Vol. 17, Part I · pages 391–395

41 SCHEDULED CASTES IN PAKISTAN SHOULD COME OVER TO INDIA New Delhi, November 27th, 1947. “The Nizam deserves no sympathy in opposing union with India. I am anxious that no person from the Scheduled Castes brings disgrace upon the community by siding with one who is an enemy of India,” says Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Minister for Law, in a statement extending to them an open invitation to migrate to India. issued today. Regarding the status of his followers in Pakistan, Dr. Ambedkar mentioned that the Muslim League and its President had sided the Scheduled Castes only when it suited them and in view of the wrongs perpetrated on them, he suggested that they too should come over to India from Pakistan. Dr. Ambedkar felt that the number of Scheduled Castes in India was so large and well-organised, they could not fail to influence the Government of the day. He added : “I have received innumerable complaints from the Scheduled Castes from Pakistan and Hyderabad asking me to do something to relieve them from the distress in which they have been placed as a consequence of the policy adopted by Pakistan and Hyderabad towards them. In Pakistan, they are not allowed to come over to India and they are being forcibly converted to Islam. In Hyderabad also they are being forcibly converted to Islam in order to increase the strength of the Muslim population there. Further, there is a regular campaign carried on by the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen by burning the houses of the Untouchables in order to strike terror into the hearts of the Scheduled Castes of Hyderabad so that they may never join the movement for responsible Government in Hyderabad and compelling Hyderabad to join the Indian Union. Open Invitation “All I can do is to invite them to come to India. For, the condition of the Scheduled Castes in India is as it is in Pakistan. In

367SCHEDULED CASTES..............TO INDIA India they are being tyrannized by the Caste Hindus in all parts of the country. While in Pakistan they are subjected to forcible religious conversion, in Hindustan they are subjected to forcible political conversion. They are compelled to be members of the Congress and if they refuse to become members they are boycotted and their lives made impossible. There have been cases particularly in the U. P. where the tyranny and oppression against the Scheduled Castes have been carried to the length of burning them alive. The tyranny and oppression that is being practised upon the Scheduled Castes in East Punjab by the the Sikhs and Jats who have come from West Punjab have been equally unbearable. The administration which is entirely by Caste Hindus has done nothing to render them the slightest assistance. Notwithstanding the gloomy prospect for the Scheduled Castes who are in India, I would like to tell the Scheduled Castes who happen today to be impounded inside Pakistan to come over to India. The Congress party has weakened the political safeguards necessary for the Scheduled Castes under the new Constitution to such an extent as to make them worse than useless. Nonetheless, our numbers are so great that if we are well-organised, we cannot fail to influence the Government of the day. Muslims Are not Friends It would be fatal for the Scheduled Castes, whether in Pakistan or in Hyderabad, to put their faith in the Muslims or the Muslim League. It has become a habit with the Scheduled Castes to look upon the Muslims as their friends simply because they dislike the Hindus. This is a mistaken view. The Muslims wanted the support of the Scheduled Castes but they never gave their support to the Scheduled Castes. Mr. Jinnah was all the time playing a double game. He was very insistent that the Scheduled Castes were a separate entity when it suited him but, when it did not suit him he insisted with equal emphasis that they were Hindus. The Muslims and the Muslim League, charged as they are with the passion to make the Muslims a governing class as quickly as possible, will never give consideration to the claims of the Scheduled Castes. This I speak from experience.

368 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES As regards conversion, we Scheduled Castes must look upon it as a last resort forced upon them by violence. And even to those who are converted by force and violence, I say that they must not regard themselves as lost to the fold for ever. I pledge my word that if they wish to come back I shall see that they are received back into the fold and tressed as brethren in the same manner in which they were treated before their conversion. “The Scheduled Castes of Hyderabad should under no circumstances side with the Nizam and the Ittehad-ul- Muslimeen. Whatever the tyranny and oppression which the Hindus practise on us, it must not warp our vision and swerve us from our duty. The Nizam deserves no sympathy in opposing Union with India. In doing this he is acting against his own interest. He does not realize that his own dynastic rights would be much safer if they were guaranteed by the Union Constitution which would have the sanction of 90 per cent of the Hindus of India than they would be if he relied on the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen. I am anxious that no person from the Scheduled Castes bring disgrace upon the community by siding with one who is an enemy of India.” A.P.I.” 1 zz 1 : The National Standard, dated 28th November 1947.

42 SCHEDULED CASTE REFUGEES NEGLECTED After partition, in Bengal and in Punjab, communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims arose on a scale never experienced in the past. Both the communities suffered badly. But the illeffects of that dissension were felt even by a large number of Untouchables living in those areas, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had received a number of letters describing sufferings undergone by the Untouchables by the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Jats. He, therefore, wrote a letter (dated 18th December 1947) to the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, informing him of the sufferings of the Untouchables and requesting him to give relief to the Scheduled Caste refugees—Editors. “New Delhi, The 18th December 1947. My dear Shri Jawaharlal, I have been receiving so many complaints from the Scheduled Castes evacuees who come over from Pakistan to India as well as from those who have been looked up by the Pakistan Government and prevented from coming over to India. I feel that the time has come for me to draw your attention to their sufferings. For the purpose of giving you an idea of what is happening and what is required to be done, I am setting out below the causes of their sufferings and the measures that should be adopted to remove them. I (1) The Pakistan Government are preventing in every possible way the evacuation of the Scheduled Castes from their territory. The reason behind this seems to me that they want the Scheduled Castes to remain in Pakistan to do the menial job and to serve as landless labourers for the land holding population of Pakistan. The Pakistan Government is particularly anxious to impound the sweepers whom they have declared as persons belonging to Essential Services and whom they are not prepared to release except on one month’s notice.

370 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES (2) The organisation known as the M.E.O. has been of some use in helping the Scheduled Castes refugees who are anxious to evacuate. I, however, understand that the Pakistan Government is not permitting the M.E.O. to get into direct touch with the Scheduled Castes who want to evacuate. Consequently, the process of evacuating the Scheduled Castes is going very slowly, and in some places it is at a standstill. I am also told that the M.E.O. is going to be closed very soon. If this happens then the evacuation of the Scheduled Castes from Pakistan would be quite impossible. (3) What is necessary to do is :— (i) to ask the Pakistan Government not to place any obstacles in the way of the evacuation of the Scheduled Castes, (ii) to allow the M.E.O. to get into direct touch with Scheduled Castes and wish to evacuate, (iii) to maintain the M.E.O. till all the Scheduled Castes are evacuated. (4) So far the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation has appointed only one officer from the Scheduled Castes to West Punjab. But other Provinces of Pakistan such as N. W. F. P., Sind and Bhawalpur are left over and for which no such officer has been appointed. The Ministry should be directed to make appointments to these areas forthwith to that special officers could tour the Pakistan area and find out the places where the Scheduled Castes are prevented by the Pakistan Government from coming over. II With regard to those Scheduled Castes who have come over from Pakistan to Eastern Punjab, they have also sent their complaints. They are far more numerous than those coming from persons who are impounded in Pakistan. I have their gist below :— (i) (1) The Scheduled Castes evacuees who have come to Eastern Punjab are not living in the refugees camps established by the