IMPORTANT CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO TRANSFER OF POWER

 PRIVATE AND SECRET                                           

NO.45                                                    THE VICEROY'S HOUSE, NEW DELHI,

5 December 1945

****

14. Ambedkar has recently submitted to Council his proposals for Labour Legislation for the Budget Session of 1946. One was a bill to amend the Factories Act, to reduce hours of work from 56 hours to 50 hours per week. This will have to be reconsidered by Council when the comments from Provincial Governments have been received. A second proposal is to introduce a bill to fix minimum wages. All Provincial Governments are being consulted on this, but the bill is undoubtedly too ambitious in trying to fix minimum wages for too many industries. The schedule even includes Agriculture, though the administrative machinery to enforce minimum wages in all the 6,50,000 villages of India cannot possibly be provided. There was, however, a good deal of sympathy in Council for the proposal to introduce a bill governing at any rate those industries where sweated labour is believed to be employed. Provincial Governments are being consulted. Council accepted a non-controversial bill to amend the Workman's Compensation Act, and another called the Employment (Standing Orders) Bill designed to secure that workers in large industrial establishments know what their conditions of service are. Finally Council approved a proposal to introduce a bill to amend the Trades Union Act and refer it to a Select Committee. The bill makes recognition of Trade Unions compulsory on employers.

15. At a later meeting Ambedkar introduced rather prematurely a unified scheme of insurance and social security for industrial workers. I fully sympathize with Ambedkar's desire to get a move on with such schemes, but in this one he had not secured the necessary measure of inter-departmental agreement, and it was not clear that all Provinces would be able to make administrative arrangements for implementing the medical part of the scheme. We hope, however, to get the remaining preliminary work done in time to introduce a bill in the Budget Session and make a motion to circulate it to elicit public opinion.

15

[f.25]  Note of Meeting between Cabinet delegation, Field Marshal Viscount Wavell and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on Friday,

5th April 1946 at 12 noon

[L/P&J/5/337: PP. 83-5]

Secret

Dr. Ambedkar said that he had little to add to the memorandum, of which copies had been supplied to the Delegation, giving the text of the resolution passed by the Working Committee of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation at its meeting on April 2nd. Paragraph 5 of this memorandum contained a list of safeguards, which were largely designed to secure to the Scheduled Castes adequate representation in Government and the Public Services. The Federation would never accept any constitution in which these were not included.

On the question of Pakistan Dr. Ambedkar doubted whether Muslims as a whole would really be benefited by the new State. So many of them would have to remain in Hindustan and would be unwilling or unable to migrate.

He wondered whether Pakistan was a permanent or a passing mood on the part of the Muslims. Quite probably it would pass. But it was impossible to wait and see and the Muslim demand had grown so strong that it had become necessary to meet it somehow. In his book on the subject he had proposed that this dilemma should be resolved by an adaptation of the solution which Mr. Asquith had propounded in 1920 for the Irish problem. Mr. Asquith had suggested that Ulster should be separated from the rest of Ireland for six years ; but that a council consisting of representatives of both parts of the country should be established to deal with matters of common concern during this period. At the end of the six years Ulster would have had to choose whether to remain separate or to re-unite with Southern Ireland. Similarly, Dr. Ambedkar had proposed that Pakistan should be given independence for ten years, at the end of which it would be known whether it was an economic proposition. He admitted that if the people of Pakistan then wished to join up with Hindustan they would be in a weak position to negotiate and all the bargaining counters would be on the other side. During the ten-year period there might be a common council, but it would be purely consultative and would have no executive power. Any All-India Central Government to which the Muslims could, in their present mood, be brought to agree would be so weak as to be useless. There were many other fissiparous tendencies besides the Muslim demand for Pakistan, and the only Central Government worth having would be a strong one which could hold the country together.

In reply to an inquiry on the method of representation of the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Ambedkar said that he did not want a Constituent Assembly at all. It would be dominated by the caste Hindus, and the Scheduled Caste members would be no more than a small minority, which would always be outvoted even if a three-quarters or a two-thirds majority were required for the Assembly's decisions. All the assurances of protection, which His Majesty’s Government had given to the minorities, would go by the board. Moreover there would be an immense amount of corruption in the Assembly—members would be bought over to vote against the interests of their communities.

His own proposal was that the tasks envisaged for the Constituent Assembly should be divided into two classes, viz:—

(a) Constitutional questions properly so-called, e.g. the relations between  the Legislature  and  the Executive and their respective composition and functions. There was no great controversy about these matters, which did not excite the emotions. To deal with them was beyond the mental capacity of the type of man whom Provincial Assemblies might be expected to send up, and was a job for experts.

(b) Communal questions.

Questions under the first of these headings should be referred to a commission presided over by an eminent constitutional lawyer from Great Britain or the U.S.A. The other members should be two Indian experts and one representative each of the Hindu and Muslim communities. The terms of reference of the Commission should be the Government of India Act of 1935 and they should be required to recommend what changes should be made in the Act as it stood.

Questions under (b) should be referred to a conference of the leaders of the different communities. If the conference failed to arrive at an agreed solution, His Majesty's Government would have to make an award. This would no doubt be accepted if it were reasonable.

Dr. Ambedkar then described the position of the Scheduled Castes today. It was estimated that they numbered sixty million, though this figure was probably inaccurate, firstly, because there were no reliable statistics for the States and, secondly, because the census had become mixed up with politics. All these people were subject to very serious disabilities. In the villages they were without land and were virtually the slaves of the Caste Hindus. As an instance of the power of the latter, he said that when some Untouchables had escaped from their villages to take up well-paid work under the Military authorities, the Caste Hindus had managed to force them back to work for them. Owing to the preponderance of Caste Hindus in the Subordinate Police and Revenue Services the Government was already, from the point of view of the Untouchables, not a British but a Hindu one. An example had been the recent arrest of 100 of their boys in Bombay for throwing stones at Mr. Gandhi, when the police had also taken the opportunity to do considerable damage in the Scheduled Caste area of the city.

Politically, although the Scheduled Castes like the other communities, had been granted separate electorates in 1932, they had virtually been deprived of them by the Poona Pact. [f.26]  Instead, they had got the system of double elections which meant that in the second election, in which all the Hindus voted, the Caste Hindus could nullify the result of the first election in which Untouchables were the only voters. He referred to the figures appended to the Working Committee's resolution of April 2nd which showed, firstly, that in many cases the Congress Scheduled Caste candidates, though outvoted by the Federation candidates in the primary elections, had beaten them in the final elections : and, secondly, how small was the number of Scheduled Caste voters in comparison with the total of general voters: Even so,  Congress had resorted to loot and arson to ensure the success of their candidates ; he produced a volume of photographs to show what they  had done.

The Central Legislature had been in existence since 1919, yet no questions were ever asked, resolutions moved or anything else done with the object of helping the Scheduled Castes.

In the Indian States the position of the Scheduled Castes was especially bad. There were even certain foods, which they were not allowed to eat. In the representative institutions, which were now being established in certain States, no community had been given separate representation except the Muslims. The Political Department should have taken greater interest in these constitutional experiments, and should have seen to it that the Scheduled Castes were given separate electorates. The Delegation should see the President of the All-India Scheduled Castes States Conference.

The Scheduled Castes had been the earliest source of manpower for the East India Company's army, and so it was with their help that the British had conquered India. They had been the friends of the British I ever since. Yet the British had never consciously and deliberately helped them, though since 1892 they had given enormous help to the Muslims.

He thought that if India became independent it would be one of the greatest disasters that could happen. Before they left, the British must ensure that the new constitution guaranteed to the Scheduled Castes the elementary human rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that it restored their separate electorates and gave them the other safeguards which they demanded. At present disillusionment was driving his followers towards terrorism and communism. He was on trial with them for the efficacy of constitutional methods. Lord Pethick-Lawrence said that up to now Indian politics had been dominated by two issues, the question of winning independence from British rule and the Hindu-Muslim problem. Once these were out of the way party divisions would probably be on economic issues. Surely the Scheduled Castes would have a better chance of getting their rights by allaying themselves with the left wing than by relying on the British who were about to hand over power. In reply Dr. Ambedkar reiterated that so long as there were joint electorates, Scheduled Caste voters would be so few that Hindu candidates could safely ignore their wishes. Caste Hindus would never support Scheduled Caste candidates. Admittedly under the present system they had to vote for Untouchables in the final elections ; but their object in doing so was never to favour their own candidate but merely to outvote the candidate put up by his own Federation. Separate electorates were fundamental, since without them the Scheduled Castes would never have their own representatives.

16

Dr. Ambedkar to Lord Wavell, Governor General of India

[f.27]  Bhimrao R. Ambedkar,        

22, Prithviraj Road, New Delhi

Dated, 3rd May 1946

 Member, Governor General's

M. A. PH. D., D. Sc., Barrister-at-Law,

Executive Council.

Dear Lord Wavell,

The omission on the part of the Cabinet Mission to invite a representative of the Scheduled Castes to their Conference in Simla has given rise to many misgivings in the minds of the Scheduled Castes as to how the Cabinet Mission proposes to dispose of their demand for constitutional safeguards. As the situation is critical, I like to acquaint you with the reactions of the Scheduled Castes in this connection.

The omission to invite a representative of the Scheduled Castes to the Simla Conference is capable of many explanations. One explanation that appears to me to be plausible is that the demands of the Scheduled Castes are such that they do not require the consent of other parties in as much as they do not trench upon their legitimate rights. This is certainly so at least with regard to three of their demands, namely, (1) separate electorates, (2) proper representation in the Central Executive, and (3) undertaking from parties to accept certain general principles in regard to the safeguarding of the interest of the Scheduled Castes in the future constitution as a condition precedent for an interim Government.

That the demands of the Scheduled Castes do not require the consent of other parties is a view, which I had urged very strongly upon the Mission in the course of my interview on the 5th of April 1946.

The demand for Separate Electorates by a Majority Community as is the case of Muslims in the Punjab, N.W.F. Province, Sind and Bengal, stands on a different footing from the demand for Separate Electorates by a Minority Community such as the Scheduled Castes. A demand for Separate Electorates by a Majority Community must require the consent of the Minority Community. But the demand for Separate Electorates by a Minority Community can never be made dependent upon the wishes of the Majority Community. The Electorate is primarily a Mechanism devised for protecting a Minority against the Majority. That being so, whether the Electorate should be joint or separate must be left entirely to Minority to determine on the ground that the Minority knows what is best in its own interest. The Majority can have no say in the matter and must really accept the decision of the Minority. Following this up, the Hindus can have very little to say as to whether the Scheduled Castes should or should not have Separate Electorates.

The demand of the Scheduled Castes for Separate Electorates does not adversely affect any other community, not even the Hindus. That is why all other Communities accept this demand. The contention of the Hindus that the Scheduled Castes are Hindus and therefore cannot have a Separate Electorates is simply purely and misses the essential point that Separate Electorates is really a mechanism for the protection of the minorities and has nothing to do with religion. If any evidence of this is necessary, one could refer to the case of Europeans, Anglo-Indians and Indian Christians who are all one by religion yet each have a Separate Electorate.

If the Cabinet Mission took these facts and arguments into consideration there would be nothing unnatural if it accepted the contention of the Scheduled Castes that the consent of the Hindus is not necessary and that it was entirely a matter for the Cabinet Mission to decide, particularly when it has been proved that Joint Electorates have made representation of the Scheduled Castes a farce.

The second demand of the Scheduled Castes that their representation in the Interim Government should be 50 % of the representation granted to the Muslims is also a demand for which the consent of the Hindus is not necessary before it could be conceded. It is for the Mission to decide what representation the Scheduled Castes should have in the Central Executive having regard to their numbers and the weight of the disabilities they are suffering from and the lee-way they have to make to bring themselves in line with other advanced communities. You will remember that this question was raised by me at the time of the last Simla conference and you were prepared to give two seats to the Scheduled Castes which was just a little less than 50 percent offered to the Muslims.

There is nothing new in the third demand. It is merely a reiteration of your own view, which you expressed to Mr. Gandhi in your letter of 15th August 1944. In para 5 of that letter you said :—

" It is clear in these circumstances that no purpose will be served by discussion on the basis which you suggest. If, however, the leaders of the Hindus, the Muslims and the important minorities were willing to co-operate in a transitional Government established and working within the present constitution, I believe good progress might be made. For such a transitional Government to succeed, there must, before it is formed, be agreement in principle between Hindus and Muslims and all important elements as to the method by which the new constitution should be framed." This principle which you enunciated must be presumed to have been made on behalf of His Majesty's Government and as such it must be binding on the Cabinet Mission. Consent of parties would seem to be quite unnecessary for the Mission to give effect to this principle, which is all that the Scheduled Castes have demanded.

If I may say so, these contentions have sufficient force to lead to the conclusion that Mission does not think that the consent of the Hindus is necessary before it can pronounce upon the demands of the Scheduled Castes and that this is why the Scheduled Castes have not been invited to send their representatives to the Simla Conference.

But unfortunately this is not the only explanation that comes to one's mind. There is another explanation, which is possible. It is that the Cabinet Mission regards an agreement between the Congress and the Muslim League enough to give them a clear line to proceed with the formation of the interim Constitution as well as for determining the machinery for shaping the future constitution of India without waiting to consider the case of the Scheduled Castes.

The Scheduled Castes are filled with anxiety as they do not know definitely what the plan of the Mission is. If the Mission has adopted the second plan, which may well be the fact, then I feel that I shall be failing in my duty if I did not lodge my protest against this betrayal of the Scheduled Castes and inform the Mission that they will be wholly responsible for the consequences that might ensue.

This letter is written by me in my capacity as a representative of the Scheduled Castes. It is addressed to you in your capacity as a Member of the Cabinet Mission. I shall be grateful if you will be so good as to circulate it to your colleagues.

I am,

Yours sincerely,

B. R. Ambedkar.

His Excellency Field Marshal

The Right Hon'ble Viscount Wavell of

Cyrenaica and Winchester, SIMLA.

G.C.B., G.M.S.I., G.M.I.E., C.M.G., M.C.,

Viceroy & Governor General of India.

17

[f.28]  Members of the Executive Council to

Field Marshal Viscount Wavell

{LIP&J151337 : p. 248 ]

Top Secret                                                                    NEW DELHI, 8th May 1946

Dear Lord Wavell,

We, the undersigned members of the Executive Council of the Governor General of India, present today in New Delhi, believing that it would facilitate the arrangements which your Excellency and the Cabinet Mission have in view, hereby place our respective portfolios at the disposal of His Majesty and Your Excellency.

Yours sincerely,

A. RAMASWAMI MUDALIAR,

E. C.BENTHALL,

MD. USMAN,

A.    R. AMBEDKAR,

J. P. SRIVASTAVA,

M. AZIZUL HAQUE,

N. B. KHARE,

ASOKA K. ROY,

A. ROWLANDS,

J. A. THORNE,

A.    HYDARI.

[Addendum in original :] (The three absent members—Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, Sir Arthur Waugh and Sir Jogendra Singh submitted their resignations separately. The War Member was in the United Kingdom, the Industries and Supply Member was on deputation in the United States and Education, Health and Agriculture Member was on tour.) 

18

Dr. Ambedkar to Rt. Hon'ble Mr. A. V. Alexander,

Member, Cabinet Mission

[f.29] Bhimrao R. Ambedkar,        

22, Prithviraj Road, New Delhi.

M. A., Ph. D., D. Sc., Barrister-at-Law,                  

Member, Governor General's Executive Council.

Dated, 14th May 1946

Dear Mr. Alexander,

It is a pity that your efforts to bring about a settlement between the Congress and the League should have failed. I know you deserve every sympathy and every gratitude. At the same time, I cannot help saying that the Mission's effort to settle reminds me of an old Baniya who being without a son to inherit his wealth married a young girl with the hope of begetting a heir. The bride conceived but the bridegroom was stricken with a fell-disease. He, however, refused to die without having a look at the baby and would not wait for delivery, which was far off. He was so impatient that he called the doctor, asked him to open the stomach of his wife and let him see whether it was a boy or a girl. The result of the operation was that both the baby and the mother died. If I may say so, the Mission wanted to do very much what the Baniya did. You may not be aware but there are many who, like me, feel that the Mission was engaged in bringing about a forced delivery earlier than the natural period of gestation.

2. To my mind, it is only right to say that the Hindus and the Muslims are today mentally incompetent to decide upon the destiny of this country. Both Hindus and Muslims are just crowds. It must be within your experience that a crowd is less moved by material profit than by a passion collectively shared. It is easier to persuade a mass of men to sacrifice itself collectively than to act upon a cool assessment of advantages. A crowd easily loses all sense of profit and loss. It is moved by motives which may be high or low, genial or barbarous, compassionate or cruel, but is always above or below reason. The common sense of each is lost in the emotion of all. It is easier to persuade a crowd to commit suicide than to accept a legacy. It is not for me to advise you how you should proceed. The Mission has found greater wisdom and higher inspiration in the Bhangi Basti and in 10 Aurangazeb Road. I would be the last person to say anything in depreciation of such wisdom and inspiration. But I do think that if the Mission were not to exhibit the pathetic spectacle of an old man in a hurry, a phrase used by Chamberlain to describe Gladstone engaged in his campaign for Irish Home Rule and allow that in diplomacy is called ' Cooling period ' they will find that they have an easier situation to deal with.

3. That is a matter for the Mission, for the major parties and those who have put their faith in the major parties. I am concerned in knowing how you propose to deal with the problem of the Untouchables and their demand for constitutional safeguards. In the official statement issued by the Mission on the last day of the Simla talks, it is said that the Mission will announce the next step it proposes to take within a few days after they return to Delhi. Obviously, the eyes of all the Scheduled Castes are turned towards this announcement. What the Mission will do will ultimately decide their fate. The decision of the Mission will either open to the Untouchables the path of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness or it will drive a nail in their coffin. The question being one of life and death it would not be wrong if I were to engage your attention for a few minutes with the problem of the Untouchables.

4. The problem of the Untouchables is a formidable one for the Untouchables to face. But fortunately it is simple to understand if only the following facts are borne in mind. The Untouchables are surrounded by a vast mass of Hindu population which is hostile to them and which is not ashamed of committing any inequity or atrocity against them.  For a redress of these wrongs which are matters of daily occurrence, the Untouchables have to call in the aid of the administration. What is the character and composition of this administration ? To be brief, the administration in India is completely in the hands of the Hindus. It is their monopoly. From top to bottom it is controlled by them. There is no Department which is not dominated by them. They dominate the Police, the Magistracy and the Revenue Services, indeed any and every branch of the administration. The next point to remember is that the Hindus in the administration are not merely non-social, they are positively anti-social and inimical to the Untouchables. Their one aim is to discriminate against the Untouchables and to deny and deprive them not only of the benefits of law, but also of the protection of the law against tyranny and oppression. The result is that the Untouchables are placed between the Hindu population and the Hindu-ridden administration, the one committing wrongs against them and the other protecting the wrong-door instead of the victims.

5. Against this background, what can Swaraj of the Congress variety mean to the Untouchables ? It only means one thing, namely, that while today it is only the administration that is in the hands of the Hindus, under Swaraj the Legislature and Executive will also be filled with Hindus. It goes without saying that Swaraj would aggravate the sufferings of the Untouchables. For, in addition to their having to face an hostile administration, the Untouchables will have to face an hostile or indifferent Legislature, a callous Executive and an administration uncontrolled and unbridled in venom and in harshness in its iniquitous attitude towards the Untouchables. To put it differently, under Swaraj of the Congress variety, the Untouchables will have no way of escape from the destiny of degradation which the Hindus and Hinduism have fixed for them.

6. I hope this will give you some idea as to why the Untouchables have been insisting that the only way by which the Untouchables can prevent this Swaraj from becoming a calamity to them is to have their representatives in the Legislature so that they may keep on protesting against wrongs and injustices done to them by the Hindus, to have their representatives in the Executive so that they may make plans for their betterment and to have representatives in the services so that the administration may not be wholly hostile to them. If you accept the justice of the demand of the Untouchables for constitutional safeguards, you will have no difficulty in understanding why the Untouchables want separate electorates. The Untouchables will be a minority in the Legislature. They are destined to remain a minority. They cannot overcome the majority which being communal in its making is, so to say, fixed and pre-ordained. All they can do is to place themselves in a position to be able to determine the terms on which they will be prepared to work with the majority and not be compelled to accept the terms prescribed by the majority, and secondly, if the majority refuses to work with them and declines to redress their wrongs, they would at least be free to utter their protest against the majority on the floor of the Legislature. How are the Untouchables to maintain their freedom to protest? Only if their representatives in the Legislatures do not owe their election to the votes of the majority.  This is the basis of their demand for separate electorates.         

7. No safeguard are going to be of any value to the Untouchables unless the Untouchables get a separate electorate. Separate electorate is the crux of the matter. I have before me a copy of the representation submitted to the Cabinet Mission by three Congress Harijans who were interviewed by the Mission on the 9th April 1946. They were no better than the three tailors of Tooly Street who had the audacity to present an address to the Parliament saying : " We the people of England ". Apart from this, it is instructive to note that there is no difference between the demands put forth by me on behalf of the Scheduled Castes Federation and the demands put forth by these Congress Harijans. The only difference that exists relates to the question of electorates. I do not know how you interpret the demands of the Congress Harijans. They are not really demands. They represent what the Congress is prepared to give to the Untouchables by way of political safeguards. This is not merely my understanding. It is my knowledge. For I have been informed by persons who know the mind of the Congress that if I was prepared to accept joint electorates, the Congress on its part would be quite prepared to concede all other demands of mine. You must be wondering why should the Congress be prepared to concede all the demands of the Scheduled Castes and object only to one namely, separate electorates. There will be no wonder if you know what game the Congress is playing. It is a very deep game. Realising that there is no escape from giving the Untouchables some safeguards, the Congress wants to find out some way by which it can make them of no effect. It is in the system of joint electorates that the Congress sees an instrument of making the safeguards of no effect. That is why the Congress is insisting upon joint electorates. For joint electorates means giving the Untouchables office without power. What the Untouchables want is office with power. This, they can only get through separate electorates and that is why they are insisting upon it.

8. I believe the case in favour of separate electorates for the Scheduled Castes is a cast-iron case. Every other party except the Congress accepts it. The arguments in favour of separate electorates have been set out by me in my letter of 3rd May 1946 addressed to Lord Wavell which he must have shown to you and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat them here. The question is : what the Mission is going to do with this demand of the Scheduled Castes. Are they going to make the Untouchables free from political yoke of the Hindus ? Or, are they going to throw them to the wolves by favouring the system of joint electorates in order to make friends with the Congress and the Hindu majority whom it represents ? The Scheduled Castes are entitled to ask His Majesty's Government that before the British abdicate, His Majesty's Government shall make sure that Swaraj does not become a strangle-hold for the Untouchables.

9. Allow me to say that the British have a moral responsibility towards the Scheduled Castes. They may have moral responsibilities towards all minorities. But it can never transcend the moral responsibility which rests on them in respect of the Untouchables. It is a pity how few Britishers are aware of it and how fewer are prepared to discharge it British Rule in India owes its very existence to the help rendered by the Untouchables. Many Britishers think that India was conquered by the Clives, Hastings, Cootes and so on. Nothing can be a greater mistake. India was conquered by an army of Indians and the Indians who formed the army were all Untouchables. British Rule in India would have been impossible if the Untouchables had not helped the British to conquer India. Take the Battle of Plassey which laid the beginning of British Rule or the battle of Kirkee which completed the conquest of India. In both these fateful battles the soldiers who fought for the British were all Untouchables.

10. What have the British done to these Untouchables who fought for them? It is a shameful story. The first thing they did was to stop their recruitment in the army. A more unkind, more ungrateful and more cruel act can hardly be found in history. In shutting out the Untouchables from the Army the British took no note that the Untouchables had helped them to establish their rule and had defended it when it was menaced by a powerful combination of native forces in the Mutiny of 1857. Without any consideration as to its effects upon the Untouchables the British by one stroke of the pen deprived them of their source of livelihood and let them fall to their original depth of degradation. Did the British help them in any way to overcome their social disabilities ? The answer again must be in the negative.  The schools, wells and public places were closed to the Untouchables. It was the duty of the British to see the Untouchables, as citizens, were entitled to be admitted to all institutions maintained out of public funds. But the British did nothing of the kind and what is worst, they justified their inaction by saying that untouchability was not their creation. It may be that untouchability was not the creation of the British. But as Government of the day, surely the removal of untouchability was their responsibility. No Government with any sense of the functions and duties of a Government could have avoided it. What did the British Government do ? They refused to touch any question which involved any kind of reform of Hindu society. So far as social reform was concerned, the Untouchables found themselves I under a Government distinguished in no vital respect from those native Governments under which they had toiled and suffered, lived and died, through all their weary and forgotten history. From a political standpoint, the change was nominal. The despotism of the Hindus continued as ever before. Far from being curbed by the British High Command, it was pampered. From a social point of view, the British accepted the arrangements as they found them and preserved them faithfully in the manner of the Chinese tailor who, when given an old coat as a pattern, produced with pride an exact replica, rents and patches and all. And what is the result? The result is that though 200 years have elapsed since the establishment of the British Rule in India the Untouchables have remained Untouchables, their wrongs remained unredressed and their progress hampered at every stage. Indeed if the British Rule has achieved anything in India it is to strengthen and reinvigorate Brahmanism which is the inveterate enemy of the Untouchables and which is the parent of all the ills from which the Untouchables have been suffering for ages.

11. You have come here to announce that the British are abdicating. It cannot be wrong for an Untouchable to ask " to whom are you leaving this legacy of authority and power ? " To the protagonist of Brahmanism, which means to the tyrants and oppressors of the Untouchables. Such a method of liquidating the British Empire in India need not raise any qualms of conscience among members of other parties. But what about the British Labour Party ? The Labour Party claims to stand for the unprivileged and the down-trodden. If it is true to its salt, I have no doubt that it will stand by the sixty millions of the Untouchables of India and do everything necessary to safeguard their position and not allow power to pass into the hands of those who by their religion and their philosophy of life are unfit to govern and are in fact the enemies of the Untouchables. It will be no more than bare act of atonement on the part of the British for the neglect of the Scheduled Castes whose trustees they always claimed to be.

12. What has led me to unburden myself at such length is the anxiety caused by the apparent silence of the Mission over the question of constitutional safeguards raised by the Untouchables. This anxiety has been deepened by the attitude taken by the Mission towards the pledges given to the Untouchables and to the minorities by His Majesty's Government. The attitude of the Mission in regard to these pledges reminds one of Lord Palmerston who said, " We have no permanent enemies; we have no permanent friends; we have only permanent interest." You can well imagine what a terrifying prospect it would present to the Untouchables if the impression was created that the Mission was adopting this Palmerston maxim as its guide. You came from the under-privileged classes of Great Britain and I have full faith that you will do your best to prevent a possible betrayal of the 60 millions of India's under-privileged. That is why I have thought of placing their case before you. If you will allow me to say, the Untouchables have got a feeling that they have no greater friend in the Mission than yourself.

I am,

Yours sincerely,

B. R. Ambedkar.

The Rt. Hon'ble Mr. A. V. Alexander,

C.H.M.P., Member, Cabinet Mission,

Viceroy's House,

New Delhi.

19

Dr.  Ambedkar to Lord Pethick-Lawrence

{LIP&JI 10143 : f/96-8]

22, Prithviraj Road, New Delhi,

22 May 1946

[f.30]  Dear Lord Pethick-Lawrence,

In reading the statement issued by the Cabinet Mission I have found that on certain points there is much ambiguity. They are set out below :—

(1) Whether the term " minorities " in paragraph 20 of the statement includes the Scheduled Castes ?

(2) Paragraph 20 lays down that the Advisory Committee on the rights of citizens, minorities and tribal and excluded areas should contain full representation of the interests affected. Who is to see whether the Advisory Committee does in fact contain full representation of the interests affected ?

(3) Whether, in order to see that there is full representation of the interests affected, H.M.G. propose to reserve to themselves the right to add to the Committee by nomination of persons from outside the Constituent Assembly representing such interests ? The necessity for nomination from outside seems to be essential, for otherwise there is no other method for securing representation of tribal and excluded areas from within the Constituent Assembly. If the necessity for nomination is admitted, will the principle of nomination of members of the Scheduled Castes from outside the Constituent Assembly be extended to secure full representation of the Scheduled Castes on the Advisory Committee ?

(4) In paragraph 22 of the statement there is a provision for a treaty between the Union Constituent Assembly and the United Kingdom providing for certain matters arising out of the transfer of power. Will this proposed treaty include a provision for the protection of the minorities as was stipulated in the Cripps proposals ? If the Treaty is not to have such a provision, how does H.M.G. propose to make the decisions of the Advisory Committee binding on the Constituent Assembly ?

(5) The statement includes Europeans under the category of " General ". From this it may be presumed that the Europeans will have the right to vote for the election of representatives to the Constituent Assembly. Are the Europeans entitled to put up Europeans as candidates for the election of the Constituent Assembly ? This is not made clear in the Statement.

These are questions which require clarification. I shall feel grateful if you will be so good as to favour me with your answers to them. I am leaving Delhi tonight for Bombay. Any reply that you may like to make to the questions set out above may kindly be sent to my address in Bombay, which is given below. (Address: Saloon No. 27, Central Station,

B. B. & C. 1. Railway, Bombay).

Yours sincerely,

B. R. Ambedkar    

20

[f.31]  Lord Pethik-Lawrence to Dr. Ambedkar

[ LIP&J151337 : pp. 371-2 ]

28 May 1946

Thank you for your letter of the 22nd May[f.32]  in which you ask for elucidation of certain points in the recent Statement.

You will appreciate that the object of the Delegation is to set up machinery whereby Indians can frame their own constitution for an independent India. The object of our Statement is to provide a basis on which the parties can come together for that purpose and we hope that it will be accepted and worked by all concerned. We have limited our Statement to the minimum which seemed to us necessary for that purpose. Other matters which arise will fall to be decided by the Constituent Assembly.

It is certainly our intention that the term " minorities " in paragraph 20 of the Statement includes the Scheduled Castes. On the other hand, it will be for the Constituent Assembly itself to set up the Advisory Committee and we assume that it will desire that it should be fully representative.

It is not our intention to interfere with the Constituent Assembly. The personnel of the Advisory Committee is not however limited by our Statement to persons who are members of the Constituent Assembly.

I think your other questions are largely covered by the further Statement which was issued by the delegation on Saturday evening and of which I enclose a copy.

Mr. Alexander has asked me to acknowledge and thank you for your letter which you sent him recently. He is away from Delhi for a few days on a visit to Ceylon and will reply to you on his return.

21

[f.33]  Rao Bahadur Sivaraj to Field Marshal Viscount Wavell

LIP&JI 51337  .• pp. 410-13

5 June 1946

No. 592/73/43

A meeting of the Working Committee of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation was held in Bombay on 4th June 1946 under my Chairmanship to consider the situation arising out of the proposals made by the Cabinet Mission regarding the future constitution of India. The Working Committee has passed a Resolution which they have asked me to send to the Members of the Cabinet Mission for their consideration. In pursuance thereof, I am enclosing herewith a copy of that Resolution. I shall be grateful to know from the Cabinet Mission if they have anything to say in regard to the demands contained in paragraph 6 of the Resolution.

Enclosure to No. 454

THE ALL-INDIA SCHEDULED CASTES FEDERATION

RESOLUTION PASSED AT THE MEETING OF THE WORKING COMMITTEE HELD AT BOMBAY ON 4th JUNE 1946

The Working Committee of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation has taken into consideration (1) the first statement issued by the Cabinet Mission on the Constitution of India; (2) the Press interviews given by the Members of the Mission in amplification of their statement ; (3) the second statement made by the Cabinet Mission and (4) the correspondence between the Cabinet Mission and the Hon'ble Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. There are many points arising from the statement of the Cabinet Mission on which the Working Committee would like to state its views. For the present, the Working Committee prefers to deal with the plan of the Cabinet Mission for framing the future Constitution of India in so far as it affects the Scheduled Castes.

2. The working Committee has noticed with profound indignation that the Cabinet Mission has not mentioned the Scheduled Castes even once in the course of their statement of 5,000 words. It is difficult to understand the working of the mind of the Cabinet Mission. The Mission could not have been unaware of the existence of the Untouchables, their disabilities, the tyrannies and oppressions practised upon them day to day by the Caste Hindus all throughout India. The Cabinet Mission could not have been unaware of the pronouncements made by His Majesty's Government that the Untouchables were separate from the Caste Hindus and constituted a distinct element in the national life of India. The Cabinet Mission could not have been unaware of the pledges given by His Majesty's Government that no Constitution which had not the consent of the Scheduled Castes would be imposed upon them. The Cabinet Mission could not have been unaware of the fact that at the Simla Conference convened by Lord Wavell only a year ago, the Scheduled Castes were given separate representation from the Caste Hindus. Having regard to these circumstances, the Working Committee feels no hesitation in saying that in ignoring the Scheduled Castes in the manner in which it has done, the Cabinet Mission has brought the name of the British nation into disgrace and disrepute.

1.     The Working Committee has noticed the statement made by the Cabinet Mission in the course of the Press interviews that they have made double provision for the representation of the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly and in the Advisory Committee. The Working Committee feels bound to say that these provisions are absolutely illusory and unworthy of serious consideration. In the plan set out by them the Mission have not reserved any seat for the Scheduled castes in the election by the Provincial Legislatures to the Constituent Assembly as they have done for the Sikhs and the Muslims. There is no obligation on the Provincial Legislature to elect a specified number of Scheduled Caste members to the Constituent Assembly.  It is quite possible that the Constituent Assembly may not have in it any representative of the Scheduled Castes. And even if a few representatives of the Scheduled Castes should find place in the Constituent Assembly, they being elected by Hindu votes, they can never represent the true interests of the Scheduled Castes. As to the Advisory Committee it cannot be substantially different from the Constituent Assembly. It will only be a reflection of the Constituent Assembly.

4. The Working Committee finds it extremely difficult to understand how the cabinet Mission could have come to believe that they had made enough and good provision for giving effective voice to the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly and the Advisory Committee. Abundant and incontrovertible evidence was presented to the Mission to show that the real representatives of the Scheduled Castes are those who were elected in the primary elections for which the Scheduled Castes have separate electorates, that the present Scheduled Caste members of the Provincial Legislatures who fought the primary elections were at the bottom of the poll and that on account of the vicious system of joint electorates the men who were at the bottom in the primary elections came to the top in the final elections only because of the Caste Hindu votes and that therefore the Scheduled Caste members of the Provincial Legislatures in no way represent the Scheduled Castes but they are tools of the Caste Hindus. Far from making double provision for representing the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly and the Advisory Committee, the Mission has without compunction ignored this unimpeachable evidence and without any justification committed the gravest act of treachery in leaving the Scheduled Castes to the mercy of the Hindus. The Working Committee desires to inform the Mission that the Scheduled Castes are not impressed either by their logic or by their sense of moral responsibility.

5. While the whole plan of the Cabinet Mission is mischievous inasmuch as it proposes to solve the minority problem by allowing freedom to the Muslim majority to dispose of the non-Muslim minorities in the Muslim zone and the Hindu majority to dispose of the non-Hindu minorities including the Scheduled Castes in the Hindu zone, the Working Committee finds that the Cabinet Mission in framing its plan has shown greater concern for the protection of the Muslim community than for safeguarding the interests of the Scheduled Castes. In paragraph 15 of their plan the Cabinet Mission have prescribed what matters are to be beyond the reach of the Constituent Assembly. The object behind this provision in paragraph 15 is to prevent the domination of the Muslim community by the Hindu community. The fear which the Scheduled Castes have of the Hindu majority is far greater and far more real than the Muslim community has or can have. The Scheduled Castes have been urging that the only effective protection they can have is representation through separate electorates and the provision for separate settlements. The Cabinet Mission were aware of these demands and all the evidence in support of them. Following the principle adopted by the Cabinet Mission to guarantee freedom to the Muslim community from the domination of the Hindu majority in the manner referred to above, it was possible for the Cabinet to lay down in the same paragraph 15 a further limitation on the powers of the Constituent Assembly by prescribing that the Scheduled Castes should have the right to be represented in the Legislatures through separate electorates, and to have a statutory provision for separate settlements as means of escape from the domination of the Hindu majority.

6. The Working Committee has noted that the Cabinet Mission has, in its second statement,*[f.34]  provided that the ratification of the treaty between the United Kingdom and the Indian Constituent Assembly will be subject to proper safeguards being made for the protection of the minorities including the Scheduled Castes. The Cabinet Mission in its hurry to placate the Congress Party had not dared to include this provision in clause 22 of its first statement although it had formed part of the Cripps proposals of 1942. While the Working Committee is glad that the Mission has retrieved its position and saved the honour of the British people in whose name pledges were given to the Scheduled Castes, the Working Committee demands that the plan of the Cabinet Mission should be amended in the following respects:

(1)   The following clauses should be added as clauses (7) and (8) to paragraph 15 of the statement:

"(7) The Scheduled Castes should have the right to be represented in the Legislatures through separate electorates.

(8) That the Constitution shall contain a provision making it obligatory on the Government to undertake the formation of separate settlements for the Scheduled Castes."

(2) Paragraph 20 of the first statement should be so amended as to make those members of the Scheduled Castes who topped the polls in the last primary elections, members of the Advisory Committee and be allowed to elect five other representatives of the Scheduled Castes to the Advisory Committee.

7. The Working Committee desires to inform His Majesty's Government and the British Labour Party that they should prove their sincerity towards the Scheduled Castes by proceeding at once to rectify the wrong done to them by the Cabinet Mission. Failing this, there will be no alternative for the Scheduled Castes but to resort to direct action. If circumstances require, the Working Committee, in order to save the Scheduled Castes from this impending catastrophe, will not hesitate to ask the Scheduled Castes to resort to direct action.

8. The Working Committee is aware of the panic caused among the Scheduled Castes by the Plan put forth by the Cabinet Mission. The Working Committee desires to tell the Scheduled Castes to maintain the courage and heroism they have shown in fighting the last elections against the Congress single-handed and without resources in spite of the acts of violence, coercion and arson practised by the Congress and when every other Party had shut its shop, and assures them that there is no reason to be panicky and given courage and solidarity, their cause which is the case of justice and humanity is bound to triumph notwithstanding the machinations of their enemies.

9. The Working Committee hereby authorises the President to constitute a Council of Action charged with the duly of examining the lines of direct action and to determine the one most effective and fix the time for launching the same. 10. The Working Committee has noticed :

(1) The campaign of tyranny and oppression which is being carried on by Caste Hindus against the Scheduled Castes in villages and towns throughout the length and breadth of India for no other reason except that they fought the elections against the Congress, and which has caused many deaths and injuries;

(2) the shameful part which the Hindu police have been playing in siding with the Caste Hindus in belabouring and arresting innocent men and women from among the Scheduled Castes;

(3) the unlawful part which the rationing officers are playing as partisans of the Congress in refusing to the Scheduled Castes supply of rations;

(4) the conspiracy of silence observed by the newspapers who have never cared to condemn these outrages on innocent men and women;

(5) the utter indifference shown by the Provincial Government in protecting the lives and properties of the Scheduled Castes.

The Working Committee cannot help feeling that this conduct of the majority community proves beyond the shadow of a doubt how unworthy the Hindu community is to be entrusted with power and that if the majority community does not improve its morality, the Scheduled Castes would be forced to protect themselves by every means open to them.

22

[f.35]  Mr. Attlee to Dr. Ambedkar

Paris, 1st August 1946

My dear Ambedkar,

I have carefully considered your letter of July 1st and the papers enclosed#.

On 1st July Dr. Ambedkar sent Mr. Attlee a lengthy letter with which he enclosed copies of recent correspondence, a memorandum, a speech and some other items. Dr. Ambedkar's letter was in continuation of a telegram he had sent Mr. Attlee on 17th June and covered similar ground. The telegram read :

' At time of last year's Simla Conference, Viceroy on my protest and with consent of Home Government promised increase Scheduled Castes ' representation in Interim Government to two seats in Council of 14. I had demanded three. Compromise I accepted two. New Proposals Interim Government announced yesterday give Scheduled Castes only one seat. This gross breach of solemn promise given after due deliberation. One seat most unfair. Mission is treating sixty million Untouchables as being equal to four millions Sikhs, three million Christians in matter of representation. Scheduled Caste nominee does not represent Scheduled Castes, is elected entirely by Hindu votes and is creature of Congress. Representation to Scheduled Castes Congressman is no representation to Scheduled Castes. It is representation to Congress. Cabinet Mission heaping upon Scheduled Castes one wrong after another, bent on sacrificing them with view appease Congress and destroying their independent position in public life country. Please intervene and redress wrong by directing Mission to give Scheduled Castes two seats to be filled by nominees of Federation which Mission knows alone represents Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Castes insist on two seats or none. To avoid misunderstanding of my motive I like to state that I have no desire to be in Interim Government and will stand out. Am fighting for rights of Scheduled Castes. Hope there is some sense of justice left in British Government—Ambedkar '. (L/P&J/10/50 : ff 81-3 and Attlee Papers, University College, Oxford.]

I am afraid that I cannot accept the view that the Cabinet Mission and the Viceroy were unjust to the Scheduled Castes. The reason why they have revised the policy followed at the Simla Conference of 1945 is, as you suggest, the result of the elections to the Provincial Legislatures, which were held last spring. The Mission made a careful study of the voting figures and I have examined them myself. We appreciate that there are grounds for the view that the present electoral system does not do justice to those Scheduled Caste candidates who are opposed to Congress. On the other hand, I do not find that the figures substantiate what you say about the achievements of candidates belonging to your Federation at the primary elections. [f.36]  While I do not propose to go into the matter in detail here the facts are that primary elections were held in only 43 of the 151 seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Of these 43 primary elections, the Scheduled Castes Federation contested 22 and topped the poll in only 13.

In your letter you make three specific requests. [f.37]  As regards the first, His Majesty's Government are anxious that the Constituent Assembly should have the fullest possible freedom of action consistent with the terms of the Cabinet Mission's Statements of May 16th and May 25th. We ourselves of course consider the Scheduled Castes to be an important minority which should be represented on the Minority Advisory Committee. But the declaration for which you ask could not be confined to the Scheduled Castes and would have to be a statement of all the elements who we consider should be included as Minorities in the Advisory Committee. Even though it would be only an expression of opinion on the part of His Majesty's Government, it would inevitably be interpreted as an attempt to interfere with the Assembly's freedom and as such would be likely to cause serious resentment. In these circumstances I cannot believe that such a declaration would be of value to the cause of the Scheduled Castes.

Turning to your second request, I do not find that my speech in the House of Commons on March 15th last contained the words which you attribute to me. What I said was " We are very mindful of the rights of minorities and minorities should be able to live free from fear." This remains the view of His Majesty's Government, which found expression in paragraph 4 of the Cabinet Mission's Statement of May 25th. I do not consider that His Majesty's Government would be wise to make at this stage any further pronouncement elaborating what was said in that paragraph.

Your final request is that in the Interim Government the Scheduled Castes should have at least 2 representatives who should be nominees of the Scheduled Castes Federation. I regret that I cannot hold out any hope of this being possible.

I was very glad to sec that you had been elected to the Constituent Assembly.

C. R. A.            

23

[f.38]  Dr.  Ambedkar to Mr. Attlee

{LIP&JI 10150 : f 55 }

" Rajgruha "

Dadar, Bombay 14

12th August 1946

My dear Attlee,

Thank you for your letter of the 1st August 1946. I did not expect you to find time to reply to my letter of the 1st July 1946. I am therefore grateful to you for your having found time to let me know your views about the points that I had raised in my letter.

2. I am afraid I cannot accept your justification for the revision of the policy followed by His Majesty's Government in the Simla Conference of 1945 nor of the Mission's method of treating the Scheduled Castes. I cannot help saying that Mr. Alexander's statement in the House of Commons that the majority of the Scheduled Castes are with the Congress is an atrocious statement and has no foundation in truth. This is not only my view but the view of every Englishman in India. If you only consult Sir Edward Benthall who is now in England, I am sure he will support me.

3. With regard to the analysis you have given of the result of the achievements of the Federation in the Primary Election, all I can say is that you have misunderstood the situation and I am afraid no outsider who does not know the significance of the facts or the method of the election will be able to understand what they mean without proper explanation. The main ground of my charge against the Mission is that when the other side of the picture were (was) presented by the Congress, it was their bounden duty to have called me and to have asked for an explanation. This, the Mission did not do, which they were in justice bound to do. If I had failed to give them satisfactory explanation then they would have been justified in the conclusion to which they came. That the Mission was grossly misinformed is proved by my election to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal. The Cabinet Mission stated in the House of Commons that my influence was confined to Bombay and C.P. How is it then that I was elected from Bengal ? In connection with my election, I would like to impress upon you three facts: One is that I did not merely scrape through but I came at the top of the poll beating even Mr. Sarat Chandra Bose, the topmost Bengalee leader of the Congress Party. Secondly, I am in no way connected by communal ties with the Scheduled Castes community of Bengal. They are of different caste to which I belong. In fact the people of my caste do not exist in Bengal at all and yet the Bengalee Scheduled Castes supported me, so strongly that I was able to come first. Thirdly, though the Scheduled Castes in Bengal had been returned on the Congress ticket yet they broke the rule of their Party not to vote for anybody except for Congressmen and voted for me. Does this prove that I have no following in Bengal ? I am sure if the Cabinet Mission are honest in their conclusion, they ought to revise the erroneous opinion which they have expressed in the House of Commons and revise the view and give proper recognition to the Federation.

4. With regard to the status of the Scheduled Castes in the Minority Advisory Committee, I am glad to have an assurance that the British Cabinet considers the Scheduled Castes to be an important minority. I am afraid that I must again repeat that unless and until the Cabinet Mission were to make a public declaration, this view will not help the Scheduled Castes. I say this because, as you will see, (in) the last letter which Maulana Abul Kalam Azad wrote to the Viceroy on behalf of the Congress before the negotiations broke down, he emphatically challenged the view that the Scheduled Castes were a minority. The Scheduled Castes fear that if this view is not corrected by the British Cabinet in time, the Scheduled Castes' case may not be considered in the Advisory Committee which is bound to be packed by Congressmen. The danger of their being relegated to the position of a social group within the Hindus as distinguished from a minority, appears to be most certain in view of the recent pronouncement of Mr. Gandhi who evidently thinks that he can now do anything he likes with the Scheduled Castes in view of the fact that the British Government have refused to lend them their support.

2.     In these circumstances, I would press upon you to reconsider the matter and make a declaration that the Scheduled Castes are an important minority to avert a possible danger to their future position in the new Constitution. 6. I am sorry to read that you cannot hold out any hope of the Scheduled Castes getting two seats in the Interim Government. I do not see any justification for this denial. Both on the ground of their numbers and also as compared to the assurance given at the time of the last Simla Conference of 1945, they are entitled to better treatment than is proposed to be given to the Sikhs and other smaller minorities. I should think that the claim made by me was more than justified. With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

B. R. AMBEDKAR.     

24

[f.39]  Lord Pethick-Lawrence to Mr. Attlee

LIP&J/ 10/50 : ff 38-40

India Office, 3 September 1946

Secretary of State's Minute : Serial No. 48/46

Prime Minister,

You asked for my views on Ambedkar's letter to you of the 12th August. [f.40] 

2. As regards his second paragraph you will find an analysis of the election results for the Depressed Classes in the memorandum which my Private Secretary sent to yours on the 26th July with the draft reply to Ambedkar's previous letter. Shortly, the facts are that in the primary elections which were contested, Congress polled more votes than Ambedkar's Organisation, while a still larger proportion were polled by Independent candidates who may or may not be supporters of Ambedkar. But apart from this, two-thirds of the seats were won by Congress unopposed. The figures are, of course, not conclusive but it is not justifiable to say that the First Lord's statement in the Commons has " no foundation in truth," though I think it was rather too positive.

3. As regards paragraph 3 of Ambedkar's letter, it was not stated in the House of Commons that his influence was confined to Bombay and Central Provinces. He is referring to the President of the Board of Trade's speech, in which the actual words used were " Dr. Ambedkar's Organisation is somewhat more local in its character (than the Congress Organisation) being mainly centered in Bombay and the Central Provinces ". I have made inquiries as to what happened in the Bengal Election to the Constituent Assembly which is, of course, by proportional representation. Ambedkar got five first preference votes. Sarat Chandra Bose also received five first preference votes. The quota for election in Bengal was four votes. Naturally the Congress would organise their voters to secure as nearly as possible four first preferences for each of their candidates. The phrase " top of the poll " has really no meaning in a proportional election. No-one denies that Ambedkar has influence among some of the depressed classes in Bengal. There are twenty five Scheduled Caste members of the Bengal Assembly, four of whom were returned as Independents and one as an Ambedkar candidate. I do not know whether all the Independents voted for Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly election or whether he got some Anglo-Indian votes.

4. With regard to Ambedkar's paragraph 4. I am convinced that we cannot make a public declaration that we regard the Scheduled Castes as a minority who should be represented in the Minority Advisory Committee. It is correct, of course, that Congress do not regard them as a minority for the purpose of separate political representation, whereas we have always done so. But we are not in a position to secure that Ambedkar's organisation is represented on the Minorities Advisory Committee.

5. I do not think it is really essential to send a reply to Ambedkar but should it seem to you more courteous to do so I attach a short draft. [f.41] In case you wish to see them, I attach also extracts[f.42]  from the speeches by the First Lord and the President of the Board of Trade in the Commons' Debate. My own speech contained a passage similar to the latter but rather shorter.

PETHICK-LAWRENCE.

25

[f.43]  Lord Pethick-Lawrence to Mr. Attlee

L/P&J/10/50 : ff 28-32

 India Office, 9th September 1946

Secretary of State's Minute : Serial No. 51/46

Prime Minister.

Your personal minute No. M. 296/46 of September 4th, [f.44]  regarding the representation of the Scheduled Castes on the Advisory Committee of the Constituent Assembly.

2. It certainly was the Mission's intention that the Advisory Committee should contain representation of the Scheduled Castes and I informed Ambedkar of this by a letter  [f.45] I wrote to him in India. In the third paragraph of your reply to him of 1st August[f.46]  you explained to Dr. Ambedkar that, while H.M.G. themselves consider the Scheduled Castes an important minority which should be represented on the Minority Advisory Committee, they could not accede to his request for a public declaration to this effect, since any such declaration

(a) would also have to specify all the other elements which H.M.G. consider should be included as minorities in the Advisory Committee; and

(b) would be liable to be interpreted as an attempt to interfere with the Constituent Assembly's freedom of action.

3. The position, however, is that we have left the composition of the Advisory Committee to be decided by the Constituent Assembly and we cannot now prescribe it ourselves. I do not think we can be accused of misleading the House as the position was clearly stated in the President of the Board of Trade's speech on 18th July of which the relevant passage was attached to my Minute to you of 3rd September. [f.47] 

4. The controversy on the question whether the Scheduled Castes constitute a minority for the purpose of separate political representation or whether they should be classed with the Hindus has of course a long history. Gandhi has spent a large part of his life in propagating the latter view. But when I said, in paragraph 4 of my minute of September 3rd, that Congress did not regard the Scheduled Castes as a minority for the purpose of separate political representation, I had particularly in mind the passage in Azad's letter to the Viceroy of June 25th[f.48]  (some-weeks after our Statement of May 16th) to which Dr. Ambedkar has referred in both his letters[f.49]  to you. In this Azad said that Congress " repudiated the view that the Scheduled Castes are a minority and considered them as integral parts of Hindu society " (second paragraph on page 23 of Cmd. 6861). This statement had reference to the Viceroy's assurance to Mr. Jinnah[f.50]  that he would consult the main parties before filling any vacancy among the seats in the Interim Government allotted to representatives of minorities. It was not altogether unnatural that Congress should regard the Scheduled Castes as their own responsibility and object to the Muslim League having a say in the appointment of a Scheduled Caste representative.

5. There is no positive reason to think that Congress will not wish to include in the Advisory Committee Scheduled Caste representatives in adequate numbers. They will be concerned to escape criticism both in India and abroad; and they are most anxious to win over to their own ranks, or at least to conciliate, as large a proportion as possible of the Scheduled Castes, if only to prevent them from allying themselves with the Muslim League. The Committee is to deal with the rights of citizens as well as with those of minorities, so that inclusion of Scheduled Caste representatives need not prejudice the question whether they are or are not a minority. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that Dr. Ambedkar or any other member of the Scheduled Castes who opposes Congress will secure a place on the Committee.

3.     I still feel that we should not volunteer a pronouncement in response to Dr. Ambedkar's request for a public declaration that the Scheduled Castes are a minority within the meaning of paragraph 20 of the Mission's Statement of May 16th. To do so would almost certainly arouse a controversy with Gandhi which might result in Congress opposing their inclusion as a demonstration. Even if we did not say that the Scheduled Castes are a minority but only that they should be included on the Committee, our statement would arouse requests for a similar statement in favour of the Anglo-Indians and others, and would be interpreted as interference with the Constituent Assembly, which is what we are most anxious to avoid. There is no possibility that such a declaration would influence Congress to give the Scheduled Castes better treatment in the Advisory Committee than they would otherwise do, nor would it help Dr. Ambedkar, since it would refer simply to the Scheduled Castes, making no distinction between those who favour Congress and those who do not.* [f.51]                            

PETHICK-LAWRENCE