15. Does the Indian National Congress represent the Untouchables of India ?

DOES THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS REPRESENT THE UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA ?

Since the Cabinet Mission did not provide proper representation and safeguards to the Untouchables in its proposal, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar sent a memorandum to Mr. Atlee, Mr. Churchill and other Leaders of the Labour Party immediately after issuing the telegram. The text of this memorandum is as follows……Editors. A Critique of the Proposals of the Cabinet Mission for Indian Constitutional Changes in so for as they affect the Scheduled Castes (Untouchables)

by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar The Cabinet Mission sent out to India by the Labour Government early this year to resolve the political deadlock in India set out a Scheme for the framing of the constitution by a Constituent Assembly. This Constituent Assembly is to be composed of representatives chosen by the members of the Provincial Legislatures by a single transferable vote. For the purpose of the composition of the Constituent Assembly the Cabinet Mission’s Scheme has divided the members of the provincial legislatures into three categories (1) Muslims (2) Sikhs and (3) General, each with a fixed quota of seats. Each category has a Separate Electorate whereby the Muslim representatives of the Constituent Assembly will be elected by the Muslim members of the Provincial Legislature, the Sikhs by the Sikh members and the General by all the rest. The ‘general’ includes (1) Hindus, (2) Scheduled Castes, (3) Indian Christians, and (4) Anglo-Indians.

2. The Scheduled Castes of India were greatly surprised to find that they were lumped together with the Hindus. It has been declared time and again by His Majesty’s Government that His Majesty’s Government recognizes that the Scheduled Castes are separate element in the national life of India and that His Majesty’s Government will not impose any constitution to which the Scheduled Castes are not willing party. The question is asked

why the Cabinet Mission recognized the Muslims and the Sikhs as separate elements and why they refused to give the Scheduled Castes the same status ?

In the debate that took place in Parliament on the 18th of July 1946 on the proposals of the Cabinet Mission, Sir Stafford Cripps, Mr. Alexander and Lord Pethick-Lawrence tried to defend themselves against this criticism, Their argument was two-fold :— (1) That, in the elections to the Provincial Legislature which took place in February last, the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes were captured by the Congress and that this shows that the Scheduled Castes were with the Congress and trusted their destiny to the Congress i.e. the Hindus and that there was no ground for separating them. (2) That, there is to be an Advisory Committee on the minorities in which the Scheduled Castes will be represented and will have a voice in the framing of the safeguards necessary for them.

The second defence is worse than useless. The reasons are obvious. The status and powers of the Advisory Committee are not defined. The quantum of representation of the Scheduled Castes is not prescribed. The decisions of the Advisory Committee are left to be carried by a bare majority. Lastly, the Advisory Committee cannot be anything else than a mere reflection of the Constituent Assembly. The representatives of the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly all belong to the Congress Party and they do not represent the Scheduled Castes. They are, therefore, subject to the Mandate of the Congress Party. Those of them who will be put in the Advisory Committe will be subject to the same Party Mandate. They cannot put forth the real point of view of the Scheduled Castes either in the Constituent Assembly or on the Advisory Committee.

The principal line of defence used by the members of the Cabinet Mission in justification of their failure to give the Scheduled Castes separate and independent representation is that the Congress won the Scheduled Caste seats in the last election. Even, this line of defence cannot stand. It is true that in the final election the Congress did capture the Scheduled Castes seats. But the reply is

that this election results should not have been taken as the test for various reasons.

Firstly, the parties such as the Scheduled Castes who had co-operated with the British Government were at a discount with the people on that very account.

Secondly, the trial of the Indian National Army men which synchronized with the election placed the Congress at an advantage and other parties at a disadvantage. If the Indian National Army trial had not been staged at the time of the election the Congress would have lost completely, so low was its stock. Apart from these two reasons why the election results should not have been as a test, there is a special reason why it should not have been taken to detemine whether the Congress did or did not represent the Scheduled Castes. That reason is that the final elevation for the Scheduled Castes seats is by a system of joint electorate in which the Hindus also vote. The Hindus vote being preponderent it is easy for the Congress to elect a candidate belonging to the Scheduled Castes standing for the Scheduled Castes seats entirely by Hindu votes. That the Scheduled Castes representative in Provincial Legislatures who stood on the Congress ticket were elected solely by Hindu votes and not by the votes of the Scheduled Castes is a fact which even the Cabinet Mission will not be able to deny. The real test by which to determine whether the Congress represents the Scheduled Castes is to examine the results of the Primary Elections which preceded the Final Elections, for in the Primary Election the Scheduled Castes have a Separate Electorate in which the Hindus have no right to vote. The Primary Election, therefore, reflects the real sentiments of the Scheduled Castes. What does the result of the Primary Election show ? Does it show that the Scheduled Castes are with the Congress ? The Scheduled Castes have been allotted 151 seats in the Provincial Legislatures. They are distributed among the different Provinces except Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province. Primary Election is not obligatory. It becomes obligatory only if there are more than four candidates contesting for a seat. In the last Primary Election which preceded the Final Election, Primary Election became obligatory in 40 constituencies out of 151.

They were distributed as follows :-Madras . . . . 10 Bombay . . . . 3 Bengal . . . . 12 United province . . . . 3 Central Provinces . . . . 5 Punjab . . . . 7 There were no Primary Elections in the Provinces of Bihar and Orissa.

The results of the Primary Elections in the 40 constituencies are tabulated in the Appendix which accompanies this note. The results prove :— (I) That, out of 283 candidates the Congress put up only 46 candidates on its ticket (See Table I) and out of 168 successful candidates had only 38 to its credit ( See Table V)’. (II) The object of a Party in entering into a Primary Election is to drive out all rival parties from the Final Election by putting up at least four candidates on its party ticket. Whether a party can put up four candidates on its ticket depends upon how much confidence it has in the voters to vote for its party ticket. The Congress has not ventured to put up more than one candidate in each constituency. This shows that the Congress had no confidence that the Scheduled Caste voters would vote for the Congress ticket. If there is any party which has ventured to put up four candidates for each it has contested, it is the Scheduled Castes Federation. (See Table II, Parts I, V, Columns 3 and 4). (III) Measured in terms of votes cast in favour of the Congress it is proved beyond dispute that the Congress obtained only 28 per cent of the total votes polled in the Primary Election ( See Table IV).

(IV) If there was not the temptation to get oneself elected in the final election with the help of the Hindu votes, the Independents would all be members of the Scheduled Castes Federation. On that assumption the Scheduled Castes Federation is the only party which represents the Scheduled Castes and the 72 per cent voting in favour of the Non-Congress Parties should be set out to its credit ( See Table IV).

The members of the Cabinet Mission argued that Dr. Ambedkar’s following was confined to the Scheduled Castes in the Bombay Presidency and the Central Provinces only. There is no foundation for this statement. The Scheduled Castes Federation is functioning in other Provinces as well and it has won notable electoral success as great as in Bombay and the Central Provinces. In making this statement the Mission has failed to take account of the single victory Dr. Ambedkar secured in the election to the Constituent Assembly. He stood as a candidate from the Bengal Provincial Legislature Assembly. He secured 7 first preference votes and topped the poll so far as the general seats were concerned beating even Mr. Sarat Chandra Bose, the Leader of the Congress party. If Dr. Ambedkar has no influence outside Bombay and Central Provinces how did he get elected from Bengal? It must be further remembered that there are 30 seats for the Scheduled Castes in the Bengal Provincial Assembly. Out of the 30 as many as 28 were elected on the Congress ticket. Of the two who belonged to his party one fell ill on the day of election. This means that 6 Scheduled Caste members elected on the Congress ticket broke the Congress Mandate and voted for Dr. Ambedkar. This shows that even these Scheduled Caste members who belong to the Congress regard him as the leader of the Scheduled Castes. This is complete disproof of the statement made by the Mission.

The Congress has been so much encouraged by the surrender of the Mission that a letter addressed to the Mission the Congress has gone to the length of denying that the Scheduled Castes are a minority. This means that the Congress is not prepared to give the Scheduled Castes the same safeguards as they would to other minorities. The Mission has not repudiated this suggestion of the Congress. Herein lurks a great danger and it is necessary to pin down the Mission in the course of the debate and compel them to say if they do or do not regard the Scheduled Castes as a minority.

The Cabinet Mission have said in their proposals that before sovereignty is transferred Parliament will have to satisfy itself that the safeguards for Minorities are adequate. The Mission has

nowhere defined the machinery for examining the safeguards. Whether there would be a Joint Committee of the two Houses of Parliament to examine the minority safeguards has not been made clear. The Mission has not even stated that His Majesty’s Government will exerecise its independent judgment in coming to its conclusion on the adequacy of the safeguards. It is necessary to have these matters defined because this provision was an afterthought with the Mission and did not form part of its original proposals which gives the impression that this was intended merely to act as a stop to the minorities. Analysis of the Results of Primary Elections Held in December, 1945 (Preliminary to the General Election in India Held in February 1946) for Choosing Candidates from the Scheduled Castes (Untouchables) for the Seats Reserved for the Scheduled Castes in the Provincial Legislatures of India

Note.-The Tables in this Analysis are prepared from official figures. TABLE I Parties which contested the Primary Election for seats reserved for Scheduled Castes shown Province-wise Name of the party which put up Candidates to contest Primary Elections The Number of Candidates put up by each Party in— Total number of Candidates put up by the party in all the Provinces Madras Bombay Bengal United Provinces Central Provinces Punjab

1. Congress 10 3 13 11 5 4 46

2. Scheduled Castes Federation 35 6 8 9 12 none 70

3. Harijan League none none none 1 3 none 4

4. No-Party Candidates (Independents)

5 9 76 3 8 52 153

5. Hindu Maha Sabha none none 1 1 none none 2

6. Communists 6 none 1 none none none 7

7. Radical Democratic Party none none 1 none none none 1 Total ... 56 18 100 25 28 56 283

TABLE II

Parties which contested the Primary Election for seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes shown constituency-wise PART I-MADRAS Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Congress Scheduled Castes Federation Communists No-Party Candidates (Independents)

1. Amlapuram 7 1 4 2 none

2. Coconada 5 1 4 none none

3. Bandar 5 1 1 3 none

4. Cuddappa 5 1 4 none none

5. Penukonda 5 1 4 none none

6. Tirnvannamali 6 1 5 none none

7. Tindivanam 6 1 5 none none

8. Mannergudi 5 1 none 1 3

9. Pollachi 7 1 4 none 2

10. Nammakal 5 1 4 none none Total 56 10 35 6 5 PART II--BOMBAY Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Congress Scheduled Castes Federation No-Party Candidates (independents)

Bombay City (North) 7 1 1 5 Bombay City 6 1 1 4 (Byculla& Parel) East Khandesh (East)

5 1 4 none Total 18 3 6 9

TABLE II PART III—BENGAL

Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total Candidates who took part in the contest Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put by each Congress Scheduled Castes Federation Hindu Maha Sabha No-Party Candidates (Independents)

Communists Radical democratic Party

1. Hoogly .. 5 1 none None 3 .. 1

2. Howrah .. 7 3 none None 4 .. ..

3. Nadia .. 12 1 none None 11 .. ..

4. Jessore .. 7 1 2 none 4 .. ..

5. Khulna .. 11 none none none 11 .. ..

6. Dinajpur .. 16 2 none none 13 1 ..

7. Bogra .. 6 1 none none 5 .. ..

8. Mymansing .. 7 1 none none 6 .. ..

9. Faridpur .. 18 2 3 none 13 .. .. 10 Bakergunj .. 6 none 3 1 2 .. .. 11 Tipperah .. 5 1 none none 4 .. .. Total .. 100 13 8 1 76 I 1

TABLE II PART IV—UNITED PROVINCES

Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Constituency in which Primary Election was Contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Congress Scheduled Castes Federation Harijan League Hindu Maha Sabha No-Party Candidates (Indepen- dents)

Agra City 11 1 5 1 1 3 Allahabad City 6 1 4 none none 3 Almora 8 3 none none none 3 Total .. .. 25 5 9 1 1 9 PART V--CENTRAL PROVINCES Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Congress Scheduled Castes Federation Harijan League No-Party Candidates (Independents)

Nagpur-cum 5 121 1 Sakoli Hinganghat 6 1 2 1 2 Bhandara 5 1 3 1 none Yeotmal 6 1 2 none 3 Chikhli 6 1 3 none 2 Total 28 5 12 3 8 PART VI-PUNJAB Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Congress Unionists No-Party Candidates (Independents)

Gurgaon 10 .. 1 9 Kurnal 10 1 .. 9 Ambala 8 .. .. 8 Hoshiyarpur 9 1 1 7 Jullunder 6 1 1 4 Ludhiyana 10 1 .. 9 Lyalpur 6 .. .. 6 Total .. 59 4 3 52

TABLE III

Showing Province-wise the Votes obtained by different Parties which contested the Primary Elections Name of the Party Votes secured by each Party in Madras Bombay Bengal United Provinces Central Provinces Punjab aggregate p.c. aggregate p.c. aggregate p.c. aggregate p.c. aggregate p.c. aggregate p.c.

1. Congress .. 27,838 33 5,333 14 56,848 32.7 4,101 41.8 1,131 10.7 8,298 17.6

2. Scheduled Castes Federation 30,199 36 28,489 74 21.129 12.2 3,093 30.5 8,685 82.8 nil .53

3. Independents .. 4,648 4.5 3,814 10 83,869 47 1,773 18.8 551 24,618

4. Harijan League .. nil nil nil 370 113 nil

5. Hindu Maha Sabha .. nil nil 760 452 nil nil

6. Unionists .. nil nil nil nil nil 13,521

7. Communists .. 20,814 25 nil 10,049 5.8 nil nil nil Total .. 83,499 37,636 1,72,655 9.789 10,480 46,437

TABLE IV

Distribution of Total Votes polled in Primary Elections all through India and their distribution between Congress and Non-Congress Parties Total Votes Polled throughout India in Primary Election In favour of Congress Parties In favour of Congress Parties Congress Harijan League Total PC. Sche- duled Castes Federa- tion Independents Hindu Maha Sabha Commu- nists Unionists Radical Demo- cratic Party Total P.C.

3,59,532 1,03,449 483 1,03,932 28 91,595 1,19,273 1,212 30,863 13,521 136 2,56,600 72

TABLE V

Number of Candidates who became successful in Primary Elections in different Provinces classified according to their Party Affiliations Name of the Party Madras Bombay Bengal U. P. C. P. Punjab Total

1. Congress .. 10 3 12 4 5 4 38

2. Scheduled Castes Federation .. 24 5 6 5 11 none 51

3. Independents .. 3 4 36 2 3 21 69

4. Hindu Maha Sabha .. none none 1 1 1 …. 3

5. Harijan League .. none none none none None …. ….

6. Communists .. 3 none 1 none None …. 4

7. Radical Democratic Party .. none none none none None …. ….

8. Unionists .. none none none none None 3 3 Total .. 40 12 56 12 20 28 168 zz