422 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
their share in services which was the subject matter of the Motion was supported by the Muslims, by the Europeans, Anglo-Indians and Sikhs. Except for one solitary individual, the Hindus did not oppose it. It was, however, opposed by the spokesmen of the Government of India. This is the most tragic part of the story. The Government of India have said that they were trustees for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes. As trustees, they should be more ready to safeguard the rights of the Scheduled Castes than to safeguard the rights of the other minorities. There would have been some excuse for the Government of India hesitating to allot to the Scheduled Castes their rights in the matter of recruitment to the Public Services if there was any obstacle placed in their way by the Hindus. But there is no such excuse. Would it be wrong if it was said that the enemies of the Scheduled Castes are not the Hindus and that their real enemy is the Government of India ?
- What is the reason which the Government of India gives for opposing the claim of the Scheduled Castes ? So far as the speech of the Hon’ble the Home Member made on the motion moved by the Hon’ble Rao Bahadur N. Sivaraj M.L.A., is an indication, the reason is that there are not enough educated men among the Scheduled Castes. It must be said that this is by no means a convincing reason. In the first place, this is the old reason given in 1934 in paragraph 3 of the Resolution. It takes no account of the progress that has been made during the last 8 years. In the second place, the statement was not true even for 1934. For
1942 it will be gross misstatement. As a matter of fact a census of college students of the Scheduled Castes was taken privately in about 1939-40, and the total number of graduates among the Scheduled Castes were found to number about 400 to 500. In the third place, this fact even if it were true cannot be a bar against declaring the Scheduled Castes a minority and against fixing their proportion. For if the Scheduled Castes candidates with minimum qualification fall short in any one year of the annual proportion of vacancies reserved for them no body will be hurt because the unused vacancies will go to the Hindus. The difficulty anticipated by the Home Member cannot be said to arise only in the case of the Scheduled Castes. The condition of other minorities is not free from giving rise to the same difficulty. In fact when the government issued the resolution in 1934 they felt that such a difficulty might arise in their case also. But this did not stop Government from declaring them to be minorities and fixing their