WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : A PLEA TO THE FOREIGNERS 201
But the matter has now been put to test in the elections that took place in 1937. With the results of the elections available to check the position, there is no justification for any one to rest his judgment regarding the representative character of the Congress, on propaganda. What the election results show has already been set out in an earlier part of the book, both generally and also in particular regard to the Untouchables. It may, therefore, be trusted that the foreigners, who have these facts before them, will not hereafter accept the propagandist view that the Congress represents all, including the Untouchables, as they did in the past, and will realize that other parties besides the Congress and particularly the Untouchables, have something different to say on the political problem of India.
The second reason why the foreigner assigns his support to the Congress is because of his belief that the Congress is fighting for the freedom of India. He sees Congressmen engaged in a conflict with the British Government, launching campaigns of civil disobedience, breaking laws made by a Foreign Government, organizing movements for non-payment of taxes, courting prison, preaching non-co-operation with Government, refusing offices and exhibiting themselves in other ways as men out to sacrifice themselves for the freedom of the country. He sees other political parties standing aloof. From this, he concludes that the Congress is a body struggling for the freedom of the country and as a lover of freedom feels bound to support a body carrying on a “Fight for Freedom.” I have explained elsewhere why other political parties have not joined in the Fight for Freedom. Here I propose to deal with another aspect of the question, namely, for whose freedom is the Congress fighting ?
II
In taking the side of the Congress as an organization “Fighting for Freedom,” the foreigner does not stop to make a distinction between the freedom of a country and the freedom of the people in the country. In not stopping to make this distinction, the foreigner, it must be said, far from understanding the matter, is allowing himself to be misled, if not deceived. For words such as society, nation and country are just amorphous, if not ambiguous, terms. There is no gain