Vol. 5 · pages 71–75

56 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES The ‘ Jivan’ of December 1938 reports the following incidents: “On 29th November 1938, the Jatavs of village Kohana, district Muttra were seriously tortured by the Jats and Brahmins for refusing Begar. The Thakkurs and the Brahmins of this village used to extract Begar from the Jatavs and to harass them. The latter decided not to do Begar and do only that work for which wages were paid. Recently, a bullock died in the village and the Thakkurs and other caste Hindus tried to force the Jatavs to lift it, but they said that they could do that only if they were paid. This enraged the caste Hindus so much that they asked a sweeper to fill the Jatavs’ well with excreta and make them not to go to their fields for ablutions and decided to tease them in every way. When the Jatavs prevented the Sweeper from putting excreta in their well, he called the Jats, Thakkurs and Brahmins who were all ready for an attack. They attacked the Jatavs with lathis and seriously belaboured them and also set fire to their houses as a result of which six houses were burnt to ashes and 18 Jatavs were wounded seriously and a lot of their household property was taken away by the rowdies.” “The same Journal in its issue of February 1939 reports: “The Jats of village Abhaipura, tehsil Kirvali, district Agra, are used to extract Begar (Forced labour) from the poor Scheduled Caste people and beat them on demanding wages. Some three months back Sukhi Jat forced Sukh Ram, Ghanshyam and Humka, Jatavs to do work for them and did not pay any wages. These persons are so much fed up with such high-handedness that they have left the villages and lived with their relatives in other villages, while their untensils and other household goods have been taken away by the Jats and concealed in some barn.” The ‘ Savadhan’ in its issue of 3rd June 1945 reports the following incident: “Mehraji Kori, a Scheduled Caste woman has filed a complaint in the court of Mr. Mahboob Alam, City Magistrate under Sections 376, 341 and 354-A against Brahma Singh, Suleman and Aftab, constables of Jubi Police post. It is alleged that at about 10-30 p.m. on 2nd May 1945 these three constables, Sumar, Kahar, Kallu Bibis son and some others came and searched her house and then took her to the police station and kept her there for the whole night. In the early hours of the morning these constables took her to a small room bolted it and then all three of them violated her modesty one by one. Then she was removed to another small room where charcoal and pieces of paper were filled in her private part and they

57 UNTOUCHABILITY AND LAWLESSNESS put their private organs in her mouth. Her clothes were torn and saturated with blood. The following day her mother was forced to do begar work for the whole day and then both of them were left off at 10 p.m. Murala, wife of Maharaji’s husband’s younger brother has also filed a similar complaint. She has alleged that the same constables took her to the police post the same night and returned her to her house. On the way she was caught by Madari Teli, near Kumar Tola, to the ruins of a house and her modesty violated. Messrs. Munna Lal, Bhushan and Ram Bharose, advocates are appearing for the complainant.” In the ‘ Hindustan Times ’ of 15th April 1945 Occurs the following news item: “For refusal to do forced labour, it is alleged, a large number of Harijans in the village of Dukheri in Ambala District were recently assaulted by a party of Rajputs. A man and a woman, both Harijans, were killed. It is also alleged that a large number of houses belonging to Harijans were set on fire. Telegrams have been sent to the Commissioner and the Deputy Inspector General of Police to inquire into the matter.” From these instances, it will be clear to anyone that the Hindus do not hesitate to use violence to hold down the Untouchables and maintain the established order and even to commit murder. Mr. Lajpat Rai in his book ‘Unhappy India’ in which he tried to reply to and refute the charges levelled by Miss Mayo in her ‘Mother India’ gives a lengthy and lucid description of the lynchings of the Negroes in the United States and the atrocities committed upon them by the members of the Ku Klux Klan and asks: “What however is very relevant to her to ask is: is the unjustifiable and cruel attitude of the Brahmins towards the Pariah more unjustifiable and more cruel than that of the Klansmen of America towards the Negroes?” “What are the caste cruelties of India put by the side of what the whiteman has done to the non-white people?” Lala Lajpatrai, if he had cared to investigate could have found that the cruelties and atrocities practised by the Hindus against the Untouchables were no less than those practised by the Americans upon the Negroes. If these atrocities are not so well known to the world as are those practised upon the Negro, it is not because they do not exist. They are not known because there is no Hindu who will not do his best to conceal truth in order to hide his shame.

58 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Some might think that this description of the Established Order and the rules made thereunder are matters of ancient past. This is a complete mistake. The Established Order subsists even today and the rules are as operative today as they were when they were made. This will be evident from the two following statements on the condition of the Untouchables which have appeared in the ‘ Hindustan Times ’. The first appeared in the issue of 8th March 1945. The first one is written by one Kesarilalji Bordia, Headmaster of a school called Vidya Bhuwan in Udaipur. It reads as follows: “Many are the disabilities under which the Harijans in Mewar live. They cannot enter temples, nor can they draw water from public wells. They cannot join the caste Hindus in festivals and processions. They have to take out their Rath Yatra or Doll procession through a different route and on a different day. And they cannot ride through the village. Even silver ornaments, let alone gold ones on their person are resented by the caste Hindus. The result is , they have to content themselves with tin and brass articles. Age-old usage prevents them from using butter or gur in wedding feasts. In Schools and other public places, Harijan boys cannot sit with the children of caste Hindus. They are asked to absent themselves on the inspection day in order to save the Inspector from embarrassment. A memorandum has been submitted to the State Government. If the Government chooses to declare in unequivocal terms the disapproval of these disabilities, the hands of non-official bodies which are fighting untouchability will be strengthened.” The second is in the form of a statement issued by the President of the Harijan Sevak Sangh and refers to the condition of the Untouchables in the State of Mewar. It reads as under: “The Mewar Harijan Sevak Sangh has sent a Memorandum to the Mewar Government drawing their attention to the various disabilities of Harijans in the State and their consequent hardships. The Memorandum brings out how civil liberties of Harijans are curtailed in several ways by the orthodoxy and prejudices of caste Hindus. I enumerate below some of the unjust practices which still persist in the State and for the rectification of which the State has taken no effective measures. They are as follows: 1. Harijans have no liberty in the selection of clothes to wear. The form of dress must follow the age-long pattern; personal tastes and desires have no place in the choice of the dress.

59 UNTOUCHABILITY AND LAWLESSNESS 2. At wedding feasts they have no choice in the selection of food materials. Even on payment they cannot use costly articles. 3. They cannot ride the village on a horse. 4. They are not allowed accommodation in public vehicles. 5. On religious festivals they cannot take out procession of their idols except through specified routes. 6. They have no access to wells and temples.” The writer adds: “Three years ago in company with Thakkur Bapa, I travelled all over the State and placed before the Government and public my impressions of the conditions obtaining there and pleaded for reform. On perusal of the abovementioned memorandum and other reports sent to me, I find that the past few years have hardly brought any change and conditions are more or less static. It is heart-breaking to find that passage of time cuts no ice with us. The result is that there is hardly any change in our agelong practices and prejudices. This perversity which blinds us to the tyranny and injustices of our ways also makes us impervious to the incalculable harm we have already suffered as a result of it. Even if the ignorant prejudice of the common man is unshaken the enlightened Governments of the twentieth century ought to be more alive to their responsibilities.” The dates of these communications are important. They are of the year 1945. None can say that this Hindu Established Order is a thing of the ancient past. The fact that these latest accounts refer to the Indian States should not be understood to mean that the established Order has vanished from British India. The chapters to follow will present enough evidence to show that the same Established Order is very much alive in British India. In the ‘ Times of India ’ of 31st August 1950 occurs the following news item: “The following facts of a case revealed in the hearing of an appeal in the Allahabad High Court, are illustrative of the socio-economic conditions of lower castes in the rural areas: Chiranji, a dhobi of the village of Sarras in the District of Etah, went out as a military employee in the last war and remained out of his village for four or five years. When he was discharged, he returned to his home. He stopped washing clothes and used to go about in the village in his military uniform. This coupled with the fact that he refused to wash clothes even for the men of the Raja of Sarras the sole zamindar in the village, was resented by the villagers.

60 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES On December 31, 1947, when the dhobi was washing his clothes, four villagers, including the Raja’s servants, approached him and asked him to wash their clothes which he refused. The villagers took Chiranji to the Raja’s house and gave him a beating. His mother and mother’s sister went there to intercede on his behalf but they too were assaulted. The attackers then went away leaving Chiranji in the custody of one Ram Singh; finding him alone, Chiranji was alleged to have slapped him and run away. Ram Singh and other servants of the Raja chased him to his house where he had taken shelter. The villagers insisted upon his opening the door but when there was no response, his house was set on fire. A number of other huts were also reduced to ashes. The dhobi lodged a complaint with the Police who disbelieved his story and wanted to prosecute him for a false report. He then filed a complaint in a Magistrate’s Court. The accused were convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment each. The High Court upheld the sentences imposed by the Magistrate. The following news item has appeared in the ‘Indian News Chronicle’ dated 31st August 1950. Inhuman Treatment towards Harijans in Pepsu: Depressed Classes League’s Memorandum to Government. Patiala, August 1950: “The unprovoked thrashing of the Backward Class people, inhuman insults heaped upon their women folk, indiscriminate ejectment of the Harijans from the lands, the virtual confinement of the Harijans and their cattle in their mud houses for days together without any fault is a long tale of suffering whose echoes are rising in proportion to the diminishing echoes of crime in general,” says a memorandum presented by the PEPSU Provincial Depressed Classes League to the State Government. “While crime in PEPSU is on the decrease due to the vigorous efforts of the police,” the memorandum adds, “it is a pity that the sector of the Backward Class should be deprived of the protection from the un-social elements”. The Backward Classes economically handicapped as they are, find it very difficult to ventilate their day-to-day grievances to the authorities concerned who could immediately come to their rescue, and are perforce, compelled to submit to their lot, to the encouragement of the aggressor, and thus the wail of disgust against the present state of affairs grows still louder which in its turn is made stock of by the interested parties.” The Provincial Depressed Classes League further quoted an instance to show how much inhuman treatment was being meted out