22 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
selection in meeting some of the charges that have been levelled. I, therefore, propose to offer my remarks only on two charges which have been levelled by the party opposed against the Government.
Sir, the critics of Government have said that the Government were not justified in arresting the members of the Congress and if I understand the argument correctly, the argument seems to be that Congress is a body which believes in non-violence and that if the Congress had been allowed to be free they certainly would have controlled the situation in [-] such a manner that they would have prevented violence from emerging. It seems to me that the Members who take that line have not correctly read what has happened to the Congress and the members of the Working Committee during the last two years with regard to the principle of non-violence. Sir, as I read the proceedings of the Congress during the last two or three years, the impression that has been left upon my mind is that there has been a terrible landslide in the principle of non-violence as has been proclaimed by the Congress. The non-violence has been deeply buried—I have no hesitation on that point at all.
Let me give the House a few facts. Sir, on the 22nd of December, 1939, the Congress first gave the threat of civil disobedience. On the 19th March, 1940, the Congress had its Annual Session at Ramgarh. At the Annual Session Mr. Gandhi was made the dictator and given sole charge to lead the struggle. Mr. Gandhi became the Commander-in-Chief under that resolution. But on the 22nd of June, 1940, barely within three months, Mr. Gandhi was deposed from his place as a Commander-in-Chief. The Working Committee refused to accept the principle of non-violence as a guiding principle for its action, and Mr. Gandhi had to tender his resignation.
Dr. P. N. Banerjea (Calcutta Suburbs : Non-Muhammadan Urban): That was with regard to the war.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Please do not disturb me.
On the 15th December, 1940, the All-India Congress Committee met in Bombay and there a resolution was passed by which Mr. Gandhi was again made the Commander-inChief and requested to carry on the struggle. Mr. Gandhi continued to be the Commander till December 1941. In December 1941, a Working Committee meeting was held in Bardoli and a resolution was passed again deposing Mr. Gandhi.