WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES - 6 - Chapter 3 Summary "A MEAN DEAL" Part-3 "Congress Refuses To Part With Power" by DR. BR Ambedkar

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WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES - by Dr. B R Ambedkar - Part 6

Chapter 3 Summary

A MEAN DEAL

Part-3 (Part 2 - https://mooknaayak.forumotion.com/t29-what-congress-and-gandhi-have-done-to-the-untouchables-5-chapter-3-summary-a-mean-deal-part-2-congress-refuses-to-part-with-power-by-dr-br-ambedkar )

Before the first session of the Round Table Conference was concluded the reports of both the Committees were placed before the Conference and were passed by the Conference. It will be noticed that although agreement on, details was lacking it was unanimously accepted that the Untouchables were entitled to recognition as a separate entity for political and constitutional purposes.

Everybody was therefore looking forward to the Congress to lead the Conference to success. Unfortunately, the Congress chose Mr. Gandhi as its representative. A worse person could not have been chosen to guide India's destiny. As a unifying force he was a failure. Mr. Gandhi presents himself as a man full of humility. But his behaviour at the Round Table Conference showed that in the flush of victory Mr. Gandhi can be very petty-minded. As a result of his successful compromise with the Government just before he came, Mr. Gandhi treated the whole Non-Congress delegation with contempt. He insulted them whenever an occasion furnished him with an excuse by openly telling them that they were nobodies and that he alone, as the delegate of the Congress, represented the country. Instead of unifying the Indian delegation, Mr. Gandhi widened the breach. From the point of view of knowledge, Mr. Gandhi proved himself to be a very ill-equipped person. On the many constitutional and communal questions with which the Conference was confronted, Mr. Gandhi had many platitudes to utter but no views or suggestions of a constructive character to offer. He presented a curious complex of a man who in, some cases would threaten to resist in every possible way any compromise on, what he regarded as a principle though others regarded it as a pure prejudice but in. other cases would not mind making the worst compromises on, issues which appeared to others as matters of fundamental principle on which no compromise should be made.

The meeting of the Federal Structure Committee held on the 17th of September 1931 provided him the necessary occasion. The agenda for the meeting included the question of election of members of the Federal Legislatures. Expressing his views on the subject, Mr. Gandhi made the following statement :—
"I come to sub-head (v)—representation by special constituencies of special interests. I here speak for the Congress. The Congress has reconciled itself to special treatment of the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh tangle. There are sound historical reasons for it but the Congress will not extend that doctrine in any shape or form. I listened to the list of special interests. So far as the Untouchables are concerned, I have not yet quite grasped what Dr. Ambedkar has to say : but of course, the Congress will share the honour with Dr. Ambedkar of representing the interests of the Untouchables. They are as clear to the Congress as the interests of any other body or of any other individual throughout the length and breadth of India. Therefore I would most strongly resist any further special representation."

This was nothing but a declaration, of War by Mr. Gandhi and the Congress against the Untouchables.

Mr. Gandhi was making his plans to bypass the Untouchables and to close the communal problem by bringing about a settlement between the three parties, the Hindus, the Muslims and the Sikhs. He had been carrying on negotiations privately with the Muslims before the Minorities Committee met, but evidently they had not been concluded.

"Dr. Ambedkar: Thank you. But I do not know whether in the position in which I am today it would be of any use for me to work on the proposed Committee. And for this reason. Mahatma Gandhi told us on the first day that he spoke in the Federal Structure Committee that as a representative of the Indian National Congress he was not prepared to give political recognition to any community other than the Mohammedans and the Sikhs. He was not prepared to recognise the Anglo-Indians, the Depressed Classes, and the Indian Christians. I do not think that I am doing any violence to etiquette by stating in this Committee that when I had the pleasure of meeting Mahatma Gandhi a week ago and discussing the question of the Depressed Classes with him, and when we, as members of the other minorities, had the chance of talking with him yesterday in his office, he told us in quite plain terms that the attitude that he had taken in the Federal Structure Committee was a firm and well considered attitude. What I would like to say is that unless at the outset I know that the Depressed Classes are going to be recognised as a community entitled to political recognition in the future Constitution of India, I do not know whether it will serve any purpose for me to join the committee that is proposed by Mahatma Gandhi to be constituted to go into this matter. Unless, therefore, I have an assurance that this Committee will start with the assumption that all those communities which the Minorities Sub-Committee last year recommended as fit for recognition in the future constitution of India will be included, I do not know that I can whole-heartedly support the proposition for adjournment, or that I can whole-heartedly co-operate with the Committee that is going to be nominated. That is what I wish to be clear about.

"The Mahatma has been always claiming that the Congress stands for the Depressed Classes, and that the Congress represents the Depressed Classes more than I or my colleague can do. To that claim I can only say that it is one of the many false claims which irresponsible people keep on making, although the persons concerned with regard to those claims have been invariably denying them.

Part 7 https://mooknaayak.forumotion.com/t36-what-congress-and-gandhi-have-done-to-the-untouchables-7-chapter-3-summary-a-mean-deal-part-4-congress-refuses-to-part-with-power-by-dr-br-ambedkar

Note: Untouchables by constitution of India are called as Schedule Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes(ST).

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WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES - 6 - Chapter 3 Summary "A MEAN DEAL" Part-3 "Congress Refuses To Part With Power" by DR. BR Ambedkar Gandi_10

WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES - 6 - Chapter 3 Summary "A MEAN DEAL" Part-3 "Congress Refuses To Part With Power" by DR. BR Ambedkar Gandi_10

काँग्रेस और गाँधी ने अछूतों के लिए क्या किया? : लेखक: डा बी आर आंबेडकर : यह पुस्तक अवश्य पढने योग्य है. मात्र इस पुस्तक को पढने से न सिर्फ आप भारत की राजनीती को समझते हैं बल्कि यह पुस्तक आपके मस्तिक्षक को इतना विकसित कर देगी जिससे कि न सिर्फ आपको भारत में बदलती राजनीती को समझने में मदद मिलेगी बल्कि आप में यह सामर्थ्यता भी आएगी है कि आप खुद को देश कि राजनैतिक व्यवस्था में किस प्रकार दिशा देते हैं. बाबा साहेब जी द्वारा लिखी यह एक ऐतिहासिक और दुर्लभ राजनैतिक कृति है. - निखिल सबलाणिया

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