z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-09.indd MK SJ+DK 21-9-2013 739
EVIDENCE : WING COMMANDER A. W. H. JAMES AND ANOTHER 739
people are brought under the same constitution as the rest of India they would not be quite alone in their demand for keeping the moneylender out and seeing that the land remains in the hands of those who cultivate it. There would be many others who would have a similar demand to make in the Legislature. The point I want to make is that they would not be isolated ?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: The point which I should be inclined to answer was that the proof of the pudding was in the eating, and, as far as experience went, it has shown that they always have been done out of their land.
D246. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: But, Dr. Hutton, would you mind making this distinction, that the Legislatures, as they are composed today, and as they were composed some time ago, are not going to be the same as the Legislatures that will be composed under the White Paper ?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: Yes.
D247. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: You would have a certain amount of representation drawn from the general electorate who would favour the poorer classes. The experience of the last Legislatures would be no safe guide in a matter of this kind ?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: I would sooner be on the safe side and exclude them.
D248. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not know, but you are not prepared to deny the fact that they would have many friends in the Legislature ?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: I would not admit that. I should like to be convinced first that they would have many friends. There may be others with similar interests, but they would have very little in common with them individually.
D249. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Yes, but I mean so far as the general question of protection for a class similarly situated is concerned ?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: I can conceive that a Musselman cultivator in Sihat would demand the maximum of protection for himself and the maximum of non-protection for his neighbours.
D250. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Do you think the Legislature would go to the length of saying that certain laws which are necessary in the interests of Indians are not to be extended, and that the protection of those laws is not to be given to the primitive classes ?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: No, I do not think they would go as far as that.
D251. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: How would the discrimination arise?
Dr. J. H. Hutton: I think the primitive classes might have extreme difficulty in obtaining the necessary protection. There is no guarantee with the depressed classes that the cultivator will obtain the necessary protection under the new constitution.
D252. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Quite true; I agree with you. There can be no protection that the other classes probably would not club together and prevent protection being given to some other minorities ? The fear is legitimate, but taking into calculation all the forces on the one side and all the forces on the other, the point I want to make to you is that the fear, that