Vol. 9 · pages 481–485

452 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Under the British Government and by reason of its equalitarian jurisprudence these rights, immunities and privileges of the Brahmins have ceased to exist. Nonetheless the advantages they gave still remain and the Brahmin is still pre-eminent and sacred in the eyes of the servile classes and is still addressed by them as “Swami” which means ‘Lord.’ The second test gives an equally positive result. To take only the Madras Presidency by way of illustration. Consider Table 18 (see page 213). It shows the distribution of gazetted posts between the Brahmins and the other communities in the year 1943. Similar data from the other provinces could also be adduced to support this conclusion. But it is unnecessary to labour the point. Whether the Brahmins accept or deny the status the facts that they control the State and that their supremacy is accepted by the servile classes, are enough to prove that they form the governing class. It is of course impossible for the Brahmins to maintain their supremacy as a governing class without an ally to help them on account of their being numerically very small. Consequently, as history shows, the Brahmins have always had other classes as their allies to whom they were ready to accord the status of a governing class provided they were prepared to work with them in subordinate co-operation. In ancient and mediaeval times they made such an alliance with the Kshatriyas or the warrior class and the two not merely ruled the masses, but ground them down to atoms, pulverized them so to say—the Brahmin with his pen and the Kshatriya with his sword. At present, Brahmins have made an alliance with the Vaishya class called Banias. The shifting of this alliance from the Kshatriya to the Bania is in the changed circumstances quite inevitable. In these days of commerce money is more important than sword. That is one reason for this change in party alignment. The second reason is the need for money to run the political machine. Money can come only from and is in fact coming from the Bania. If the Bania is financing the Congress it is because he has realized—and Mr. Gandhi has taught him—that money invested in politics gives large dividends. Those who have any doubt in the matter might do well to read what Mr. Gandhi told Mr. Louis Fischer on June 6, 1942. In his book A Week with Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Fischer

453 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNER Table 18 (i) Communities Approx- imate Population in Lakhs Percentage of Population No. of Posts held out of Total No. Gazetted Posts (2,200) Percentage of Appoint- ments held Non-Gazetted Posts Over Rs. 100 Total No. 7,500 Over Rs. 35 Total No. 20,782 No. held by Percentage of Appoint- ments held No. held by Percentage of Appoint- ments held (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Brahmins … … … … 15 3 820 37 3,280 43.73 8,812 42.4 Christians … … … … 20 4 190 9 750 10 1,655 8.0 Muhaminadans … … … 37 7 150 7 497 6.63 1,624 7.8 Depressed Classes … … … 70 14 25 1.5 39 .52 144 .69 Non- Brahmins Forward NonBrahmins 113 22 620 27 2,543 33.9 8,440 40.6 Backward Classes … 245 50 50 2 Non-Asiatie and Anglo-Indians … — — — — 372 5.0 83 .4 Other Communities … … … — — — — 19 .5 24 .11

454 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES records very revealing answers to some of his most interesting and pertinent questions. Mr. Fischer writes 1: “I said I had several questions to ask him (Mr. Gandhi) about the Congress Party. Very highly placed Britishers, I recalled, had told me that Congress was in the hands of big business and that Mr. Gandhi was supported by the Bombay Millowners who gave him as much money as he wanted. ‘What truth is there in these assertions,’ I asked, ‘Unfortunately, they are true,’ he declared simply. ‘Congress hasn’t enough money to conduct its work. We thought in the beginning to collect four annas (about eight cents) from each member per year and operate on that. But it hasn’t worked.’ ‘What proportion of the Congress budget,’ I asked, ‘is covered by rich Indians ?’ ‘Practically all of it,’ he stated ‘In this ashram, for instance, we could live much more poorly than we do and spend less money. But we do not and the money comes from our rich friends.’ ” Being dependent on his money, it is impossible for the Brahmin to exclude the Bania from the position of a governing class. In fact, the Brahmin has established not merely a working but a cordial alliance with the Bania. The result is that the governing class in India to-day is a Brahmin-Bania instead of a Brahmin-Kshatriya combine as it used to be. Enough has been said to show who constitute the governing class in India. The next inquiry must be directed to find out how the governing class fared in the elections to the Provincial Legislatures that took place in 1937. The elections that took place in 1937 were based on a franchise which though it was neither universal nor adult was wide enough to include classes other than the governing class, certainly wider than any existing prior to 1937. The elections based on such a franchise may well be taken as a test to find out how the governing class fared as against the servile classes in this electoral contest. 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 1. A Week With Gandhi (1943), p. 41.

455 WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNER necessary information on these points relating to members of the Provincial Legislatures elected in 1937. 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 is I believe sufficient to warrant our drawing certain definite conclusions. As an answer to the question as to how the governing class fared in the electoral contest of 1937, attention may be drawn to Table 19 (see page 216) which shows the proportion of Brahmins and Banias (landlords and moneylenders) representing the governing class and non-Brahmins and the Scheduled Castes representing the servile classes, 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 degree of over-representation which the Brahmins have secured in the election. But there is no doubt that on comparison with their numbers the Brahmins have secured overwhelming representation. Those, who wish to know what degree of representation the propertied classes, such as Banias, businessmen and landlords obtained, may see the figures given in Table 20 (see page 217). It shows how many Banias, businessmen and landlords were elected on the Congress ticket. Here again the representation secured by the Banias, landlords and businessmen is quite out of proportion to their numbers. Such is the position of the governing class in the legislatures constituted under the elections that took place in 1937. Some may say that on the whole the governing classes were in a minority in the legislature. As against this, it must be pointed out that the supremacy of the governing class can be measured not by its position in the legislature but by its ability to get possession of executive authority. An inquiry into the class composition of the Ministers is therefore very pertinent. Information on this point will be found in Tables 21 and 22 (see pages 218 and 219). A glance at the tables 1 is enough to show that the Brahmins—the premier governing class— succeeded in capturing an overwhelming majority of seats in 1. The facts summarized in those Tables are taken from the issue for July 15, 1939, of Information, an official publication issued by the Government of India.

456 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Table 19 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