WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO
THE UNTOUCHABLES
______________________________________________
Appendices
Appendix VI : Recognition of
Untouchables as a Separate Element
Continued…
Except
for differences in the rigidity of their exclusion they are all more or less in the
position of the Madras Panchamas, definitely outside that part of the Hindu community
which is allowed access to their temples. They amount to about one-fifth of the total
population, and have not been represented at all in the Morley-Minto Councils. The
committee's report mentions the depressed
classes twice, but only to explain that in the absence of satisfactory electorates they
have been provided by nomination, It does not discuss the position of these people or
their capacity for looking after themselves. Nor does it explain the amount of nomination
which it suggests for them. Para 24 of the report justifies the restriction of the
nominated scats on grounds which do not suggest that the committee were referring to the
depressed classes. The measures of representation which they propose for this community is
as follows;—
|
Total Population |
Population of Depressed Classes |
Total Seats |
Seats for Depressed Classes |
|||
|
(millions} |
(millions) |
|
|
|||
Madras |
|
39 |
8 |
6.3 |
a |
120 |
2 |
Bombay |
|
19.5 |
5 |
|
6 |
113 |
1 |
Bengal |
|
48 |
0 |
9.9 |
9 |
127 |
1 |
United Provinces |
|
47 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
15O |
1 |
Punjab |
|
19 |
19.5 |
1 |
7 |
85 |
- |
Bihar and Orissa |
|
33 |
4 |
9 |
3 |
100 |
1 |
Central Provisions |
|
12 |
12.2 |
3 |
7 |
72 |
1 |
Assam |
|
6 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
54 |
-- |
Total |
221.4 |
41 9 |
791 |
7 |
|||
These
figures speak for themselves. It is suggested that one-fifth of the entire population of
British India should be allotted seven seats out of practically eight hundred. It is true
that in all the councils there will be roughly a one-sixth proportion of officials who may
be expected to bear in mind the interests of the depressed ; but that arrangement is not,
in our opinion, what the Report on reforms aims at. The authors stated that the depressed
classes also should learn the lesson of self-protection. It is surely fanciful to hope
that this result can be expected from including a single member of the community in an
assembly where there are sixty or seventy caste Hindus. To make good the principles of
paras 151, 152, 154 and 155 of the Report we must treat the out-castes more generously. We
think there should be in each council enough representatives of the depressed classes to
save them from being entirely submerged, and at the same time to stimulate some capacity
for collective action. In the case of Madras, we suggest that they should be given six
seats; in Bengal, the United Provinces and Bihar and Orissa, we would give them four; in
the Central Provinces and Bombay two and elsewhere one. In these respects we think that
the committee's report clearly requires modification.
(3)
Extract from Lord Birkenhead's speech as
Secretary of State for India in the House of Lords on the 30th March 1927 on the
appointment of Statutory Commission.
***
Let
me take the case of the depressed classes. There is in India a vast population even in
relation to the numbers with which we are dealing, a population of sixty millions of the
depressed classes. Their condition is not quite as terrible, quite as poignant as it has
been in the past, but it is still terrible and poignant. They are repelled from all social
intercourse. If they come between the gracious light of the sun and one who despised them
the sun is disfigured for that man. They cannot drink at the public water-supply. They
must make diversions of miles in order to satisfy thirst and they are tragically known and
they have been known for generations as the "untouchables." There are sixty
millions of them in India. Am I to have a representative of them upon this Commission ?
Never, never would I form a Commission nor would anyone in a democratic country, nor would
my friends opposite recommend it, from which you have excluded a member of this class
which more than any other requires representation if you are indeed to put the matter to a
mixed jury of the kind I am indicating.
(4)
Extract from the Report of the Simon
Commission, Vol. II.
***
78.
. .. . .. In no other province has it been
possible to get an estimate of the number of the depressed classes who are qualified to
vote. It is clear that even with a considerable lowering of the franchise—which would
no doubt increase the proportion of the depressed class voters—there would be no hope
of the depressed classes getting their own representatives elected in general
constituencies without special provision being made to secure it. In the long run the
progress of the depressed classes, so far as it can be secured by the exercise by them of
political influence, will depend on their getting a position of sufficient importance for
other elements to seek their support and to consider their needs.
***
80.
. .. It
will be seen, therefore, that we 40 not recommend allocating seats to the depressed
classes on the basis of their full population ratio. The scale of reserved representation
suggested will secure a substantial increase in the number of the M.L.C's. drawn from the
depressed classes. The poverty and want of education which so widely prevail amongst them
make it extremely doubtful whether a large number of adequately equipped members could be
at once provided, and it is far better that they should be represented by qualified
spokesmen rather than by a larger number of ineffective who are only too likely to be
subservient to higher castes. The re-distribution of seats which is now being attempted
among different kinds of representatives cannot be permanent, and provision must be made
for its revision. But we think that our proposal is adequate for the present, especially
as the representation of opinion by reservation of seats does not exclude the possibility
of the capture of other seats not so reserved.
***
(5)
Extract from the Government of India's Despatch
on Proposals for Constitutional Reform (as set out by the Simon Commission).
***
35.
The Representation of the Depressed Classes.--The
suggestions made by the Commission for the representation of the depressed classes have
been much criticized by the provincial Governments. The difficulty of framing for each
province a definition of the "depressed classes" is probably inherent in any
scheme for the special representation of this class other than by nomination; but the
Commission's proposals place a peculiarly embarrassing duty on the Governor to certify
candidates authorised to stand for the depressed classes ; and the proportion of
representation which the Commission suggest, namely, in the ratio of three-quarters of the
proportion of the depressed classes population to the total population of the electoral
area of the provinces, seems likely to be unduly high. The Government of the United
Provinces have calculated that in that province the Commission's proposal would result in
the return to the provincial legislature of no less than forty members in place of the
single nominated member who at present represents the community. The whole problem of the
representation of the depressed classes will require careful investigation by the
Franchise Committee ; and at this stage we only wish to make plain that in our view their
adequate representation should be secured by the best means that may be found practicable. Though there are some differences of opinion
within the community, recent meetings of depressed classes associations have re-affirmed
their belief in separate electorates.
(6)
Extract from the Terms of Reference to the
Lothian Committee (on Franchise) 1932.
***
3.
You are aware that the present electorate in Indian provinces amounts to less than 8 per
cent. of the population of the areas returning members to provincial Councils, and it is
obvious that under this limited franchise, the majority of the people and many large and
important sections of the community can enjoy no effective representation in the
Legislatures. The principle of a responsible Federal Government, subject to certain
reservations and safeguards, has been accepted by His Majesty's Government while it has
been decided that the Governors' provinces are to become responsibly governed units,
enjoying the greatest possible measure of freedom from outside interference and dictation
in carrying out their own policies in their own sphere. In these circumstances, it is
clearly necessary so to widen the electorate that the legislatures to which responsibility
is to be entrusted should be representative of the general mass of the population and that
no important section of the community may lack the means of expressing its needs and its
opinions.
***
6.
It is evident from the discussions which have occurred in various connections in the
Conference that the new Constitution must make adequate provision for the representation
of the De-profiled Classes and that the method of representation by nomination is no
longer regarded as appropriate. As you are aware, there is difference of opinion whether
the system of separate electorates should be instituted for the Depressed Classes and your
Committee's investigations should contribute towards the decision of this question by
indicating the extent to which the Depressed Classes would be likely, through such general
extension of the franchise as you may recommend, to secure the right to vote in ordinary
electorates. On the other hand, should it be decided eventually to constitute separate
electorates for the Depressed Classes, either generally or in those provinces in which
they form a distinct and separate element in the population, your committee's inquiry into
general problem of extending the franchise should place you in possession of facts which
would facilitate the devising of a method of separate representation for the Depressed
Classes.
***
(7)
Extract from
the Statement issued by H. E. Lord Linlithgow the Vlceroy and Governor General of India,
dated 17th October 1939.
***
"Be
that as it may, His Majesty's Government recognise that when the time comes to resume
consideration of the plan for the future federal Government of India, and of the plan
destined to give effect to the Assurance given in Parliament by the late Secretary of
State, to which I have just referred, it will be necessary to reconsider in the light of
the then circumstances to what extent the details of the
plan embodied in the Act of 1935 remain appropriate.
And
I am authorised now by His Majesty's Government to say that at the end of the war they
will be very willing to enter into consultation with representatives of the several
communities) parties and interests in India, and with the Indian Princes, with a view to
securing their aid and co-operation in the framing of such modifications as may seem
desirable."
(8)
Extract from a Statement made on 7th November 1989 by Lord Zetland, Secretary of State for
India in the House of Lords.
***
"The
Congress have further consistently taken the line, which they still maintain, that the
fact that there are racial and religious minorities in India is of no relevance in that
connexion, and that it has always been the intention of the Congress to secure, through
the Constitution to be framed by Indians themselves, such protection for their rights as
may prove acceptable to the minorities.
His
Majesty's Government find it impossible to accept this position. The long-standing British
connexion with India has left His Majesty's Government with obligations towards her which
it is impossible for them to shed by disinteresting themselves wholly in the shaping of
her future form of Government. Moreover, one outstanding result of the recent discussions
in which the Governor-General has been engaged with representatives of all parties and
interests in India has been to establish beyond doubt the fact that a declaration in the
sense proposed, with the summary abandonment by His Majesty's Government of their position
in. India, would be far from acceptable to large sections of the Indian population."
(9)
Extract from the Speech made by H. E. Lord
Linlithgow, Viceroy and Governor-General at the Orient Club, Bombay, on January 10, 1940.
"Nor
must we forget the essential necessity, in the interests of Indian unity, of the inclusion
of the Indian States in any Constitutional scheme.
There
are the insistent claims of the minorities. I need refer only to two of them—the
great Muslim minority and the Scheduled Castes—there are the guarantees that have
been given to the minorities in the past; the fact that their position must be
safeguarded, and that those guarantees must be honoured.
***
(10)
Extract from a Speech made by the Right
Hon"ble Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for India in the House of
Commons on August 14, 1940.
***
"Congress
leaders have built up a remarkable organization, the most efficient political machine in
India, ..if only they had succeeded, if the Congress could, in fact speak, as it professes
to speak, for all the main elements in India's national life, then however advanced their
demands, our problem would have been in many respects far easier than it is to-day. It is
true that they are numerically the largest single party in British India, but their claim
in virtue of that fact to speak for India is utterly denied by very important elements in
India's complex national life. These others assert their right to be regarded not as mere
numerical minorities but as separate constituent factors in any future Indian policy. The
foremost among these elements stands the great Muslim community. They will have nothing to
do with a constitution framed by a constituent assembly elected by a majority vote in
geographical constituencies. They claim the right in any constitutional discussions to be
regarded as an entity against the operations of a mere numerical majority. The same
applies to the great body what are known as the
Scheduled Castes who feel that in spite of Mr. Gandhi's earnest endeavours on their
behalf, that, as a community, they stand outside the main body of the Hindu community
which is represented by the Congress.
***
(11)
Extract from the Speech of the Right Hon'ble
My. L. S. Amevy, Secretary of State for India in the House of Commons on 23rd April 1941.
***
"
India's future Constitution should be devised by Indians for themselves and not by the
British Government. India's future Constitution should be essentially an Indian
Constitution, framed in accordance with the Indian conception of Indian conditions and
Indian needs. The only essential condition is that the Constitution itself and the body
which is to frame it must be the outcome of agreement between principal elements in
India's national life.
(12)
Extract from a Statement by H. E. Lord
Linlithgow Viceroy and Governor-General, of India on 8th August 1940.
***
'These
are two main points which have emerged. On these two points. His Majesty's Government now
desire me to make their position clear. The first is as to the position of the minorities
in relation to any future Constitutional scheme It goes without saying that they (H. M.
Government) could not contemplate the transfer of their present responsibilities for the
peace and welfare of India to any system of Government whose authority is directly denied
by large and powerful elements in India's national life. Nor could they be parties to the
coercion of such elements into submission to such a Government."