Vol. 9 · pages 191–195

162 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES IV To say that the elections of 1937 do not prove that the Congress was victorious over the Untouchables in the electoral fight is an understatement. In a real sense the Untouchables triumphed over the Congress. If not many are found to admit this, their inability or unwillingness to do so must be attributed to their ignorance of the difficulties which the Untouchables have had to face in their contest with the Congress. These difficulties were very real and very great. It is worthwhile to detail them so that people may know the courage and tenacity with which the Untouchables have fought to prove that they are independent of the Congress and that the Congress does not represent them. These difficulties can be classified under two heads (1) Organizational and (2) Electoral. Under the first head special mention may be made of two :— The first was the difference in the relative degree of resources at the command of the Congress and of the Untouchables. That the Congress is the richest political party goes without saying. No estimate has so far been made of the money the Congress spent in the elections of 1937. If an investigation was made it would be found that the money it spent in advertisement, in conveyance and in canvassing for the candidates who stood on its ticket was simply colossal. All these resources were placed by the Congress at the service of those Untouchables who stood on the Congress ticket. Not one millionth part of these resources were available to those Untouchable candidates who stood against the Congress. Some of them had even to borrow money to pay their deposits. They fought their elections without the help of advertisement, canvassing or conveyance. The second is the existence of a party machine on the side of the Congress and the complete absence of it on the side of the Untouchables. The party machine as every one knows constitutes the real strength of the Congress. The credit for the creation of a party machine must be given to Mr. Gandhi. It has been in existence for the last 20 years and with the resources it possesses the Congress has kept the machine well oiled and in perfect order always ready to be put in motion by merely pressing the button. It is a vast machine which covers every town and every village in the country. There is no area in

163 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A FALSE CLAIM which there is no agent of the Congress to operate this machine. The Untouchables who stood on the Congress ticket had their electioneering done for them by this party machine of the Congress. Those Untouchables who stood against the Congress had no such party machine to help them. The scheme of separate representation was first introduced in Indian politics in the year 1909. The benefit of it was however given only to one community, namely, the Muslims. In 1920 the constitution was revised. In this revised constitution it was extended to the Non-Brahmins. The Untouchables were again left out. They were consoled with representation with one or two seats in the various Provincial Legislatures filled by nomination. It is for the first time in 1935 that they got the franchise and the right to representation through election. It is obvious that not having had any franchise the Untouchables had felt no need to set up a party machine of their own as there were no elections to be fought. They hardly had any time to organize themselves and to set up a party machine when suddenly in 1937 they were called upon to fight the elections. The fight between the Congress and the Untouchables was a fight between an army and a crowd. The electoral difficulties in the way of the Untouchables were equally great. The first electoral difficulty arose from the unequal voting strength between the Hindus and the Untouchables in those General Electorates in which seats are reserved for the Untouchables. The following table contains figures showing the relative voting strength of the two. This table shows how in the General Electorates the Scheduled Castes voters are outnumbered by the Hindu voters. Special attention should be paid to the proportion in which they are outnumbered by the Hindus. As the figures in the table show, in 20 constituencies the proportion of Scheduled Castes voters to Hindu voters is 10 to 100, in 27 constituencies between 11 and 15 to 100, in 18 constituencies between 15 and 20 to 100, in 27 constituencies between 21 and 25 to 100 and in 11 constituencies between 20 and 30 to 100. These instances will show how overwhelming is the majority of Hindu voters and by what a substantial margin the Hindus can overpower the Scheduled Castes voters. In this connection it must also be remembered that every Scheduled Caste Constituency is a Joint Electorate in which both classes of voters—those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and those belonging to the

164 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Hindus—can vote for the Scheduled Castes seat and compete to capture it. In this game the relative disproportion in voting strength of the two becomes of immense importance. For success in election in such a linked constituency primarily depends upon relative voting strength of the competing groups. The second electoral difficulty arose out of the number of the seats fixed for the general constituencies in which seats were reserved for the Untouchables. The following table shows the system adopted in the different provinces. Table 16 Classification of General Constituencies in which Seats for Untouchables are Reserved Province No. of Seats Reserved for Untouchables No. of Constituencies with 2 Seats No. of Constituencies with 3 Seats No. of Constituencies with 4 Seats Madras … … 30 30 Nil Nil Bombay … … 15 Nil 6 9 Bengal … … 30 20 5 Nil United Provinces 20 20 Nil Nil Punjab … … 8 8 Nil Nil Bihar … … 15 15 Nil Nil Central Provinces 20 20 Nil Nil Assam … … 7 6 1 Nil Orissa … … 6 6 Nil Nil Total … 151 125 12 9 This table shows that out of 151 General Constituencies required to be declared as reserved for the Scheduled Castes as many as 180 were two-member constituencies in which one seat was reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the other was kept as a general seat. It is quite possible that many will not realize the electoral danger that is involved to the Untouchables in this twomember constituency system. But the danger is very real. How real it is, will become clear if it was considered along with the relative voting strength of the Hindus and the Untouchables in the General constituency to which attention has already been drawn. Where the constituency is a plural constituency of—say three or four members— one reserved for the Scheduled Castes and two or three left for the general community, the relatively higher voting strength of the Hindus is not so much a matter of danger as it is when

165 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A FALSE CLAIM under the two-member constituency the Hindus have only one candidate to elect. With more candidates to elect the voting strength of the Hindus is split as they become engaged in fighting out the election of their candidates to the general seat and there is no surplus votes left with them, with the result that their excessive voting strength in the constituency does not become a menace to the Scheduled Castes. But, when they have only one seat to win, the chances of their votes being frittered away are remote. Under an organized party system such as that established by the Congress, they are nil. The excess of unused voting strength which they are thus able to retain becomes surplus and unnecessary for them, and which they are quite free to use in supporting a Scheduled Caste candidate of their choice, standing on their ticket as against another Scheduled Caste candidate who is independent and who is not prepared to be their tool. What havoc the Hindus played with their surplus votes is clear from the result of the elections. When one considers the method of voting and the number of seats fixed and the distribution of the voting strength in the general constituencies one feels whether any better electoral system for deceiving the Untouchables could have been devised. The Joint Electorates to which the Scheduled Castes are tied are like the Rotten Boroughs which existed in England before the Reform Act of 1832. Under the Rotten Borough, the candidate elected was in fact nominated by the boss who controlled the Borough. Similarly, under the system of Joint Electorates the Scheduled Caste candidate who is elected to the Legislature is virtually nominated by the Hindus. That is the reason why Mr. Gandhi is so keenly devoted to the system of Joint Electorates. One hears a great deal about the Muslim League having grown from strength to strength. But few realize how sheltered the Muslim League is by reason of the system of separate electorates. The Muslims are secure from the menace and mischief of the Congress. Not so are the Untouchables. They axe open to the full blast of the Congress money, Congress votes and Congress propaganda. That the Untouchables overcame all these difficulties without resources, without a party machine and in spite of all electoral difficulties shows their triumph over the Congress and their desire to maintain their independent existence. zz

166 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES CHAPTER VII A FALSE CHARGE Are Untouchables the Tools of the British? As I have said before, the Congress since the time it came under the auspices of Mr. Gandhi underwent a complete transformation. One of these transformations is noteworthy, for it is this which has made the Congress so famous and which has enabled it to capture the imagination of the people. Before Mr. Gandhi’s time it did nothing more than meet annually at different places in India and pass certain and sometimes the same resolutions touching some flaw in the British Administration of India. After Mr. Gandhi took charge of the Congress in 1919, it became a party of action, or, as Congressmen like to put it, the Congress forged sanctions—a thing never thought of before. The sanctions, which make up the Congress armoury and which it has put into action one time or another are : (1) Non-co-operation ; (2) Boycott; (3) Civil Disobedience and (4) Fast. The aim of non-cooperation was to make government useless by refusal to recognise or resort to Government schools, colleges, courts and to make it impossible by refusing to engage in Government service. Boycott was a weapon, the aim of which was to coerce individuals not prepared to follow the dictates of the Congress. It had two edges, social or economic. The social edge cut off all social intercourse even withdrawing the services of barbers, washermen, butchers, grocers, merchants, etc., in short, making life of the culprit impossible in every way. The economic edge cut off all business relations, such as buying and selling of goods. Its objective was the merchant class selling foreign goods. Civil Disobedience was intended to give a direct blow aimed at the British Government. It was a deliberate breach of law with a view to court imprisonment, fill gaols and thereby discredit Government. It is practised either as mass civil disobedience or individual civil disobedience. Unfortunately fasting on a mass scale has not been resorted to by Congressmen. Fasting has only been an individual activity. Unfortunately fasting unto death has also not been practised by Congressmen. It has always been for a term. It is a weapon particularly reserved by Mr. Gandhi for