Vol. 9 · pages 251–255

222 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES did unless they see the facts. The fact is that the Congress High Command in selecting a candidate had a definite policy namely in the case of Brahmins, to give preference to a candidate who had the highest educational qualifications and in the case of the Non-Brahmins and the Scheduled Castes, to give preference to a candidate who had the lowest educational qualification. Let those who have any doubts in the matter consider the facts summarized in Table 22 (see page 224.) It is obvious that in the case of the Brahmins the relative proportion of graduates to non-graduates is far higher than what it is in the case of the Non-Brahmins and the Scheduled Castes. The difference in terms of graduates and non-graduates does not really reveal the correct situation. To put it correctly, the Brahmin graduates were seasoned politicians of high repute while the Non-Brahmin graduates were raw graduates with the career of second class politicians to recommend them. Why did the Congress select the best educated Brahmms as its candidates for election ? Why did the Congress select the least educated Non-Brahmins and Scheduled Castes as its candidates for election ? To this question I can see only one answer. It was to prevent the Non-Brahmins in the Congress from forming a ministry. The Congress seems to have deliberately preferred an uneducated Non-Brahmin to an educated one because from the point of view of the governing class, the uneducated Non-Brahmin has two definite advantages over an educated non-Brahmin. In the first place, he is likely to be more grateful to the Congress High Command for having got him elected than an educated Non-Brahmin is likely to be, and would not be ready to revolt against the Congress Ministry, formed by the governing classes, by joining hands with the educated Non-Brahmins in the Congress Party should the latter aspire to form a government of their own against the government of the governing classes. In the second place, if more undergraduates or more raw Non-Brahmin graduates were selected, it was with the purpose to prevent the Non-Brahmins in the Congress from forming a competent and alternative Ministry to the detriment of the governing class. The Non-Brahmins in the Congress do not know how the Congress has deceived them, and how in drawing them inside the Congress, the Congress was making a concealed attempt to permanently entrench the governing classes in places of power and authority.

223 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS Table 21 Classification of Parliamentary Secretaries in Congress Provinces* Province Total No. of Parliamentary Secretaries Total No. of Non-Hindu Parliamentary Secretaries Hindu Parliamentary Secretaries Total Brahmins Non-Brahmins Scheduled Castes Assam ... ... ... ... Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Bihar ... ... ... ... 8 Nil 8 2 5 1 Bombay ... ... ... ... 6 Nil 6 1 5 Nil Central Provinces ... ... Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Madras ... ... ... ... 8 1 7 3 4 1 Grissa ... ... ... ... 3 Nil 3 ? ? Nil United Provinces ... ... ... 12 1 11 2 8 1 *Compiled from Indian Information Issue of July 15, 1939. Question mark indicates inability to classify whether Brahmin or non-Brahmin.

224 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Table 22 Classification of Brahmin and Non-Brahmin Congress Partymen by Literacy Provincial Assemblies Castes Total Graduates Non-Graduates Matriculates Illiterates Not stated Assam ... ... Brahmin ... ... ... 6 5 1 — — — Non-Brahmin ... ... 21 15 2 — 1 9 Brahmin ... ... ... 15 14 1 — — — Bengal ... ... Non-Brahmin ... ... 27 21 4 — 1 7 (Scheduled Castes ... ... 6 3 — 1 2 — Brahmin ... ... ... 31 11 5 8 4 3 Bihar ... ... Non-Brahmin ... ... 39 23 4 3 8 13 Scheduled Castes ... ... — 1 1 4 10 — Brahmins ... ... ... 39 15 — 2 9 2 Central Province ... Non-Brahmin ... ... 54 15 — 2 17 1 Scheduled Castes ... ... — 1 — — 6 — Brahmins ... ... ... 38 16 2 3 4 13 Madras ... ... Non-Brahmins ... ... 90 31 3 1 7 61 Scheduled Castes ... ... 26 1 1 1 14 — Backward Class ... ... — 1 — — — — Brahmins ... ... ... 11 6 1 — 3 1 Orissa ... ... Non-Brahmins ... ... 20 7 3 2 7 1 Scheduled Castes ... ... 5 — — — 5 —

225 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS VI It would be instructive to compare the attitude of the governing class in India with the attitude taken by the governing class in other countries in times of national crisis such as we are passing through in India today. In France, when the Revolution broke out and demanded equality the governing class in France voluntarily came forward to give up its powers and its privileges and to merge itself in the mass of the nation. This is clear from what happened when the States General called. The Commons got 600 representatives while the clergy and the Nobles got 800 each. The question arose how were the 1,200 members to sit, debate and vote. The Commons insisted upon the union of all the three estates in one Chamber and ‘vote by head.’ It was impossible to expect the clergy and the Nobles to accept this position. For it meant the surrender of their most ancient and valuable privileges. Yet a good part of them agreed to the demand of the Commons and gave France a constitution based upon liberty, equality and fraternity. The attitude of the governing classes in Japan during the period between 1855 to 1870—a period in which the Japanese people were transformed from a feudal society into a modern nation—was even more patriotic than the attitude of the governing classes in France. As students of Japanese history 1 know, there were four classes in Japanese Society (1) The Damiyos, (2) The Samurai, (8) The Hemin or the Common folk and (4) The Eta or the outcastes standing one above the other in an order of graded inequality. At the bottom were the Eta numbering a good many thousands. Above the Eta were the Hemin numbering about 25/83 millions. Over them were the Samurai who numbered about 2 millions and who had the power of life and death over the Hemin. At the apex were the Damiyos or the Feudal Barons who exercised sway over the rest of the three classes and who numbered only 300. The Damiyos and the Samurai realized that it was impossible to transform this feudal society with its class composition and class rights into a modem nation with equality of citizenship. Accordingly the Damiyos charged with the spirit of nationalism and anxious not to stand in the way of national unity, came forward to surrender their privileges and to merge themselves 1 See Romance of Japan by James A.B. Scherer.

226 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES in the common mass of people. In a memorial submitted to the Emperor on the 5th March 1869 they said: 1 “The Place where we live is the Emperor’s land. The food that we eat is grown by the Emperor’s men. How then can we claim any property as our own ? We now reverently offer up our possessions and also our followers (Samurai as well as ‘common folk’) with the prayer that the Emperor will take good measures for rewarding those to whom reward is due, and for fining such as do not deserve reward. Let imperial orders be issued for altering and remodelling the territories of the various clans. Let the civil and penal codes, the military laws down to the rules, for uniforms and for the construction of engines of war, all proceed from the Emperor. Let all affairs of the Empire, both great and small, be referred to him.” How does the governing class in India compare in this behalf with the governing class in Japan ? Just the opposite. The governing class in India has no such intention of making any sacrifice on the altar of Indian Freedom. Instead of surrendering its privileges in the name of nationalism, the governing class in India is using or misusing the slogan of nationalism to maintain its privileges. Whenever the servile classes ask for reservations in the Legislatures, in the Executive and in public services, the governing class raises the cry of ‘nationalism in danger.’ People are told that if we are to achieve national freedom, we must maintain national unity, that all questions regarding reservations in the Legislatures, Executives and the public services are inimical to national unity and therefore for anyone interested in national freedom it is a sin to stand out for such reservations and create dissensions. That is the attitude of the governing class. It stands in glaring contrast with that of the governing class in Japan. Far from sacrificing its privileges for nationalism, it is exploiting nationalism to preserve them. The governing class in India does not merely refuse to surrender its power and authority; it never loses an opportunity to pour ridicule on the political demands of the servile classes. Some2 members of the governing classes have gone to the 1 lbid, p. 233. 2 The parody written by Dr. R.P. Paranjpe appeared in a magazine called Gujarathi Punch for May 1926 under the heading “A Peep into the Future.” As a specimen of this class of writing by members of the governing class it is worth perusal. It is a satire based on certain incidents which are imagined to