Special Number April 16, 1981, Pp. 33-34.