Vol. 17, Part III · pages 601–605

572 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES X Funds of the Dal : (1) All the funds of the Dal shall be deposited in a Bank or Banks approved both by the Supervisor appointed by the All India Scheduled Castes Federation and the G. O. C. of the Dal and in the name of S. S. D. shall be operated upon by the G. O. C. and the General Secretary of the Dal. (2) All the branches of the S. S. Dal shall select any Bank or Banks in their own respective provinces or Districts and shall deposit in such Bank or Banks all the funds in the name of the S. S. Dal and such funds shall be operated upon by any three persons authorised by the General Body in this behalf. XI Flag : The flag of the All India Samata Sainik Dal will be four feet in length and 2 1 2 feet in width. The whole ground of the flag will be deep blue and in the top left corner there shall be 11 pointed stars in white colour. Also there shall be a sun in the middle of the flag in white colour. The letter S. C. F, shall be boldly written under the sun in blue colour. In the Bottom right corner of the flag there shall be letters S. S. D. in white colour. The meaning of the FLAG is liberty, equality & fraternity and to fight to achieve our goal.

APPENDIX—III “AN OUTSPOKEN UTTERANCEE” In presenting a civic address to Dr. Ambedkar last evening, the 22nd September 1944, Madras honoured itself. Dr. Ambedkar is the accredited leader of a great community, which has for centuries been deprived of the rights of ordinary citizenship. By his high attainments his courageous leadership and outstanding qualities he has proved himself to be a leader of worthy of respect by all irrespective of party differences over small matters. It is to be regretted therefore that a civic address to such a person should have been opposed by a political party—the Congress party and that its members should have refrained from attending the function. This attitude however is neither new nor surprising. A party that has always been guided by totalitarian methods and which has not been conspicuous for its appreciation of the decensies of public life and the amenities of public conduct, should not be expected to lose one opportunity to show its hostility to leaders of other schools of political thought. We, however, feel with Dr. Ambedkar that the civic address was all the more eloquent of the regard in which he is held, because it was free from the conventional lines of Civilisation. In this reply to the address presented, Dr. Ambedkar spoke with refrosting candour and gave expression to views which are shared by the bulk of our countrymen. At a time when scheme of political reforms are being considered, when the goal of independence is being pressed, it is well to have a correct appreciation of the various factors that should be taken into consideration. It is but natural that under such circumstances, the lessons of the past should not be forgotten— particularly the lessons of the immediate past. Referring these lessons, Dr. Ambedkar observed, “In this country no matter what they did, the Brahmins were the governing community. They came to the surface and nobody else. In each of the seven provinces they had Brahmin Prime Ministers with half the ministry of Brahmins. The elections proved that in this country there was only one community that was destined to be governing class and it came out as the governing class.” It will interest our readers to note that even when there

574 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES was a change in the Ministry, it was always a Brahmin who was chosen as Prime Minister thus establishing the convention that it was only an Amurath that should succeed an Amurath. The setting up of the Congress Parliamentary Board was itself an ingenious way of ensuring that the time honoured governing class should exercise authority and control. Thus in the very choice of Congress Candidates it was not the Provincial Congress Committees that had the final voice but the Chairman of the Parliamentary Board. Nay, the Presidents of the Provincial Committees, even had no say in the matter, but it was left to a Congress member like Mr. Rajgopalachari to take these recommendations and obtain the final approval of the Parlimentary Board. Is it any wonder that under such circumstances, Non-Brahmins with any degree or independence and those who were not likely to prove themselves docile and submissive had no chance of being even nominated as candidates ? Would it surprise any of our countrymen that under these circumstances a person like Dr. Ramalinga Reddy who was the leader of the Congress opposition in the previous legislative was not selected and was put into cold storage when hundreds of persons whose fame and name were hidden in the Congress archives suddenly found themselves in the limelight and were chosen as candidates ? Even in the selection of candidates the power was centred in the Parliamentary Boards. Is it any wonder that when it came a choice of Prime Ministers it was entirely left to a handful to decide ? Naturally all the Prime Ministers were Brahmins. Mr. Rajgopalachari, Mr. Kher, Pandit Pant, Mr. Bardolai, Pandit Shukla etc. like genusome—all had to be of the chosen race and they in turn saw it that the Ministry was atleast fifty percent pure with members of the governing race. You may extend the franchise as much as you can, you may give adult franchise and you may even give adoloscents and even children the franchise, but what will come to the surface will be the governing race. Not only were nearly fifty percent of the ministry Brahmins but practically all the important portfolis with power and patronage must be in their hands and under their control. Thus to take our own presidency into consideration—Finance, Police, Public Services, Revenue, Medicine and Public Health, Industries, Religious

575APPENDIX Endowments—in fact everything of importance had to be under their control. Over and above this, even over the few departments which were thrown as crumbs to the ill-qualified Non-Brahmins, Muslims or Depressed Class Ministers, the Prime Minister had to exercise due control and direct and dictate the policy that had to be pursued. The procedure whereby all power was so effectively concentrated in the representatives of a small community was followed in the other six provinces as well and so once more under the guise of a democratic form of government, the wise rule of the successors of the Peshwas was continued. The inevitable result of such policy was the further enslavement of other nationalities and the exercise of uncontrolled power and authority with the help of British Administrators and Governors to put down such elements as may dare to raise their fable voices of protest. The abuse of the much condemned criminal law—Amendment Act to put down the so called Hindi agitators in this presidency, the installing of Vidya Mandir in the Central Provinces and Bombay furnish eloqent proof of the nature of the democracy that one should expect. The warning that Dr. Ambedkar has given is, therefore, timely and essential “we ought to ask the question” says, “Whether the governing class in a particular country has a sense of responsibility, so that the government of the country can be entrusted to that country. We have all forgotten the fact that the right to govern must be decided in the light of the sense of responsibility of the governing class. What is the out look of the governing class ? What is its philosophy ? What does it believed in ?” Answering these questions, Dr. Ambedkar pertinently observes, “If you have governing class which believes in graded inequality if it believes you must not touch another human being, if it believes that a certain class alone is entitled to education and not others, if it believes that one class alone is entitled to property and another class is born to be servile and to die in servility. If a national Government was formed and if it went into the hands of this governing class, do you think that such a national government will be better than the present Government of India ?” These doubts are by no means imaginary. They are on the other hand based on the bitter experience of the past and on the black

576 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES prospects of the present. It is no use hiding the truth that the governing class has little or no sympathy for the masses. In words of great Dathos, their orators may speak with eloquence of a Burke or a Cobden, but their performance will give the lie direct to their eloquent effusions. Their interest in education is limited to the facilities available for their own community. Their fight for jobs will be most strenuous when the jobs are to benefit their kith and kin. There plea for self government will be most vigorous, so long as it will help to keep their men in power. If there is no possibility of such a consummation, they will commit a somersault and ask for Section 93 to come into vogue. Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee when he urged the British Government to overthrow the present Bengal Ministry and introduce Government under Section 93 was by no means expressing his personal views or wishes. He is by no means the exception. And in framing of the future constitution, the different nationalities have to take these facts into consideration and see to it that the political future of India does not yield to them the Dead Sea fruit of servility and enthrone the governing class once more in authoritarian rule, “Dr. Ambedkar has rendered a great service to the cause of freedom and the future of India by his outspoken utterances and we thank him sincerely for it.” 1 zz 1. : The Liberator, dated 23-9-1944 ; Reprinted Khairmode, Vol. 9, Pp. 344-348.