UNTOUCHABILITY AND LAWLESSNESS 59
At wedding feasts they have no choice in the selection of food materials. Even on payment they cannot use costly articles.
They cannot ride the village on a horse.
They are not allowed accommodation in public vehicles.
On religious festivals they cannot take out procession of their idols except through specified routes.
They have no access to wells and temples.”
The writer adds:
“Three years ago in company with Thakkur Bapa, I travelled all over the State and placed before the Government and public my impressions of the conditions obtaining there and pleaded for reform. On perusal of the abovementioned memorandum and other reports sent to me, I find that the past few years have hardly brought any change and conditions are more or less static.
It is heart-breaking to find that passage of time cuts no ice with us. The result is that there is hardly any change in our agelong practices and prejudices. This perversity which blinds us to the tyranny and injustices of our ways also makes us impervious to the incalculable harm we have already suffered as a result of it. Even if the ignorant prejudice of the common man is unshaken the enlightened Governments of the twentieth century ought to be more alive to their responsibilities.”
The dates of these communications are important. They are of the year 1945. None can say that this Hindu Established Order is a thing of the ancient past. The fact that these latest accounts refer to the Indian States should not be understood to mean that the established Order has vanished from British India. The chapters to follow will present enough evidence to show that the same Established Order is very much alive in British India.
In the ‘ Times of India ’ of 31st August 1950 occurs the following news item:
“The following facts of a case revealed in the hearing of an appeal in the Allahabad High Court, are illustrative of the socio-economic conditions of lower castes in the rural areas:
Chiranji, a dhobi of the village of Sarras in the District of Etah, went out as a military employee in the last war and remained out of his village for four or five years. When he was discharged, he returned to his home. He stopped washing clothes and used to go about in the village in his military uniform. This coupled with the fact that he refused to wash clothes even for the men of the Raja of Sarras the sole zamindar in the village, was resented by the villagers.