Vol. 9 · pages 246–250

217 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS as he is told by his religion that money lending is the occupation prescribed to him by Manu, he looks upon it as both right and righteous. With the help and assistance of the Brahmin judge who is read to decree his suits, he is able to carry on his trade. Interest, interest on interest, he adds on and on and thereby draws families perpetually into his net: Pay him as much as a debtor may, he is always in debt. With no conscience, there is no fraud, and no chicanery that he will not commit. His grip over the nation is complete. The whole of poor, starving, illiterate India is mortgaged to the Bania. To sum up, the Brahmin enslaves the mind and the Bania enslaves the body. Between them, they divide the spoils which belong to the governing classes. Can anyone who realizes what the outlook, tradition and social philosophy of the governing class in India, is believe that under the Congress regime, a sovereign and independent India will be different from the India we have today ? V If the Congress is honest and sincere in its professions as the champion and the guardian of the servile classes the Congress may well be called upon to show what steps it took to destroy the power of the governing class. It is repeated from housetops that the Congress swept the polls in the elections that took place in 1937. Overlooking the hyperbole, a question could legitimately be asked: It is true that the Congress won the victory but which is the class among the Indian people which carried the trophy ? Unfortunately, no Indian publicist has as yet undertaken to compile an Indian counterpart of Dodd’s Parliamentary Manual. Consequently, it is difficult to have precise particulars regarding the caste, occupation, education and social status of members of the legislature elected on the Congress ticket. The matter is so important that I thought of collecting the necessary information on these points relating to members of the Provincial Legislatures elected in 1937 on the Congress ticket. I did not succeed in getting precise information about every member. There are many whom I have had to leave as unclassified. But the information I have been able to gather throws a glaring light upon victory of the Congress and shows what it means to the people of India in terms of their freedom and their well-being. Table 18 (see page 219) shows the proportion of Brahmins

218 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES and Non-Brahmins and the Scheduled Castes that were elected to the Provincial Legislative Assemblies on the Congress Ticket. Those who do not know how small is the proportion of the Brahmins to the total population of Hindus may not be able to realize the representation which the Brahmins have secured in the Congress Election. But those who know it will realize that in proportion to their numbers the Brahmins have secured overwhelming representation. What degree of representation did the Congress give to the propertied classes, such as Banias, businessmen and landlords ? Table 19 (see page 220) shows how many Banias, businessmen and landlords were elected on the Congress ticket. Here again the representation secured by the Banias, landlords and businessmen standing on the Congress ticket is overwhelming. Is there any doubt that the Congress instead of warring against the governing class actually helped the governing class to capture political power ? There is one other feature of the Congress victory in the election which needs to be exposed. It relates to the composition of the Congress ministries1. Tables 20 and 21 (see pages 221 and 223) give an idea of the position of the Brahmins in the Congress Ministries in Provinces in which the Congress had obtained a majority. In all the Hindu Provinces, the Prime Ministers were Brahmins. In all Hindu Provinces if the Non-Hindu ministers were excluded, the Cabinets were wholly composed of Brahmins. This was particularly so in United Provinces, the Province to which Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru belongs. Is there any doubt that the Brahmins form the governing class in India ? Is there any doubt that the Congress’ fight for Freedom is for the freedom of the governing class ? Is there any doubt that the Congress is the governing class and the governing class is the Congress ? Is there any doubt that when Swaraj came in 1937 in the form of Provincial autonomy, the Congress shamelessly put the governing class in places of power and authority ? To be true to facts it is an understatement to say that the Congress put the governing classes into places of power and authority. It did more than that. Here again, so strange has been the result that people will not believe what the Congress 1 Indian Information for July 15, 1939.

219 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS Table 18 Classification of Congress Members of Provincial Assemblies by Castes Province Brahmins Non-Brahmins Scheduled Castes Not Stated Total Assam ... ... ... ... ... 6 21 1 5 33 Bengal ... ... ... ... ... 15 27 6 6 54 Bihar ... ... ... ... ... 31 39 16 12 98 C.P. ... ... ... ... ... 28 35 7 — 70 Madras ... ... ... ... ... 38 90 26 5 159 Orissa ... ... ... ... ... 11 20 5 — 36 United Provinces ... ... ... 39 54 16 24 133

220 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Table 19 Classification of the Congress Members of the Provincial Legislatures in terms of Occupation Province Lawyers Medical Practi- tioners Land- lords Business- men Private Officials Money Lenders Nil Not Stated Total Assam ... ... ... 16 2 2 1 — — 3 9 33 Bengal ... ... ... 9 2 16 5 2 — 16 4 54 Bihar ... ... ... 14 4 56 6 3 — 1 14 98 Central Provinces ... 20 2 25 10 — — 8 5 70 Madras ... ... ... 52 2 45 18 2 1 3 36 159 Orissa ... ... ... 8 1 17 4 4 1 1 — 36

221 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS Table 20 Composition of the Cabinds in the Congress Provinces* Province Total No. of Cabinet Ministers Total No. of Non-Hindu Ministers Hindu Ministers in the Cabinet Prime Minister Total Brahmins Non Brahmins Scheduled Castes Assam ... ... ... ... 8 3 5 ? ? Nil Brahmin Bihar ... ... ... ... 4 1 3 ? ? 1 Brahmin Bombay ... ... ... ... 7 2 5 3 2 Nil Brahmin Central Provinces ... ... ... 5 1 4 3 1 Nil Brahmin Madras ... ... ... ... 9 2 7 3 3 1 Brahmin Orissa ... ... ... ... 3 Nil 3 ? ? ? ? United Provinces ... ... 6 2 4 4 Nil Nil Brahmin *This table represents the position as it stood in May 1939 and as reported in the Issue of July 15, 1939 of the Indian Information. Question mark indicates inability to classify whether Brahmin or non-Brahmin.