POLITICAL GRIEVANCES 409
There is no principle which seems to govern either the election or the nomination in so far as they relate to the composition of the central Legislature. If at all there is any principle, it is to give Peter more than Paul and then to rob Paul who has almost nothing to enrich Peter who has almost everything.
- There is no justification for so grave a wrong done to the Scheduled Castes in the matter of representation. In a legislature in which the Muslims and the Hindus are waging a war against each other for rights and privileges and in which both are careful not to lose anything to a third party like the Scheduled Castes what support can a single representative of the Scheduled Caste in a House of 141 get in his right for the rights of the Scheduled Castes ? It was the view of the Southborough Committee, on the recommendations of which the present structure of the Central Legislature is reared, that the nominated officials may be expected to bear in mind the interests of the Scheduled Castes. It is a matter of some considerable interest that the then Government of India refused to accept this view. In their Despatch on the Report of the Southborough Committee, the Government of India said :—
“But that arrangement is not, in our opinion, what the (Montague-Chelmsford) Report on Reforms aims at. The authors staled that the Depressed Classes should also learn the lesson of self-protection. It is surely fanciful to hope that this result can be expected from including a single member of the community in an assembly where there are 60 to 90 Caste Hindus. To make good the principles of paras 151, 152 and 155 of the Report we must treat the outcastes more generously……”
Unfortunately no generosity was shown by the Government of India to the Scheduled Castes in making its proposal for the composition of the Central Legislative Assembly. They gave them one scat by nomination, and it has continued to be one since 1921.
- The result of this meagre representation has been quite deplorable. A single representative of the scheduled castes in an Assembly of 141 cannot but feel the utter helplessness of his position. He has to contend against a vast volume of antiScheduled Caste prejudices arising from the Hindu side of the House. He cannot depend upon the support either of the Muslim block who are lighting their battle to advance their interests. Nor can he depend upon the Official Block which has been more careful to preserve its good relations with