Vol. 8 · pages 461–465

436 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Before formulating our views with regard to the election of representatives, we beg to observe that the political importance of a community to a considerable extent gains strength or suffers detriment according to the position that the members of that community occupy in the service of the State. If, as is unfortunately the case with the Mahomedans, they are not adequately represented in this manner, they lose in the prestige and influence which are justly their due. Employment in Government Service We therefore pray that Government will be graciously pleased to provide that both in the gazetted and the subordinate and ministerial services of all Indian provinces a due proportion of Mahomedans shall always find place. Orders of like import have at times been issued by Local Governments in some provinces, but have not, unfortunately, in all cases been strictly observed on the ground that qualified Mahomedans were not forthcoming. This allegation, however well founded it may have been at one time, is, we submit, no longer tenable now, and wherever the will to employ them is not wanting the supply of qualified Mahomedans, we are happy to be able to assure your Excellency, is equal to the demand. The Competitive Element Since, however, the number of qualified Mahomedans has increased, a tendency is unfortunately perceptible to reject them on the ground of relatively superior qualifications having to be given precedence. This introduces something like the competitive element in its worst form, and we may be permitted to draw your Excellency’s attention to the political significance of the monopoly of all official influence by one class. We may also point out in this connection that the efforts of Mahomedan educationists have from the very outset of the educational movement among them been strenuously directed towards the development of character, and this we venture to think is of greater importance than mere mental alertness in the making of good public servants. Mahomedans on the Bench We venture to submit that the generality of Mahomedans in all parts of India feel aggrieved that Mahomedan Judges are

437 PAKISTAN : APPENDICES not more frequently appointed to the High Courts and Chief Courts of Judicature. Since the creation of these Courts only three Mahomedan lawyers have held these honourable appointments, all of whom have fully justified their elevation to the Bench. At the present moment there is not a single Mahomedan Judge sitting on the Bench of any of these Courts, while there are three Hindu Judges in the Calcutta High Court, where the proportion of Mahomedans in the population is very large, and two in the Chief Court of the Punjab, where the Mahomedans form the majority of the population. It is not, therefore, an extravagant request on our part that a Mahomedan should be given a seat on the Bench of each of the High Courts and Chief Courts. Qualified Mahomedan lawyers eligible for these appointments can always be found, if not in one province then in another. We beg permission further to submit that the presence on the Bench of these Courts of a Judge learned in the Mahomedan Law will be a source of considerable strength to the administration of justice. Municipal Representation As Municipal and District Boards have to deal with important local interests affecting to a great extent the health, comfort, educational needs and even the religious concerns of the inhabitants, we shall, we hope, be pardoned if we solicit for a moment your Excellency’s attention to the position of Mahomedans thereon before passing to higher concerns. These institutions form, as it were, the initial rungs in the ladder of self-government, and it is here that the principle of representation is brought home intimately to the intelligence of the people, yet the position of Mahomedans on these Boards is not at present regulated by any guiding principle capable of general application, and practice varies in different localities. The Aligarh Municipality, for example, is divided into six wards and each ward returns one Hindu and one Mahomedan Commissioner, and the same principle we understand is adopted in a number of Municipalities in the Punjab and elsewhere, but in a good many places the Mahomedan tax-payers are not adequately represented. We would, therefore, respectfully suggest that the local authority should in every case be required to declare the

438 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES number of Hindus and Mahomedans entitled to seats on Municipal and District Boards, such proportion to be determined in accordance with the numerical strength, social status, local influence and special requirements of either community. Once their relative proportion is authoritatively determined, we would suggest that either community should be allowed severally to return their own representatives as is the practice in many towns in the Punjab. Fellows of Universities We would also suggest that the Senates and Syndicates of Indian Universities might be similarly dealt with, that is to say, there should, so far as possible, be an authoritative declaration of the proportion in which Mahomedans are entitled to be represented in either body. Nomination to Provincial Councils We now proceed to the consideration of the question of our representation in the Legislative Chambers of the country. Beginning with the Provincial Councils, we would most respectfully suggest that as in the case of Municipalities and District Boards the proportion of Mahomedan representatives entitled to seats should be determined and declared with due regard to the important considerations which we have ventured to point out in paragraph 5 of this address, and that the important Mahomedan landowners, lawyers, merchants and representatives of other important interests, the Mahomedan members of District Boards and Municipalities and the Mahomedan graduates of universities of a certain standing, say five years, should be formed into Electoral Colleges and be authorised, in accordance with such-rules of procedure as your Excellency’s Government may be pleased to prescribe in that behalf, to return the number of members that may be declared to be eligible. The Viceroy’s Council With regard to the Imperial Legislative Council whereon the due representation of Mahomedan interests is a matter of vital importance, we crave leave to suggest (1) that in the cadre of the Council the proportion of Mahomedan representatives

439 PAKISTAN : APPENDICES should not be determined on the basis of the numerical strength of the community, and that in any case the Mahomedan representatives should never be an ineffective minority; (2) that as far as possible, appointment by election should be given preference over nomination; (3) that for the purposes of choosing Mahomedan members, Mahomedan landowners, lawyers, merchants and representatives of other important interests of a status to be subsequently determined by your Excellency’s Government, Mahomedan members of the Provincial Councils and Mahomedan fellows of universities should be invested with electoral powers to be exercised in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed by your Excellency’s Government in that behalf. The Executive Council An impression has lately been gaining ground that one or more Indian Members may be appointed on the Executive Council of the Viceroy. In the event of such appointment being made we beg that the claims of Mahomedans in that connection may not be overlooked. More than one Mahomedan, we venture to say, will be found in the country fit to serve with distinction in that august chamber. A Mahomedan University We beg to approach your Excellency on a subject which must closely affect our national welfare. We are convinced that our aspirations as a community and our future progress are largely dependent on the foundation of a Mahomedan University which will be the centre of our religious and intellectual life. We therefore most respectfully pray that your Excellency will take steps to help us in an undertaking in which our community is so deeply interested. In conclusion, we beg to assure your Excellency that in assisting the Mahomedan subjects of His Majesty at this stage in the development of Indian affairs in the directions indicated in the present address, your Excellency will be strengthening the basis of their unswerving loyalty to the Throne and laying the foundation of their political advancement and national prosperity, and your Excellency’s name will be remembered with gratitude by their posterity for generations to come, and we feel confident

440 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES that your Excellency will be gracious enough to give due consideration to our prayers. We have the honour to subscribe ourselves, Your Excellency’s most obedient and humble servants. LORD MINTO’S REPLY Appreciation of Mahomedan aspirations After the address, His Excellency rose and delivered a most sympathetic reply, which was frequently punctuated with cheers and cries of “Hear, hear” from the members of the deputation, particularly when his Excellency declared that he was entirely in accord with the views of the deputation that any electoral system must take cognizance of the various religious beliefs of this great Empire and that the British Government would always in the future as in the past safeguard the political rights of the different communities entrusted to their charge. The Viceroy concluded by thanking the deputation for affording him the unique opportunity of meeting so many representative men. The Viceroy said :— Your Highness and Gentlemen, Allow me before I attempt to reply to the many considerations your address embodies, to welcome you heartily to Simla. Your presence here today is very full of meaning. To the document which you have presented me are attached the signatures of nobles, of Ministers of various States, of great landowners, of lawyers, of merchants and of many others of His Majesty’s subjects. I welcome the representative character of your deputation as expressing the views and aspirations of the enlightened Muslim community of India. I feel that all you have said emanates from a representative body basing its opinions on a matured consideration of the existing political conditions of India, totally apart from the small personal or political sympathies and antipathies of scattered localities, and I am grateful to you for the opportunity you are affording me of expressing my appreciation of the just aims of the followers of Islam and their determination to share in the political history of our Empire. As your Viceroy, I am proud of the recognition you express of the benefits conferred by British rule on the diverse races of