Vol. 17, Part III · pages 276–280

247IF DEMOCRACY....................OUR DOOM said, “This resolution that Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj, President - elect of the Third Session of the All-India Depressed Classes Conference do take the chair has been duly moved, regularly seconded and supported from all corners of this Conference. I put it now to vote. Those, in favour will signify their assent by raising their hands. (All, All). Any against, will now signify their disapproval by raising their hands. There is no opposition. The resolution is unanimously carried. I now request Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj to take the Chair. Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj amidst cheers occupied the Presidential Chair and was garlanded by the Chairman of the Reception Committee.” Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj then rose in the midst of cheers to address the Conference. After his Presidential address was over Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj announced : The subjects Committee will meet in the hall of the Mohan Park Hotel at 9 p. m. All the delegates who have come here will form the Subjects Committee. In view of your great desire to hear Dr. Ambedkar today, I ask Dr. Ambedkar to address you before the Subjects Committee meets. The Chairman of the Reception Committee will explain this to you in Marathi. Mr. G. T. Meshram : As desired by the President I have great pleasure to announce that our Great Leader Dr. B. R. Ambedkar has consented to speak today first in English and then in Marathi, inspite of his whole night journey and bad throat. You must know that wherever his train stopped last night, our people had collected in such large numbers to receive him therefore he could not get any sleep en route. You must keep pin-drop silence so that he may not have to overstrain his throat. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was given prolonged ovation as he rose to speak.

248 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Address by Dr. Ambedkar Dr. B. R. Ambedkar said : Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, In this Conference the first and initial difficulty with which one is faced is the question of language. In this vast gathering vast number of people are from the Marathi speaking area to whom one must speak in the Marathi language if they are to understand the proceedings of this Conference. Besides the vast Marathi-speaking audience we have also present in this Conference representatives of the Scheduled Castes from other than Marathi-speaking Provinces. We have in our midst representatives of the Scheduled Castes from other Provinces as well. I see some from Bengal, from Bihar, from Madras, from Andhra, from Punjab and from various other places. It is quite obvious that if they are to follow our proceedings it is necessary to speak in English. To avoid this difficulty I have decided to speak twice-once in English and again in Marathi, so that both sections may know what I have to say. Today I propose to speak in English. Tomorrow I will address you in Marathi. I might as well tell you how the idea of the holding of this Conference originated. As you will recall, I was called in April last to be present in Delhi to meet Sir Strafford Cripps, who had come to India as an agent of His Majesty’s Government with proposals for constitutional changes and who was charged with the duty of negotiating with the different political parties in India for the acceptance of those proposals. Before I went to Delhi I had invited representatives of the Scheduled Castes in different Provinces in India to meet me in Delhi for consultation. When I communicated to them the results of my talks with Sir Strafford Cripps we all felt that the proposals Sir Strafford Cripps had brought with him were a death-blow to the interests of the Scheduled Castes. I expressed my views on the Cripps proposals in a statement to the press which I hope you have all read. But it was felt that common and united action on the part of the Scheduled Castes from all over India was a great necessity - and that it was only common action that could save us from the impending political doom. This Conference has been the result of the wish expressed by the Scheduled Castes all over India through their

249IF DEMOCRACY....................OUR DOOM representatives who met at Delhi and has therefore the backing of the Untouchable India as a whole. That is why we have here present among us representatives of the Scheduled Castes all over India. There was a great rivalry among the different Provinces as to where it should be held. Bengal, Punjab, U.P., C.P. and Bombay each wanted to have the credit of holding the Conference. Ultimately all agreed to allow the Central Provinces to have the credit to hold the Conference. There was however one condition on which they had insisted, namely that I should preside over the Conference no matter where it was held. In deference to the wishes of all I had agreed to preside. The Conference is taking place according to that plan. I am sure we never had a conference so vast and so successful, and I am sure we are all greateful to our C. P. friends. It is their enthusiasm, it is their efforts which had made the Conference the success which it is. The only deviation which has taken place from the original plan is the change in the Presidentship. In my place we have our friend Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj presiding over this Conference. At the time when I agreed to preside I was a free man with the freedom of a politician, and could have presided over the Conference and said what I thought I should say. The limitations of office were then non-existent. But before the Conference could take place, there came the announcement that I was appointed a Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. This brought in the limitations of office and I thought it would be better to have another person who could speak for the Scheduled Castes with freedom and authority. Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj can speak with freedom, and I have no doubt that he can also speak with authority. He has long laboured in the cause of our people. He represents our people in the Central Legislature. By his education there are very few who are as well qualified as he is. He is B. A., B. L. of the Madras University. He has been a practising lawyer and he has been a professor of Law in Madras for over ten years. Indeed, a better person than him could not have been found to preside over this Conference, and I am indeed very happy that he has been chosen to take my place.

250 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES While I am a Member of Government of India, you will have the responsibility of keeping up our movement and making it effective so that it may lead to the result we all hope to achieve. I shall help you, I shall advise you. But I shall not be able to participate in it. That is a fact you must all bear in mind. It is, therefore, all the more necessary that before I transfer the responsibility to others, I must render account of my stewardship of this movement of the Untouchables which has been associated with me and has been carried on under my guidance if not under my aegis during the last 20 years. It is necessary for me to do so in order that those on whom this responsibility will fall should know where the Scheduled Castes stand vis-a-vis other communities in this country, what has been done and what remains to be done for their emancipation. It is a matter of immense satisfaction that the Untouchables have made great strides along all sides. I will particularise only three. They have acquired a degree of political consciousness which few communities in India have acquired. Secondly, they have made considerable progress in education. Thirdly, they are securing a foothold in the institutions and in the public service of the country. The modern generation of Untouchables are not in a position to realize the immensity of the progress made by the Untouchables. For the simple reason that they do not know how things stood when the movement began 20 years ago. I well remember the first meeting addressed in Bombay after I returned from England as a Barristerat-Law. Except the organisers of the meeting, there was not a single member in the audience-some persons were sitting on the doorsteps of houses smoking pipes and others were chatting in corners by themselves. No one thought of attending the meeting. See the difference. You have here an audience of 75000 people. Education has made a good progress as compared to that 20 years ago. In Poona alone there are 50 boys studying in colleges. There are altogether about 500 Untouchables who have graduated from the various universities. Some are doctors. Some have become barristers. Many of our brethren are members of Municipalities. District and Local Boards. Years ago our children were denied

251IF DEMOCRACY....................OUR DOOM education. Years ago Untouchables were not permitted to be Members of Local Boards and Municipalities for fear of causing pollution. All this has now changed. Our progress in public service has not been as rapid as we wish. In some respects the Untouchables have an entry. I must mention the Police and the Army. The Police Department was closed to the Untouchables and not even a constable’s place was open to the Untouchables. This has changed in some Provinces at least. Our people are now recruited in the Police Service. I must also mention the Army. Upto 1892, Mahars were everywhere in the Army and there were Armies of Mahars. After 1892 the entry of the Mahars in the Army was stopped. During the great War of 1914, recruitment of the Mahars in the Army was restarted and one battalion of the Mahars was formed. After the last War that battalion was again disbanded. Now, however, our regiments are again being formed. Commissions are being granted to our young men and 5 or 6 of our young men have received King’s Commission and are holding posts of responsibility and honour in the Army. The greatest progress that we have made is to be found among our women folk. Here you see in this Conference these 20000 to 25000 women present. See their dress, observe their manners, mark their speech. Can any one say that they are Untouchable women. The progress made by our women is the most astonishing and encouraging feature of our movement and it is of course the most gratifying feature. This is a record of progress of which we may all be legitimately proud. It is a progress for which we have not to thank anybody. It is not the result of Hindu charity. It is an achievement which is entirely the result of our own labour. The question is how can we maintain this progress. That is a question we must never forget to ask ourselves. Progress in the competition of communities is the result of power. This power may be economic, it may be social or it may be political. Have we power to sustain our progress ? Have we economic power ? I am sure we have none. We are a class of serfs. Have we social power ? I am sure we have none. We are a degraded portion of humanity. The only thing, therefore, we can depend upon for our continued progress is the capture of political