EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SOUTHBOROUGH COMMITTEE 253
backward, are suffering under a great social tyranny. The untouchable classes must have their own men in the Council Hall to fight for the redress of their grievances. The non-Brahmins as a class are subjected to the social and intellectual domination of the Brahmin priesthood and may therefore rightly advocate separate representation.”
From this it will be seen that the new consciousness among the Hindus while acknowledging the separate interests of the untouchables does not accept the position that the touchable Hindus form a group by themselves. The new consciousness insists on dividing the touchable group into Brahmins and non-Brahmins each with its own separate interests. Separate electorates or reserved seats in mixed electorates are demanded for the three groups in which the Hindus are divided. Before dealing with the problems of the representation of the untouchables something will be said on the question of the Brahmins and non-Brahmins.
That the non-Brahmins are “backward in educational matters” cannot be said in any way to be their special interest. It is the general interest of all even of those Brahmins who are educationally backward. “The intellectual and social domination of the Brahmins” is not a matter that affects the non-Brahmins alone. It affects all and it is therefore the interest of all. What remains then as a special interest for the non-Brahmins to require their protection ?
The case for separate representation for non-Brahmins fails because they cannot prove to have a common non-Brahmin interest.
- But do they fail to secure personal representation ?
This can be best shown by reference to figures—
Group I Group II
Caste of Local Board voters
No. of voters for the Local Boards of the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur and Dharwar 2
Total population of the three districts
No. of voters for the Local Boards of the districts of Ratnagiri and Kolaba
Total population of the two districts
1 2 3 4 5 Brahmins . . 4,600 85,739 4,477 89,786 Lingayats . . 12,730 933,123 . . . . . . . . Marathas . . 1,074 255,526 3,667 446,077 Mahars . . 22 196,751 33 138,738 Mohammedans . . 661 295,838 1,169 106,273 Others . . 4,241 1,065,821 2,837 1,016,930 Total . . 23,328 2,832,798 12,183 1,797,804