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DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Provinces two cobblers, [1] one milkman [2] and one barber, [3 ] and in the Punjab one sweeper. [4] In 1934, the Congress elected to the Central Legislature a potter. [5] It might be said that this is old history. Let me correct such an impression by referring to what happened in 1943, in the Municipal elections in Andheri—a suburb of Bombay. The Congress put up a barber to bring the Municipality in contempt.
What a mentality for a, Governing class ! What a brazenfacedness for a governing class to use the servile class for such an ignominious purpose and yet claim to be fighting for their freedom ! What a tragedy for the servile class to take pride in its own disgrace and join in it voluntarily! The Sinn Fein Party in Ireland also boycotted the British Parliament. But did they make such hideous use of their own countrymen for effecting their purposes ? The campaign of boycott of legislature which took place in 1930 is of particular interest. The elections to the Provincial legislatures in
1930 in which these instances occurred coincided with Mr. Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha campaign of 1930; I hope that the future (the official historian, Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, has failed to do so) historian of Congress while recording how Mr. Gandhi decided to serve notice on the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, presenting him with a list of demands to be conceded before a certain date and on failure by the Viceroy in this behalf, how Mr. Gandhi selected Salt Act as a target for attack, how he selected Dandi as a scene of battle, how he decided to put himself at the head of the campaign, how he marched out from his Ashram in Ahmedabad with all pomp and ceremony, how the women of Ahmedabad came out with Arthi and applied tilak’ (saffron mark) to his forehead wishing him victory, how Mr. Gandhi assured them that Gujarat alone would win Swaraj for India, how Mr. Gandhi proclaimed his determination by saying that he would not return to Ahmedabad until he had won Swaraj, will not fail to record that while on the one hand Congressmen were engaged in fighting for Swaraj, which they said they wanted to win in the name of and for the masses, on the other
1 Guru Gosain Agamdas and Babraj Jaiwar.
2 Chunnu.
3 Arjun Lal.
4 Bansi Lal Caudhari.
5 Bhagat Chandimal Gola.