Vol. 17, Part III · pages 421–425

392 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES The decisions of the Cabinet Mission seemed to wipe out the Scheduled Castes as a separate political entity and that without political sefeguards the Scheduled Castes appeared to me to be doomed. There was complete darkness before me. That is the reason why I have not made any statement. In reply to (2) I said : It is true I have been an opponent and a ciritic of the Congress. At the same time, I do not believe in opposition for the sake of opposition. There ought to be the spirit of co-operation where we can gain something by co-operation. I thought there would be no use fighting against the Congress. I, therefore, decided to co-operate and by co-operation we got some safeguards in the Constitution which we might not otherwise have got and gave some instances to substantiate my argument. With regard to my joining the Cabinet : I said there were two reasons which prevailed upon me to accept the offer— (i) the offer was without any condition : (ii) one could serve the interests of the Scheduled Castes better from within the Government than from without. I said that the Scheduled Castes had no fear of bad laws being made to their prejudice. What they had to fear about was bad administration. This bad administration was due to the absence of men belonging to the Scheduled Castes in the administration. The Administration was unsympathetic to the Scheduled Castes because it was maintained wholly by caste Hindu officers who were partial to the caste Hindus in the villages, who exacted begar from the Scheduled Castes, and practised upon them tyranny and oppression day in and day out. This tyranny and oppression could be averted only if more of the Scheduled Castes could find places in the civil service. This can be done better by being inside the Government rather than remaining outside. In regard to third point, I said that their is no use joining the Congress. Safety lies in having two parties. There must be an opposition to criticise the Government. The Government may otherwise easily become dictator. It is a house which is burning. There are many inside the Congress who want to form an opposition, the necessity of which they feel quite strongly.

393ORGANISE.........................PROGRAMME Secondly, the Congress itself is getting divided. The Socialists have gone out of it. How big they will grow one cannot say now. There are possibilities of their getting quite big. Hereafter, there will be two parties: (1) Congress and (2) Socialists—and the question is not whether we should join the Congress. The question is whether we should join the Congress or the Socialists. I said that my advice is that you should form a third party so that the Scheduled Castes may be able to hold the balance and thereby obtain bargaining power. There is no use joining any political party as its mere camp-followers. If it gives anything, it merely gives office. It cannot give power. Your conference has just now passed a resolution condemning the Pant Government for giving you only ten per cent reservation in the services when on a purely population basis you are entitled to something like 22%. The reason why Mr. Pant does not give you your full quota, is because for his majority in the United Provinces Assembly he is not depended upon you—and that can be only when you are united into a separate organisation worthy of negotiation—you can demand 22%, and he will have to give it to you. I then turned to the question of unity between the Scheduled Castes and the so-called Backward Classes. This I did at the request of the leaders of the Backward Classes who were present at the Conference. I said it was a pity that the two classes whose needs were commn did not join together. The reason was that the Backward Classes did not like to associate themselves with the Scheduled Castes because they were afraid that such an association will bring themselves down to the level of the Scheduled Castes. I said that I was not anxious to establish interdining and intermarriage between the Scheduled Castes and the Backward Classes. They may well remain separate social entities. There is no reason why they should not join hands to form a political party to remove their backward condition. I pointed out how the Scheduled Castes have improved their condition by playing their part in the politics of the country and there is no reason why the Backward Classes should not do the same.

394 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES I said that the Scheduled Castes and the Backward Classes form majority of the population of the country. There is no reason why they should not rule this country. All that is necessary is to organize for the purpose of capturing political power—which is your own because of adult suffrage. People do not seem to buck up courage because they are overwhelmed by the belief that the Congress Government is there forever. I said, this is a wrong impression. In a popular democracy no Government is permanent and not even the Government established by the two of the tallest Congressmen, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel. If you organize, you can even capture that Government. I am sure, the reader will notice that any suggestion made that I attacked the Congress Organization or my colleagues is a travesty of facts.” zz

114 PROGRESS OF A COMMUNITY ALWAYS DEPENDS UPON EDUCATION At Manmad, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was presented with a purse on January 15, 1949*. “Speaking on the occasion, he declared, that his people would establish real socialism in the land under the rule of peasants and workers. He also impressed upon his audience that the progress of a community always depended upon how they advanced in education.” 1 zz * As per Janata, dated 22nd January 1949, the programme was held on Sunday the 16th January 1949—Editors. 1 : Keer, P. 410.

115 THE HINDU CODE WAS A RIGHT STEP TOWARDS A CIVIL CODE Students Parliament of Siddarth College had organised a Student Parliament on Wednesday, 11th January 1950. Coinciding the presence of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in Bombay. He was called specially to talk on ‘Hindu Code Bill.’ The programme was arranged in Sundarabai Hall. Even though the programme was at 9 a. m. the hall was full to its capacity by 8 a. m. only. Many outside dignitories were present to listen to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. A special arrangement of loud speakers was made.1 In his speech Dr. B. R. Ambedkar said, “It would be wrong to describe the Hindu Code Bill as either radical revolutionary. He said that the Bill, while according sanction to the new ways of progress, did not oppose the orthodox practices. He further stated that the new Republican Constitution of India had given a positive direction that Government should endeavour to prepare a Civil Code for the benefit of the country as a whole. The purpose of the Hindu Code Bill was, he explained, to codify and modify certain branches of the Hindu Law. Dwelling upon its significance, he said that it was beneficial from the point of the country’s oneness that the same set of laws should govern the Hindu social and religious life. He further told his audience that the Hindu laws were being revised not because the Hindus were a weak people to resist its revival but for uniformity’s sake. The Hindu Code was a right step towards a Civil Code. The laws should be easily understandable and be applied to all society irrespective of regional barriers. Moreover, a Hindu was free to adopt anybody from the Hindu society and he could make a will denying inheritance to his daughter. As regards the authority under which the Code was drafted, he said that the modifications proposed were based on the Hindu Shastras and Smritis. The property was governed by Dayabhag system ; the child belonged to the caste of the father under Pitrisavarnya ; divorce was supported by Kautilya and Parashara Smriti; and women’s rights to property were supported by Brihaspati Smriti” he concluded.” 2 zz 1. : Janata, dated 14th January 1950. 2. : Keer, Pp. 417—418.