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DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
ing class may be so well entrenched that the servile classes will need other safeguards besides adult suffrage to achieve the same end. Lastly, they seem to pay no heed to the fact that given the existence of the Governing class what matters, most in the consideration of any scheme of democracy and self-government is the social outlook and social philosophy of the governing class, for so long as the governing class retains its means to capture the power to govern, the freedom and the well-being of the servile classes must depend upon the social outlook, the social conscience of the governing class and its philosophy of life.
The recognition of the existence of a governing class as a fundamental and a crucial fact confronting democracy and self-government is the only safe and realistic approach to those who wish for democracy and self-government to come into their own. It is a fatal blunder to omit to take account of it in coming to a conclusion as to whether in a free country freedom, will be the privilege of the governing class only or it will be the possession of all. In my view, therefore, what the foreigner who chooses to side with the Congress should ask is not whether the Congress is fighting for freedom. He should ask : For whose freedom is the Congress fighting ? Is it fighting for the freedom of the governing class in India or is it fighting for the freedom of the people of India ? If he finds that the Congress is fighting for the freedom of the governing class, he should ask Congressmen: Is the governing class in India fit to govern ? This is the least he can do before siding with the Congress.
What are the answers which Congressmen have to give to these questions ? I do not know. But I can give what I think are the only true answers to these questions.
III
To start with it is well to know who constitute the governing class in India. The governing class in India consists principally of the Brahmins. It is strange that the present-day Brahmins repudiate the allegation that they belong to the governing class though at one time they described themselves as Bhudevas (Gods on Earth). What can this volte face be due to ? Is it due to a guilty conscience born out of the realization that they