Vol. 9 · pages 151–155

122 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES “That is to say, they go to the electorate with a view to pandering to the prejudice of the masses whom they have misled, so much so, that they have got themselves into a bog., Lord Willingdon came to their rescue, to take them out of the bog by announcing the dissolution of this Assembly and giving them an opportunity, as a Constitutional Viceroy, to return to the sheltered paths of constitutionalism. Therefore, they have run away from their own convictions and are playing every trick to come back to the Legislature with as large a number as possible. Had they gone on with the Temple Entry Bill or the Untouchability question, they would have lost many votes, for it is not a popular issue. I said so, though Mahatma Gandhi contradicted me publicly at the time, I said so when Shankaracharya was staying in Malabar in my brother’s house at Palghat. My brother came on a deputation to the Viceroy to oppose the Bill. I said : ‘I know, the reformer is not in a majority in Malabar.’ Nowhere else are the reformers in a majority but the reformers believe in persuading the majority to their way of thinking. Then, I said—whatever the result of a referendum, the Congress people might have taken in Guruvayur in Malabar, might be, I could not for a moment believe that the majority of the temple-going people in Malabar were in favour of admitting the Untouchables into the temples: but I was prepared to fight the in, also to argue with them and to persuade them and to make them take an interest in the cause and the case of the Untouchables, for, I feel, the Untouchables are a part of my community. Sir, if one-third of my community is to remain submerged in exclusion in the name of religion, I feel, as I have always felt and said, that that community has no right to existence. It is with a view to the unification of the Hindu community, it is with a view to building up the greatness of the future of that community on the past of that community, when Untouchability was quite unknown as in the Vedic ages, that I have taken up their cause. And now, I find Congressmen, so keen about Untouchability yesterday, explaining why they are not taking it up today. Mr. Rajagopalachariar has driven the last nail into the coffin of the Temple Entry Bill as Raja Bahadur Krishnamachariar, the Raja Saheb of Kollengode or Sir Satya Charan Mukherji would perhaps like to say, representing as they do the various Sana-tanist groups of the country. “Sir, Mr. Rajagopalachariar goes on to say that they asked to be returned ‘on no other issue,’ that is to say, not on Temple Entry issue, but merely on a political Anglo-phobia issue, an anti-British issue, because, having traded on public feeling,

123 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : AN ABJECT SURRENDER having tried to give it as much racial antipathy as possible in the name of non-violence, in the name of religion itself, because non-violence was sometimes given a religious bias, having created that atmosphere of distrust in the country, finding that that atmosphere might not help them in the election if they fought it on a bigger, a cleaner and higher issue, namely, the removal of Untouchability itself, they side-track the issue, they run away from their conviction : ‘They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three.’ “Then he. a principal lieutenant of Gandhiji goes on to say : ‘If successful at the polls, they cannot believe they will receive the mandate of the electorate on any other questions.’ “That is to say, they are not receiving the mandate of the electorate on the Temple Entry Bill. This man, who came screaming at our doors, begging us for support—these beggars in the cause of the Congress—who just begged of us to proceed with this Temple Entry Bill, are not only betraying the cause of the Untouchables, but they are betraying the principles of the Mahatma himself, for, we know, that Mahatma’s fast was directed toward the uplift of the Untouchables by giving them concession in regard to the Communal Award, which the Congress naturally has hesitated to repudiate, and we, therefore, know that that has a direct bearing on the Untouchability question to approach which, to solve which, the Mahatma, the great Mahatma, wanted to tour the country, but today the Congress, who betrayed him first in the betrayal of the Congress boycott of the Councils, have, by seeking to come to the Councils, further betrayed him with the assistance of his own samandhi, Rajagopalachariar, and they say that they are not going to proceed with the Untouchability question and the Temple Entry Bill without a mandate from the people ! “Sir, where is the difference, I ask, between Raja Bahadur Krishnamachariar and Sriman Rajagopalachariar ? Raja Bahadur Krishnamachariar has always conceded—‘take a mandate from the people and then come and legislate.’ Sir, he is not a coward; a great Sanatanist himself, he is willing to face the music. On the contrary, these people who pillory the Sanatanists up and down the country, forgetting that Sanatan Dharma is eternal truth itself, are behaving in a manner which even the Sanatanists will not appreciate, for Sanatan Dharma is eternal truth and the betrayal of truth is worthy only of untruthful people ! Having betrayed many

124 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES a principle which would lead us to our national goal, having taken up the case of the Untouchables only to save their faces, with no conviction behind them, as we now see, the great Congress leaders with the exception of Mahatma Gandhi, have said through Rajagopalachariar, the Organizer-in-chief of the coming elections on behalf of the Congress : ‘It will be open to all Congressmen to have the matter duly considered before it is ever made into an official Congress Bill.’ “For this betrayal of the cause of the Untouchables, I hope constitutionalists will organize themselves, whether Hindus or Mussalmans. They can agree to differ later on on communal issues, but they will unite and offer a great battle to the Congress and bring that organ of masqueraders down on its knees. Sir, I think here is a betrayal of the cause of the Untouchables and the Depressed Classes; and, if I did not believe in this movement before Mahatma Gandhi could take it up or Mr. Rajagopalachariar went from door to door in Delhi, I should not have been here to move this Bill.” VI Here was a case of retreat from glory! And what an inglorious retreat? How did Mr. Gandhi react to it? In a statement issued on 4th November 1982, Mr. Gandhi said :— “Untouchables in the villages should be made to feel that their shackles have been broken, that they are in no way inferior to their fellow villagers, that they are worshippers of the same God as the other villagers and entitled to the same rights and privileges that the latter enjoy. “But if these vital conditions of the Pact are not carried out by caste-Hindus, could I possibly live to face God and man ? I ventured even to tell Dr. Ambedkar, Rao Bahadur M. C. Raja and other friends belonging to the suppressed group that they should regard me as a hostage for the due fulfilment by caste-Hindus of the conditions of the Pact. The fast, if it is to come, will not be for coercion of those who are opponents of reform, but it will be intended to sting into action those who have been my comrades or who have taken pledges for the removal of Untouchability. If they belie their pledges or if they never meant to abide by them and their Hinduism was a mere camouflage, I should have no interest left in life.” He was never tired of repeating this. Exclusion of the Untouchables from the Hindu Temples, he described, as the

125 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : AN ABJECT SURRENDER agony of his soul. What did Mr. Gandhi do in this connection ? Did he resent this betrayal by Mr. Rajagopalachari of this project without which he said he had no interest left in life ? One would naturally expect Mr. Gandhi to denounce this betrayal by the Congress Party to achieve success at the polls ? Quite the contrary. Instead of blaming Mr. Rajagopalachari, he blamed Mr. Ranga Iyer for his violent denunciation of the Congress Party for withdrawing its support to the Bill. This is what Mr. Gandhi said in the issue of the Harijan dated August 31, 1934 :— “The ill-fated Temple Entry Bill deserved a more decent burial, if it deserved it at all, than it received at the hands of the mover of the Bill. It was not a bill promoted by, and on behalf of, the reformers. The mover should, therefore, have consulted reformers and acted under instructions from them. So far as I am aware, there was hardly any occasion for the anger into which he allowed himself to be betrayed or the displeasure which he expressed towards Congressmen. On the face of it, it was, and was designed to be, a measure pertaining to religion, framed in pursuance of the solemn declaration publicly made in Bombay at a meeting of representative Hindus, who met under the chairmanship of Pandit Malaviyaji on 25th September, 1932. The curious may read the declaration printed almost every week on the front page of Harijan. Therefore, every Hindu, caste or Harijan, was interested in the measure. It was not a measure in which Congress Hindus were more interested than the other Hindus. To have, therefore, dragged the Congress name into the discussion was unfortunate. The Bill deserved a gentler handling.” The Temple Entry, what one is to say of, except to describe it a strange game of political acrobatics! Mr. Gandhi begins as an opponent of Temple Entry. When the Untouchables put forth a demand for political rights, he changes his position and becomes a supporter of Temple Entry. When the Hindus threaten to defeat the Congress in the election, if it pursues the matter to a conclusion, Mr. Gandhi, in order to preserve political power in the hands of the Congress, gives up Temple Entry ! Is this sincerity ? Does this show conviction ?Was the “agony of soul” which Mr. Gandhi spoke of more than a phrase ? zz

CHAPTER V A POLITICAL CHARITY Congress Plan to Kill Untouchables by Kindness I ON the 30th September 1932, a largely attended meeting of the Hindus of Bombay was held in the Cowasjee Jehangir Hall under the Presidentship of Pandit Malaviya. The object of the meeting was to form an All-India Anti-Untouchability League with branches in different provincial centres. The headquarters of the League were to be in Delhi. Mr. G. D. Birla was to be the President and Mr. Amritlal V. Thakkar, General Secretary. The All-India Anti-Untouchability League was Mr. Gandhi’s project. It was inspired by him and was the direct outcome of the Poona Pact. At any rate, Mr. Gandhi adopted it as his baby, the moment it was born. The first thing Mr. Gandhi did was to change its name. In a press message issued on 9th December 1932, Mr. Gandhi told the public that the organisation would thenceforth be known as Servants of the Untouchables Society. This name also did not appear to Mr. Gandhi as the best. He was searching for another. Ultimately he decided to give it a new name. He called it the Harijan Sevak Sangh. Which means a society of those engaged in Service to the Untouchables. This was a natural sequence of the name Harijan by which Mr. Gandhi used to call the Untouchables. This change did not pass off without a controversy between the Shaivas and Vaishnavas. Hari is one of the hundred names of Vishnu, while Har is one of the hundred names of Shiva. In choosing the name Harijan, Mr. Gandhi was accused of sectarian partiality. The Shaivas contended that the Untouchables should be called Harijan. Mr. Gandhi did not yield and as the first fruits of this new organisation the Untouchables got a new name. On the 3rd November 1932, Mr. Birla and Mr. Thakkar issued a statement to the Press in which they set out the programme of this organization and the set-up of the machinery to carry out the programme. As to the programme the statement said:— “The League believes that reasonable persons among the Sanatanists are not much against the removal of Untouch-