6 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
He had now decided to practise Law rather than serve under Government or in a University, as he would then be completely free to work for the untouchables.
Close Association With Depressed Classes
His early fears that the prejudices of the caste Hindu solicitors and pleaders on whom he would depend for briefs, would bar his progress were not justified and he built up a good civil appellate practice in Bombay. The Universities of Bombay and Nagpur and the Bombay High Court offered him examinerships in law and he was for a time Professor and Principal of the Government Law College in Bombay. Tempting offers of judicial appointments, with the prospect of a life far removed from political turmoil, he has turned down.
For ten years the untouchable Barrister and Professor lived in one of the Bombay Development Department’s chawls at Parel. These chawls are big five-storeyed buildings, each containing about
100 one-room tenements. They possess no modern conveniences, each floor having a single lavatory and a single tap for bathing, washing and cleaning cooking utensils. Most of the tenants are millhands earning on an average Rs. 25 per mensem.
Living under these conditions, Dr. Ambedkar acquired a firsthand knowledge of life among the workers of Bombay. It is his boast that hundreds of millhands know him personally and have sought his advice and assistance. He has thus gained the confidence of many workers and established his leadership of the Depressed Classes in his campaign against untouchability.
Campaign Against Untouchability
That campaign has been marked by two outstanding events. The first was the Chowdar Tank Satyagraha in Mahad (Kolaba District) when he organised mass demonstrations by members of the Depressed Classes to assert their right to take water from a certain tank. Heads were broken when the untouchables drew water and Dr. Ambedkar was compelled to accept the protection of the police, but the untouchables gained their point. More important still, a great feeling of esprit de corps was awakened among them and a sense of their dignity as human beings, which was to carry them further along the road to emancipation.
Encouraged by their success, the untouchables decided to fight for the right to enter the most sacred temple in the sacred city of Nasik.