WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : APPENDIX VI 329
pressed Classes and that the method of representation by nomination is no longer regarded as appropriate. As you are aware, there is difference of opinion whether the system of separate electorates should be instituted for the Depressed Classes and your Committee’s investigations should contribute towards the decision of this question by indicating the extent to which the Depressed Classes would be likely, through such general extension of the franchise as you may recommend, to secure the right to vote in ordinary electorates. On the other hand, should it be decided eventually to constitute separate electorates for the Depressed Classes, either generally or in those provinces in which they form a distinct and separate element in the population, your committee’s inquiry into general problem of extending the franchise should place you in possession of facts which would facilitate the devising of a method of separate representation for the Depressed Classes.
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(7)
Extract from the Statement issued by H. E. Lord Linlithgow the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, dated 17th October 1939.
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“Be that as it may, His Majesty’s Government recognise that when the time comes to resume consideration of the plan for the future federal Government of India, and of the plan destined to give effect to the Assurance given in Parliament by the late Secretary of State, to which I have just referred, it will be necessary to reconsider in the light of the then circumstances to what extent the details of the plan embodied in the Act of
1935 remain appropriate.
And I am authorised now by His Majesty’s Government to say that at the end of the war they will be very willing to enter into consultation with representatives of the several communities, parties and interests in India, and with the Indian Princes, with a view to securing their aid and co-operation in the framing of such modifications as may seem desirable.”
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(8)
Extract from a Statement made on 7th November 1939 by Lord Zetland, Secretary of State for India in the House of Lords.
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“The Congress have further consistently taken the line, which they still maintain, that the fact that there are racial and religions minorities in India is of no relevance in that connexion, and that