22 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
mittee is found in the proceedings of the Congress Working Committee held in Bombay in July 1922. At that meeting the Committee passed the following resolution.:—
“That the General Secretary be asked to request Swami Shradhanand to reconsider his resignation and withdraw it and a sum of Rs. 500 be remitted to the Convener, Syt. G. B. Deshpande, for the contingent expenses of the Depressed Classes Sub-Committee.”
Here the matter ended, so far as the year 1922 was concerned. Nothing further seems to have been done. The year 1923 came on. Seeing that nothing was done to set going the Scheme for ameliorating the condition of the Untouchables, the Working Committee which met also at Gaya in January, 1923 took up the matter and passed the following resolution :—
“With reference to Swami Shradhanand’s resignation, resolved that the remaining members of the Depressed Classes Sub-Committee do form the Committee and Mr. Yajnik be the convener.”
Thereafter the All-India Congress Committee which met Bombay in May 1923 passed the following resolution :—
“Resolved that the question of the condition of the Untouchables be referred to the Working Committee for necessary action.”
Here ends the second stage in the history of the resolution remitting the question of the Untouchables to a special Committee. The third stage in its history is marked by the resolution of the Working Committee passed in May 1923 at its meeting held in Bombay. This resolution ran as follows :—
“Resolved that while some improvement has been effected in the treatment of the so-called Untouchables in response of the policy of the Congress, this Committee is conscious that much work remained yet to be done in this respect and in as much as this question of untouchability concerns the Hindu community particularly, it requests the All-India Hindu Mahasabha also to take up this matter and to make strenuous efforts to remove this evil from amidst the Hindu Community.”
Thus is told the sad tale of the resolution and how it began and how it ended. What shameful close to a flaring start!
It will be seen how the Congress washed its hands of the problem of the Untouchables. It need not have added insult