Vol. 17, Part III · pages 166–170

137WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? your efforts ? Comparatively the path of Conversion is far easy. The Hindu Society gives equal treatment to the Muslims. The Hindu Society gives equal treatment to the Christians. Obviously, the social equality is easily achieved by the conversion. If this is true, then why should you not adopt this simple path of Conversion ? According to me, this Conversion of Religon will bring happiness to both—the Untouchables as well as Hindus. So long as you remain as Hindus, you will have to struggle for polluting contacts, for food and water, and for intercaste marriages. And so long as this quarrel continues, you and the Hindu will be the perpetual enemies to each other. By the conversion, the roots of all the quarrels will vanish. Then you will have no right to claim on their temples as well there will be no need for the same. There will be no reason for you to struggle for social rights such as intercaste dinning, intercaste marriages etc; and if these quarrels cease to exist, mutual love and affection will develop among you. Look at the present relations between the Hindus on one hand and the Christians and the Muslims on the other. The Hindus do not allow the Muslims and the Christians to enter their temples, like you. They also have no intercaste marriages or inter dining with them. Irrespective of this, the affinity and love which these people have, is not in between you and the Hindus. The main reason for this difference is that, as you live in the Hindu religion, you have to struggle with the Hindu Society for the social and the religious rights. But the Muslims and the Christians, having gone out of the Hindu religion, do not need to struggle with the Hindus for the religious and the social rights. Secondly, although they have no social rights in the Hindu Society, namely, they have no inter-dining and inter-marriage with the Hindus, the Hindus do not treat them inequals. Thus by conversion, if the equality can be achieved and the affinity between the Hindus and the Untouchables can be brought about, then why should the Untouchables not adopt this simple and happy path of securing equality ? Looking at the problem through this angle, the conversion is the only right path of freedom which ultimately leads to equality. The Conversion is not the path of escapism. It is not the path of cowardice, it is the path of wisdom.

138 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES One more argument is put forth against the conversion. Some Hindus argue that the conversion is worthless if you do it out of frustration from the caste system. The Hindus plead that wherever you go, there is a casteism. If you become Muslim; there is a casteism. If you become Christian there is also a casteism. Unfortunately, it has to be admitted that the Caste System has crept into other religions in this country also. But the burden of nurturing this great sin lies with the Hindus alone. This disease originally sprang up from the Hindus and thereafter infected others. In their view they are helpless for this. Although the castes exist in the Muslims and the Christians alike, it will be meanness to liken it to that of the Hindus. There is a great distinction between the caste system of the Hindus and that of the Muslims and the Christians. Firstly, it must be noted that though there is a casteism among the Christians and the Muslims, nobody can say that it is the chief characteristic of their social system. If one asks, ‘who are you ?’ the reply ‘I am a Muslim’ or, ‘I am a Christian’ is enough to satisfy. Nobody feels the necessity of asking as to what his caste is. But if any Hindu is asked, ‘Who are you ?’ and he says, ‘I am a Hindu’, one is not satisfied with this reply. He is further asked. ‘What is your caste ?’ And unless this is replied to, none can have the idea of his social status. From this it is evident as to how the caste has prime importance in the Hindu religion and how negligible it is in the Christianity and the Islam. There is one more difference between the caste system of the Hindus and that of the Muslims and the Christians. The caste system in the Hindus has the foundation of the Hindu Religion. The castes in Muslims and Christian religions have no sanction in their religion. If the Hindus proclaim to disband the caste system, their religion will come in their way. On the other hand, if the Muslims and the Christians start movements for abolishing the caste system in their society, their religion will not obstruct this. The Hindus cannot destroy their castes without destroying their religion. The Muslims and the Christians need not destroy their religions for eradication of the castes. Rather their religion will support such movements to great extent. Even for the sake of argument, it is admitted that castes exist everywhere, it cannot be concluded that one should remain in the Hindu fold. If the Caste System is useless, then the logical conclusion is that one should

139WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? accept such a society in which the Caste System has no severity or wherein the castes can be abolished early and easily in a simple manner. Some Hindus say, ‘What will happen by the conversion alone ? Try to improve your financial and educational status.’ Possibly some of our people will be confused and puzzled by such question. I therefore feel it necessary to discuss it here. Firstly, the question is, who is going to improve your financial and educational conditions ? You yourself or those who argue as above ? I do not think that those who advice you like this will be able to do anything except extending their lip sympathy. Nor do I find any efforts towards this direction from their side. On the contrary, every Hindu tries to improve the economic status of his own caste. His outlook is limited to his own caste alone. Brahmins are engaged in establishing maternity homes for Brahmin women, providing scholarships to Brahmin pupils, and for securing jobs for the unemployed Brahmins. Saraswats (one of the castes amongst the Brahmins) are also doing the same. Kayasthas and Marathas are doing the same. Everybody is for himself, and those who have no benefactor are at the mercy of God. You yourself have to rise, none else is to come to your aid, this is the present day condition of a society. If this is the situation, what is the purpose in listening to the advice of these people ? There is no other motive in such advice but to misguide you and kill your time. If you have to improve yourselves, then nobody need to pay any attention to that gossips of the Hindu people and they do not have any right to advice you. Although this may seem enough, I do not propose to leave this point here. I feel necessary to refute this argument. I am simply surprised by the senseless question which some Hindus ask as to what will happen by the conversion alone ? Most of the present day Sikhs, Muslims and Christians in India were formerly Hindus, majority of them being from the Shudras and the Untouchables. Do these critics mean to say that those who renounced the Hindu fold and embraced Sikhism or Christianity, have made no progress at all ? And if this is not true, and if it is admitted that the conversion has brought a distinct improvement in their condition, then to say that the Untouchables will not be

140 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES benefitted by the conversion, carries no meaning; they have to think over this. Another implied meaning of the statement that ‘nothing will happen by the conversion’ means that ‘the religion is meaningless.’ I do not understand why they advocate and insist upon the Untouchables to remain in the Hindu religion when they argue that the religion is meaningless; there is neither gain nor loss. If they do not find any meaning in the religion, why should they unnecessarily argue for which religion is left and which is accepted ? Those Hindus who ask as to what will happen by the conversion alone, can be accosted with the similar question— what can be achieved by self Government alone. If it is true that the people in India, like the Untouchables, feel the necessity of the financial and educational progress, what is the good of self Government. And if the country is to be benefitted by self Government alone, the Untouchables are also bound to be benefitted by the conversion. After giving a deep thought to this problem, everybody will have to admit that the conversion is necessary to the Untouchables as self Government is necessary to India. The conversion is as important to the Untouchables as is self Government to India. The ultimate object of both the conversion and the self Government is the same. There is not the slightest difference in their ultimate goal. This ultimate aim is to attain freedom. And if the freedom is necessary for the life of mankind, the conversion of Untouchables which brings them complete freedom cannot be called worthless by any stretch of imagination. What first ? Progress or Conversion ? I think it is necessary here to discuss the question as to what should be initiated first, whether econmic progress or conversion ? I do not agree with the view that economic progress should precede. This issue whether religious conversion or economic progress should precede is as dry as that which deals with political reform versus social reform. Several means are required to be applied for the development and progress of the society and each of these means has its own significance. No definite seriatim can be applied for the application of these means. If, however, anybody insists for such seriatim with regard to the conversion and economic reform, I will prefer conversion to economic reform.

141WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? I fail to understand how you can achieve economic progress so long as you have the stigma of being an Untouchable. If anyone of you open a shop and it is known that the shopkeeper is an Untouchable, nobody will purchase anything from you. If anyone of you apply for a job, and it is disclosed that the applicant is an Untouchable, you will not get the job. If anyone intends to sell his land, and one of you propose to purchase it, nobody will sell the land once it is known that the purchaser is an Untouchable. Whatever means you may use for the economic progress of your own efforts will be frustrated due to the Untouchability. The Untouchability is a permanent obstacle in your path of progress. And unless you remove it, your path cannot be smooth and without the conversion, this hurdle cannot be removed. Some of your young ones are trying to get education and they are collecting money for this purpose from whatever source they find proper. Due to this temptation of money, some are inclined to remain the Untouchables and make their progress. I wish to ask one question to these youngsters, after completion of your education, if you do not get the job suited to your qualifications, what will you do of your education ? What is the reason that most of our educated persons are unemployed today ? To me, the main cause for this unemployment is the Untouchability alone. Your virtues are not valued because of Untouchability. Your caliber has no scope due to your Untouchability. Because of the Untouchability, you have been ousted from the Military service. You are not employed in the Police Department on account of your Untouchability. Due to the Untouchability, you cannot secure even the post of a peon. You are not promoted to the higher rank only because you are an Untouchable. An Untouchability is a kind of curse. You have been completely ruined and all your virtues have turned into dust. Under these circumstances, what more qualifications can you acquire and even if you acquire, what is its use ? So if you sincerely desire that your qualifications should be valued, your education should be of some use to you, the doors of your financial progress are to be opened, you must throw away the shackles of the Untouchability. Doubts against Conversion The arguments put forth by the critics of conversion have been discussed so far. Now I propose to clarify the doubts expressed