Vol. 17, Part III · pages 141–145

112 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES You look upon me as ‘God’ but I am not a god. I am a human being like you all. Whatever help you want from me, I am prepared to give you. I have decided to liberate you from your present hopeless and degraded condition. I am not doing anything for my personal gain. I will continue to struggle for your upliftment and to make your life useful and meaningful. You must realise your responsibility and follow the path which I am showing you. If you follow it earnestly, it would not be difficult to achieve your goal.” 1 zz 1 : Janata : dated 23rd May, 1936. Published in Marathi. (Translated)

29 WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? On the background of his declaration that, “I solemnly assure you that I will not die a Hindu.” at Yeola, Distt. Nasik, Maharashtra, on 13th October, 1935, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar convened a Conference on 30th and 31st May 1936 at Dadar, Bombay. The sole aim of this Conference was to assess the support of his own people for the conversion movement. It was attended by about thirty five thousand Untouchable Mahars. In a specially erected pandal the following slogans were displayed. * Man is not for religion, religion is for man. * To become humane, convert yourselves. * To get organised, convert yourselves. * To achieve strength, convert yourselves. * To secure equality, convert yourselves. * To get liberty, convert yourselves. * To make your domestic life happy, convert yourselves. * Why do you remain in that religion which does not treat you as human beings ? * Why do you remain in that religion which prohibits you from entering temples ? * Why do you remain in that religion which prohibits you from drinking water ? * Why do you remain in that religion which does not allow you to get education ? * Why do you remain in that religion which insults you at every step ? * Why do you remain in that religion which obstructs you from getting a job ?

114 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES * A religion which prohibits righteous relations between man and man is not a religion but a display of force. * A religion which treats recognition of humanity as irreligion is not a religion but a disease. * A religion which allows the touch of unholy animals but prohibits the touch of human beings is not a religion but a foolishness. * A religion which precludes one class from getting education, forbids it to accumulate wealth, to bear arms, is not a religion but a mockery of human life. * A religion that compels the illiterate to remain illiterate, the poor to remain poor, is not a religion but a punishment. * Those who profess that the God is omnipresent but treat men worse than animals, are hypocrites. Do not keep company of such people. * Those who feed ants with sugar but kill men by prohibiting them from drinking water are hypocrites. Do not keep their company. Mr. Stanley Jones, a European missionary and Mr. B. J. Jadhav, were the special invitees. There were a number of Sikh and Muslim leaders and priests who were eager to catch any direct or indirect hint in the matter of conversion. The object of the Conference was to devise ways and means to implement the resolution passed at Yeola on 13th Oct. 1935. Mr. D. Dolas welcomed the delegates while Mr. B. S. Venkatrao, a Depressed Classes leader from Hyderabad presided over the Conference. 1 1 : Janata, dated 20th June, 1936.

115WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar spoke elaborately in Marathi on 31st May 1936. He delivered a prepared speech.—Editors He said, Ladies and Gentlemen, You must have come to know by now that this conference has been purposefully called upon to ponder over the declaration of conversion which I made recently. The Subject of conversion is very dear to me. Not so only, I feel the whole of your future depends upon this subject. I have no hesitation in saying that you have clearly understood the gravity of this problem. Had it not been so, you would not have assembled here in such a large number. I am very happy to see this mammoth gathering. Need for the Conversion Since the time of my declaration of the conversion, our men conducted several meetings at various places and expressed their views and opinions, which I hope must have reached you. But so far we had no opportunity to gather to discuss and decide the problem of the conversion. I was very much concerned for such an opportunity. You will all agree that planning is very necessary for making the movement of conversion a success. A conversion is not a child play. It is not a subject of entertainment. It deals with, how to make man’s life successful. Just as a boatman has to make all necessary preparations before he starts for voyage, so also we have to make such preparations. Without this, it will not be possible to reach the other shore. But as the boatman does not load the luggage unless he gets an idea of the number of passengers boarding the boat, so also, my position is like him and I cannot proceed without definite facts. Unless I get an idea as to how many persons are willing to leave the Hindu fold, I cannot start preparation for the conversion. When I expressed the idea before some workers in Bombay that I would not be able to judge the public opinion unless we meet in a conference, they voluntarily shouldered the responsibility of calling this conference without putting up any excuse about expenses and labour. What pains they had to take has already been described by our revered leader and the President of the Reception Committee, Shri Rewji Dagduji Dolas in his speech. I am extremely indebted to the Reception Committee of the Conference for arranging the meeting after making such strenuous efforts.

116 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Why only Conference of Mahars ? Some people may raise an objection as to why the Conference has been called upon only of the Mahars ? If the declaration of the conversion is meant for all the Untouchables, why has not a meeting of all the Untouchables been convened ? Before starting the discussion on the issues before the Conference, I feel it obligatory to reply to these questions. There are various reasons for convening the Conference only of the Mahars. Firstly, neither any safeguards from the government nor social rights to be demanded from the Hindus through this Conference. The only question before this Conference is, ‘What should be done for the betterment of our life ?’ How are we to carve the path for our future life ? The question can be solved and need to be solved by the respective castes separately. This is one of the reasons, why I have not called a Conference of all the Untouchables. There is another reason for calling the Conference of only the Mahars. About ten months have passed since the declaration was made. During this period, sufficient efforts have been made to awaken the pubilc conscience. I feel, the proper time to judge the public opinion has come. In my opinion, to do this, meetings of each caste separately, is the simplest way to judge its opinion. In order to materialise the problem of conversion, it is very necessary to judge public opinion. And I believe, public opinion judged through meetings of each caste separately will be more representative and reliable than the opinion arrived at through a common meeting of all the Untouchables. Such a meeting, though termed as of all the Untouchables, will not necessarily be representative of all the Untouchable castes. In order to avoid this sort of situation, and to ensure the public opinion, this meeting of Mahars alone has been called. Though the other communities are not included, they are not at loss. If they do not intend to convert, they have no reason to regret for not being included in this Conference. If at all they wish to leave their religion, nothing can come in their way, only because they have not participated in this Conference. The other communities from the Untouchables are free to hold meetings like the Mahars and express their opinion. I would advice them to hold such meetings, and I will extend whatever help is needed from me, to the best of my capacity. This much is enough as an introduction. Now I turn to the main subject.