Vol. 9 · pages 186–190

157 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A FALSE CLAIM (1) Seats won by the Congress with the help of Hindu voters and which if left to be decided by the votes of the Untouchables only would have been lost by the Congress. (2) Seats won by the Congress not by reason of an absolute majority but by reason of the splitting of the Untouchable votes due to too many Non-Congress Untouchable Candidates having stood to contest the seat against the Congress Untouchable candidate. (3) Seats which, it was in the power of Untouchables to win, if they had used their votes in the election to the seats reserved for them and not cast them away in the election of candidates contesting the general or non-reserved seats. I cannot see how a fair minded person can object to these deductions being made. A candidate whose majority is due to votes of persons other than Untouchables has no right to say that he is a representative of the Untouchables and the Congress cannot claim to represent the Untouchables through him merely because he belongs to the Untouchables and stood on a Congress ticket. An Untouchable candidate whose majority is the result of split in the camp of his opponents and who if there had been no split would have lost, cannot be taken as a real representative of the Untouchables and the Congress cannot claim to represent the Untouchables merely because he belongs to the Untouchables and stood on the Congress ticket. A candidate for a seat reserved for the Untouchables who succeeds in an election in which a large majority of the electors have not played their part cannot be a representative of the electors merely because the seat is an Untouchable seat. Untouchable seats captured by such Untouchable candidates must also be deducted from the total number of seats won by the Congress. The only Untouchable seats which the Congress can claim to have won are those which it has won, exclusively by the votes of the Untouchable voters. All the rest must be deducted. The following table gives the distribution of the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and won by the Congress and the circumstances responsible for its success.

158 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Table 11 Analysis of Circumstances which helped Congress to Win the Seats it has Captured Number of Seats won by The Congress Province With Hindu Votes Without Hindu Votes Due to Splitting of Scheduled Castes Votes By want of interest shown by Scheduled Castes in the Election to Scheduled Castes Seats Total (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) United Provinces … 3 6 3 4 16 Madras … … 5 15 4 2 26 Bengal … … — 4 — 2 6 Central Provinces … 1 5 — 1 7 Bombay … … 1 1 1 1 4 Bihar … … 1 3 — 7 11 Punjab … … — — — — — Assam … … 1 2 — 1 4 Orissa … … 1 2 — 1 4 Total … … 13 38 8 19 78 These are the facts revealed by a study of the Election Returns. They are incontrovertible and must be accepted. Judged by the test of voting the Congress far from representing the Untouchables, the Untouchables are proved to have repudiated the Congress. Judged by the test of seats, the Congress has only won 38 seats out of the total of 151. The account shows that 73 seats it failed to win, 13 it won by Hindu Votes, 8 as a result of split due to too many Untouchables standing against the Congress Untouchable candidate and 19 on account of the foolishness of the Untouchables in not taking sufficient interest in the election to the seats reserved for them. The following table specifies the Constituencies where such phenomena have occurred. They are classified under three heads and shown Province-wise and referred to by their serial number as shown in the Appendices.

159 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A FALSE CLAIM Table 12* Analysis of Scheduled Castes Constituencies. Provinces Serial Numbers of Constituencies in which Congress won with Hindu Votes Serial Numbers of Constituencies in which Congress won because of splitting of Scheduled Castes Votes Serial Numbers of Constituencies in which Congress won because the Scheduled Castes were indifferent United Provinces … 1, 3 & 4 8, 9 & 10 11,13, 14 & 18 Madras … … 1, 22, 23, 24 & 25 8, 12, 15 & 17 4 & 21 Bengal … … Nil Nil 6 & 7 Central Provinces … 6 Nil 15 Bombay … … 1 14 3 Bihar … … 11 Nil 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 13 Punjab … … Nil Nil Nil Assam … … 1 Nil 4 Orissa … … 6 Nil 2 The claim that the Congress represents the Untouchables is thus a false claim from beginning to end. It is a myth which in the light of the results of the election stands completely exploded. The results of the election reveal other interesting facts which are summarised in the following two tables : Table 13 Election to Scheduled Castes Seats Provinces Contested Uncontested Total United Provinces … … 15 5 20 Madras … … … 26 4 30 Bengal … … … 28 2 30 Central Provinces … … 19 1 20 Bombay … … … 14 1 15 Bihar … … … 6 9 15 Punjab … … … 6 2 8 Assam … … … 6 1 7 Orissa … … … 4 2 6 Total … … … 124 27 151 * For details, see Appendix II passim.

160 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Table 14 Scheduled Castes Seats won by the Congress Provinces On Contest Without Contest Total United Provinces … … 14 2 16 Madras … … … … 24 2 26 Bengal … … … … 6 Nil 6 Central Provinces … … 6 1 7 Bombay … … … … 3 1 4 Bihar … … … … 4 7 11 Punjab … … … … Nil Nil Nil Assam … … … … 3 1 4 Orissa … … … … 4 Nil 4 Total … … 64 14 78 Table 13 shows what keen interest the Untouchables have taken in the election to the seats reserved for them. Out of 151 as many as 121 were contested. This disproves the allegation that used to be made that it was no use giving political rights to the Untouchables as they had neither political education nor political consciousness. Table 14 shows that the Untouchables far from looking upon the Congress as their friend and ally have regarded it as their political enemy No. 1. They have very seldom allowed the entry of the Congress in the election to the seat reserved for the Untouchables to go unchallenged. In most of the cases where the Congress had put up an Untouchable candidate on the Congress ticket for a seat reserved for the Untouchables, the Untouchables did not meekly surrender the seat to the Congress but came forward to contest the election by putting up their own candidate on a Non-Congress ticket. Out of the 78 candidates put up by the Congress for the Scheduled Castes seats as many as 64 were contested.

161 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A FALSE CLAIM Table 15 Province Number of Constituencies classified according to the ratio of Scheduled Castes Voters to every 100 of General i.e. Hindu Voters Remarks 10 and Below 11—15 16—20 21—25 26—30 31—35 36—40 41—45 46—50 Above* 50 Total United Provinces. Nil 7 3 6 2 1 Nil 1 Nil Nil 20 Madras … … Nil 5 6 10 3 3 1 1 1 Nil 30 Bengal … … Nil Nil Nil 3 1 3 1 1 Nil 14 25* Central Provinces 5 5 1 2 1 Nil 1 1 1 3 20 Bihar … … 4 5 2 2 2 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil 15 Punjab … … 1 1 Nil 1 2 Nil Nil Nil 2 8 Orissa … … 2 Nil Nil 2 Nil 2 Nil Nil Nil Nil 6 Assam … … 3 1 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil 2 7 Bombay … … 5 3 6 1 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil 15 Total … 20 27 18 27 11 9 3 8 2 21 146 * Five Constituencies have two seats reserved for Scheduled Castes which makes up the total of 30 Seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes of Bengal.