Vol. 9 · pages 21–25

Thacker & Co’s Editions :- First Edition June 1945 Second Edition 1946 Government of Maharashtra’s First Edition January 1991

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE .. .. i CHAPTER I.–A STRANGE EVENT Congress Takes Cognizance of the Untouchables .. 1 CHAPTER II.–A SHABBY SHOW Congress Abandons Its Plan .. .. 19 CHAPTER III.–A MEAN DEAL Congress Refuses to Part with Power .. .. 40 CHAPTER IV.–AN ABJECT SURRENDER Congress Bets an Inglorious Retreat .. .. 103 CHAPTER V.–A POLITICAL CHARITY Congress Plan to Kill by Kindness .. .. 126 CHAPTER VI.–A FALSE CLAIM Does Congress Represent All ? .. .. 146 CHAPTER VII.–A FALSE CHARGE Are Untouchables Tools of the British ? .. .. 166 CHAPTER VIII.–THE REAL ISSUE What the Untouchables Want .. .. 181 CHAPTER IX.–A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS Let not Tyranny Have Freedom to Enslave .. .. 199 CHAPTER X.–WHAT DO THE UNTOUCHABLES SAY? Beware of Mr. Gandhi! .. .. 239 CHAPTER XI.–GANDHISM The Doom of the Untouchables .. .. 274 APPENDICES .. .. 298 INDEX .. .. 384 NOTE ON THE ANNEXURE (added by the Editor) .. .. 437 CHAPTER IX (from the second edition of 1946) .. .. 439 MESSAGE v PREFACE vii CONTENTS DISCOUNT POLICY ON SALE OF VOLUMES

APPENDICES Page I. Correspondence between Swami Shradhnand and Pandit Motilal Nehru, Secretary of the Indian National Congress over the former’s resignation from the Congress Committee, appointed in 1922 to draw up a Scheme for the Uplift of the Untouchables .. 298 II. Supplementary Memorandum submitted to the Second Session of the Round Table Conference on behalf of the Untouchables in 1931. .. .. 304 III. The Minorities Pact submitted to the Minorities Committee of the Round Table Conference in 1931. .. 307 IV. Statement on Mr. Gandhi’s Threat to Fast Unto Death against the Prime Minister’s Award granting Separate Electorates to the Untouchables. .. .. 311 V. Temple Entry in Travancore State .. .. 317 VI. Pronouncements by or on behalf of His Majesty’s Government relating to the position of the Untouchables in any Scheme for the Constitution of India .. .. .. 323 VII. Montagu-Chelmsford Report and the Simon Commssion on the injustice caused by weightage to Muslims .. 332 VIII. Cripps Proposals of 1942 .. .. .. 334 IX. Objections to Cripps Proposals. .. .. 336 X. Correspondence between Lord Wavell and Mr. Gandhi in July 1944 .. .. .. 343 XI. Resolutions passed by the Working Committee of the AllIndia Scheduled Castes Federation at its Meeting held in Madras on 23rd September 1944. .. 346 XII. Population by Minorities in British India. .. 354 XIII. Population by Minorities in Indian States. .. 355 XIV. Particulars of Scheduled Castes Constituencies in regard to seats and voting strength Province by Province. 356 XV. Particulars regarding elections to seats reserved for Scheduled Castes Province by Province. .. 366 XVI. The Wavell Plan. .. .. .. 376

PREFACE “In 1892, there took place in England a new election to Parliament, in which the Conservatives headed by Lord Salisbury lost and the Liberals headed by Mr. Gladstone won. The remarkable thing about this election was that notwithstanding the defeat of his party at the polls, Lord Salisbury—contrary to Parliamentary convention—refused to surrender his office to the leader of the Liberal Party. When Parliament assembled, the Queen delivered the usual gracious speech from the throne containing the legislative programme of Lord Salisbury’s Government and the usual address to Her Majesty was moved from the Government side. Lord Salisbury’s Government was an illegitimate Government. It was a challenge to the fundamental principle of the British Constitution, which recognised Parliamentary Majority as the only title deed for a Party’s right to form a Government. The Liberals took up the challenge and tabled an amendment to the address. The amendment sought to condemn Lord Salisbury’s Government for its insistence on continuing in office, notwithstanding the fact that it had no majority behind it. The task of moving the amendment was entrusted to the late Lord (then Mr.) Asquith. In his speech in support of the amendment, Mr. Asquith used the now famous phrase—“ Causa finita est: Roma locuta est.” (Rome has spoken and the dispute must end). The phrase was originally used by St. Augustine but in a different context. It was used in the course of a religious controversy and had come to be used as a foundation for Papal Sovereignty. Mr. Asquith used it as a political maxim embodying the basic principle of Parliamentary Democracy. Today it is accepted as the fundamental principle on which Popular Government rests, namely, the Right of a Political Majority to Rule. It told instantaneously against Salisbury’s Government and must tell against all parties who fail at the polls wherever Parliamentary Democracy is in operation. I was reminded of this maxim when the results of the Elections to the Provincial Legislatures in India, which took place in February 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935, were announced. Congressmen did not actually say “Causafinita est: India locuta est.” But so far as the parties, which had opposed the Congress in the Elections, were con-

ii cerned, that is what the results of the Elections seemed to, proclaim. Having led the Untouchables against the Congress : for full five years in the Round Table Conference and in the Joint Parliamentary Committee, I could not pretend to be unaffected by the results of the Elections. To me the question was : Had the Untouchables gone over to the Congress ? Such a thing was to me unimaginable. For, I could not believe that the Untouchables—apart from a few agents of the Congress who are always tempted by the Congress gold to play the part of the traitor—could think of going over to the Congress en masse forgetting how Mr. Gandhi and the Congress opposed, inch by inch up to the very last moment, every one of their demands for political safeguards. I had therefore decided to study the Returns of the election that took place in 1937. While I was convinced that such a study was of great necessity from the point of view of the Untouchables, the work proceeded at a snail’s pace. This was due to three causes. The work had to be kept aside for some time to give precedence to other literary projects, the urgency of which demanded a degree of priority which it was not possible to refuse. Secondly, the Blue Book on the Election Results of 1937, which was submitted to Parliament soon after the elections had taken place and which is the primary source for figures regarding the elections, proved inadequate and insufficient for my purpose. It does not give separately figures showing how the Scheduled Castes electors voted and how many votes the Scheduled Caste candidates got. It gives figures showing how electors in different constituencies voted, without making any distinction between Hindu voters and the Scheduled Castes voters. Circular letters had therefore to be issued to the various Provincial Governments requesting them to send me the figures showing distribution of voting by Scheduled Caste electors and the number of votes secured by each Scheduled Caste candidate. This inevitably delayed the work. Thirdly, the examination of these election returns proved a very laborious task as the statistical tables given in the Appendices to this book will show. The work thus lingered on. I regret very much this delay. For I know how much mischief has been done by the Congress during the interval. The Congress has advertised the election results to bolster up its claim to represent the Untouchables. The main point in the advertisement is that out of 151 seats