Vol. 17, Part II · pages 266–270

243I AM A GREATER . . . . . . ANYBODY ELSE Executive Council. I have not taken that drastic step because I want to save the Congress from total degeneration,” he averred. “Why have I not embarked on that very drastic course ?” Dr. Ambedkar continued. “It is because I desire to give the Congress one more chance. The fight which we have inaugurated shows that my party has taken the line of least resistance.” He would himself participate in the “Satyagraha” at the opportune moment. At the present juncture the “General Staff” of the movement consisted only of a small nucleus of ‘commanders’. As the supreme commanders and the ‘confidence’ of thousands of followers, Dr. Ambedkar did not deem it necessary for him to court arrest. “But”, he said, “I am not afraid of jail life. Only, I do not believe in spectacular and unplanned action.” Asked what sort of blue-print he expected from the Congress, the Doctor answered : “What has the Congress done to us constructively in the last twenty years. They are now the inheritors of British power and domination. We have a right to ask them what they propose to do to us under the new Constitution. We do not place any trust in vague promises and platitudes. We want concrete proof of Congress sincerity to deal with us justly and fairly. Let them descend from the dizzy heights of phrase mongering to the the brass-tacks.” Plea For “Satisfactory Blue Print” “Should the Congress issue a thoroughly satisfactory blueprint, would you be prepared to call upon your followers to join that body?” Dr. Ambedkar was asked next. “Certainly not”, he replied. “We are more radically inclined, socially and politically, than the Congress. We represent the poorest of the poor. We are sons of the soil, the true masses. As such, we cannot contemplate joining a psudo-socialist organization as the Congress.” However, if the Congress made a square deal to the Scheduled Classes, and was ready to launch on a “real” struggle for the resurgence of the country, he would unhesitatingly offer his co-operation.

244 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Dr. Ambedkar denied he had said in his Poona Press Conference that his party had been given any assurances from the Muslim League in any form and on any issue. His unwillingness to start ‘Satyagraha’ campaigns in the ‘Muslim’ Provinces proceeded from the premise that the Muslims had done no harm to the Scheduled Classes. Votes Won But Seats Lost In an allusion to the fate of the Scheduled Class candidates in the recent general election, he maintained that there was no real trial of strength. His men had won all the votes but lost the seats because “Hindu” votes helped to swamp their chances. “We are fighting for our liberty, for our very existence,” Dr. Ambedkar feelingly observed towards the end. “We, a large community, have been denied elementary justice for decades. We have been maltreated, our just demands bruised aside with contempt. No chord of sympathy has been touched from any quarter. What we ask for is justice and fair-play. Let us have it or, by God, the consequences would be terrible as none could picture.” 1 Baba Saheb ready to lead In an interview to the Associated Press of India, Bhimrao Ambedkar said today that the Scheduled Castes Federation had been compelled to limit the number of Satyagrahis to very small numbers owing to the difficulty of feeding them, “We have been receiving telegrams and letters from all parts of India, and even from Burma and Malaya - offering to come to Poona to join the Satygraha movement. But the real difficulty is to provide them with food and accommodation. Owing to the rationing difficulties, “It is not possible”. For the small batches of men who will from to-day onwards offer Satygraha by defying the District Magistrate ban on assembly within the precincts of the Assembly - all at Poona the Mushti Fund will cater. Apart from this, the men themselves have been requested to bring with them four or five days rations. Dr. Ambedkar has told the organisers of the movement that he would himself be ready to proceed to Poona whenever they required him. ” 2 1: The Bombay Chronicle, dated 25th July 1946. 2: Jai Bheem : August 13, 1946. p.7.

245I AM A GREATER . . . . . . ANYBODY ELSE Lucknow starts Satyagraha, 140 arrested More than 140 members of the Lucknow branch of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation were arrested to-day when they resorted to mass Satyagraha as a protest against the Poona Pact. Of the 140 Federation members arrested 80 were taken under custody near the Council House, and the rest from various parts of the city. Restrictions under Section 144 Criminal Procedure Code were strictly enforced by the police. Scheduled Castes to launch passive resistence General Secretary’s Announcement Members of the Scheduled Castes Federation and their followers will register their protest by launching a non-violent Satyagraha movement all over India* against what they describe as the injustice done to them in the Cabinet Mission’s proposal, which ignored the existence of the Scheduled Castes as a separate political entity. A beginning is to be made at Poona on July 15 during the session of the Bombay Legislative Assembly by violation of the order of the District Magistrate of Poona, prohibiting meetings, demonstrations and processions, along the area of half a mile from Council Hall and the Secretariat.” 1 General Secretary’s Explanation Explaining this decision in the course of a statement Mr. P.N. Rajbhoj, General Secretary of the Scheduled Castes Federation says ‘the time has arrived to launch a passive resistance movement according to the resolution passed by the Working Commitee of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation on June 4, 1946 in Bombay. There is now no alternative for us but to resort to direct action. The circumstances require a struggle in order to save the scheduled castes from the impending Catastrophe.’ Mr. Rajbhoj adds that the British Government and their statement committed a breach of trust in ignoring the Scheduled Castes * See appendix -V 1: Jai Bheem : August 13, 1946.

246 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES as a separate political entity and rejecting the demands made by Dr. Ambedkar and Rao Bahadur N. Sivaraj for political safeguards. “The Federation is, therefore, bound” he says, “to take direct action against the British Government. They cannot also forget the mischievous part which the Congress has played in this sordid affair. The Federation is convinced that the Congress has misused its position as the majority party and the eagerness of the British to placate the Congress forced them to deny the Scheduled Castes the status of a separate political entity. What has been done by the Cabinate Mission to the Scheduled Castes is the direct result of the Congress Machination and the Federation is, therefore, bound to take action against the Congress as well.” The Council of Action appointed in June to devise ways of launching a struggle will, Mr. Rajbhoj states, intimate the various Provincial components of the nature of the struggle each should embark upon. But in the meantime, the Bombay Provincial Scheduled Castes Federation has decided, he adds, to take the first step in the struggle by breaking the order of the District Magistrate Poona on July 15. Mr. Rajbhoj called upon all those who wish to participate in the movement to enrol themselves at the office of the Bombay Provincial Scheduled Castes Federation at Poona, where Mr. B. K. Gaikwad, President is in-charge. ” 1 In another press interview published in ‘Jai Bheem’ dated 16th September 1946. Dr. Ambedkar pointed out other view of which some of the points have resemblance with the views in the preview interviews—Editors. Babasaheb explains purpose of Satyagraha Dr. B. R. Ambedkar demanded in a Press interview that the Congress should issue a blue print explaining how they were going to dispose of the destiny of the 60 million Scheduled Castes of the Country. The purpose of the Satyagraha launched by the Scheduled Castes Federation in Poona, he explained, was to get answer from the Congress to this question and ask the Congress to make an open declaration of their plan to protect the interests of the Scheduled Castes in the future constitution of India. 1: Jai Bheem : August 13, 1946. Pp. 2-3.

247I AM A GREATER . . . . . . ANYBODY ELSE Dr. Ambedkar said that the British Cabinet Mission had decided rightly or wrongly — the Scheduled Castes considered it wrongly and iniquitously — that the heirs to the British Power, authority and sovereignty in India were only two — the Muslims and the Caste Hindus. The Scheduled Castes had no quarrel with the Muslims, for they were prepared to make a declaration of their intentions towards the protection of the rights of the Scheduled Castes and there would be no Satyagraha in such Provinces where the Muslims were in power. The Congress, however, so far had been mute over this question. In the Constituent Assembly, the Congress would be in a majority of three fourths and they would decide the issues affecting the rights and interests of the Scheduled Castes by their majority vote. The Scheduled Castes were, therefore, entitled to get an answer from the Congress to their question. Dr. Ambedkar said that if the Scheduled Castes were troubling the Bombay Government, it was because it was a part and parcel of the Congress machinery. Mr. B. G. Kher had suggested in his statement that the present Satyagraha was motivated by the sense of frustration on the part of the Federation because they had lost in the last elections, “Mr. Kher” Dr. Ambedkar said, “was free to attribute any motives, high or low, to the movement but he wanted to make it clear that so far as he was concerned, he would do nothing in politics or public life which he could not justify publicly.” It was wrong, however, to say that a sense of frustration had been created in the minds of the Scheduled Castes. They had scored cent per cent victories though they had lost cent per cent seats. “There would have been frustration if the Scheduled Castes had voted against our candidates, and for the Congress nominees. That would have been our ruination. But not over four per cent voted in favour of the Congress candidates who have been returned on Caste Hindu votes. That was not our defeat but triumph. But the fact that we lost these elections does not mean that we are going to lose them every time.” Turning to the demands of the Scheduled Castes, Dr. Ambedkar said, one of them was the abrogation of the Poona Pact. “Why should we not agitate against it?” he asked. “No treaty in the world is accepted as sacrosanct. The Poona Pact has resulted in