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706 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
for different principalities of the Province.
C617. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : The question I wanted to ask was how far you agree ? Would you be prepared, as a matter of concession to the communal sentiment of the various communities, that while making arrangements on the basis of a joint electorate for the return of such women in the Legislative Councils, to have a permission reserving a certain number of seats, for instance, for the Muslim women, keeping the total the same ?
Mrs. P. K. Sen : We are against communal reservation.
C618. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I can quite understand your objection to having a separate electorate of Hindu women to return five Hindu women and a separate electorate of Muslim women to return one Muslim woman. What I want to know is this : Whether you have also the same objection to a system in which both the Hindu women and the Muslim women would vote together in a common constituency — a joint constituency, with this reservation, that, at least, one seat would be reserved for a Muslim woman ?
Mrs. P. K. Sen : They would all vote for the Muhammadan lady.
C619. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I know that you would probably be so generous that you may give more. Would you be prepared to approve a reservation being made by law that just one should be reserved for a Muslim woman ?
Mrs. P. K. Sen : Yes ; that is already there, and we have to accept that.
C620. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That may be on the basis of separate electorate, it is not stared how it would be. Therefore, I wanted to get your opinion on the matter. The detailed provisions as to how these six seats in Madras are to be filled are not found in the White Paper ?
Mrs. P. K. Sen : That should be a joint electorate of men and women.
C621. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not know. At least Mr. Butler might be able to enlighten us as to how these six seats are going to be filled ?
Mrs. L. Mukerji : We do not, if it can be avoided, want any communal distinction.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I quite follow you. I am asking you whether you would be prepared to moderate your objection, to this extent, that you would have a joint electorate with one seat reserved, so as not to disturb the communal balance.
Mr. Butler : I think that Dr. Ambedkar will find this at “The precise electoral machinery to be employed in the constituencies for the special women’s seats is still under consideration.”
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Therefore, I was asking whether these seats would be filled by separate electorates of women in the general constituency ; it is not made clear here. I do not know how it is done, because I find in the Table given on seats allocated under separate heads. Under “General”, six women’s seats, under “Muhammadan”, one ; that rather gives me the impression that you would have a separate electorate of Muslim women only, so that the result would be that 28 would be men, and one a woman.