(13) Dr. B. S. Moonje and others 31-7-1933 - Page 741

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720 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: You are very anxious that they should be included ?

Pandit Nanak Chand: I am not anxious ; they are anxious. I do not want anybody to be called a Depressed Class.

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I want to ask a few questions of Mr. Chatterjee of Bengal. I think your main complaint is that the Bengal Hindus were not represented when this Poona Pact was evolved—is that it ?

Mr. B. C. Chatterjee: That is one of the complaints. My main complaint is —

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I will take this for the moment because I want to exhaust one at a time. I think it was admitted by your colleague that there were members of the Bengal caste-Hindus present both in Bombay and Poona ?

Mr. B. C. Chatterjee: Yes.

Mr. J. Bannerjee: At Poona one caste-Hindu was present : that is what I have said.

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Were not there dozens from other Provinces ?

Mr. B. C. Chatterjee: That may be.

Marquess of Zetland: Dr. Ambedkar, could not we solve the whole of this problem if you told us the names of the Bengal caste-Hindus who were there?

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I am giving the names. These names were given in the course of the discussion that took place in the Bengal Legislative Council on the 14th March 1933.

Mr. B. C. Chatterjee: Will you kindly give the names ?

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: There was no contradiction at all on that point ?

Mr. B. C. Chatterjee: I was in England at the time.

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I am quoting from speech of Mr. Mullick who represented the depressed classes in the Bengal Legislative Council. This is what he says ?

Mr. J. Bannerjee: He is a nominated member not an elected representative : I want to make that point clear.

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: He is a representative of the depressed classes ?

Mr. J. Bannerjee: And he has been defeated in a constituency before— twice before.

  1. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: What difference does that make to the point I am dealing with ? I am on the point whether certain Bengal Hindus were present or not. This was a statement made in the proceedings of the Bengal Legislative Council in the course of a speech by a Bengal Depressed Class Member who advocated the Poona Pact : “We know that they were men like Swami Satyananda of the Hindu Mission. Babu Haridas Mazumdar,