506 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
its plan has shown greater concern for the protection of the Muslim community than for safeguarding the interests of the Scheduled Castes. In paragraph 15 of their plan the Cabinet Mission have prescribed what matters are to be beyond the reach of the Constituent Assembly. The object behind this provision in paragraph 15 is to prevent the domination of the Muslim community by the Hindu community. The fear which the Scheduled Castes have of the Hindu majority is far greater and far more real than the Muslim community has or can have. The Scheduled Castes have been urging that the only effective protection they can have is representation through separate electorates and the provision for separate settlements. The Cabinet Mission were aware of these demands and all the evidence in support of them. Following the principle adopted by the Cabinet Mission to guarantee freedom to the Muslim community from the domination of the Hindu majority in the manner referred to above, it was possible for the Cabinet to lay down in the same paragraph 15 a further limitation on the powers of the Constituent Assembly by prescribing that the Scheduled Castes should have the right to be represented in the Legislatures through separate electorates, and to have a statutory provision for separate settlements as means of escape from the domination of the Hindu majority.
- The Working Committee has noted that the Cabinet Mission has, in its second statement,* provided that the ratification of the treaty between the United Kingdom and the Indian Constituent Assembly will be subject to proper safeguards being made for the protection of the minorities including the Scheduled Castes. The Cabinet Mission in its hurry to placate the Congress Party had not dared to include this provision in clause 22 of its first statement although it had formed part of the Cripps proposals of 1942. While the Working Committee is glad that the Mission has retrieved its position and saved the honour of the British people in whose name pledges were given to the Scheduled Castes, the Working Committee demands that the plan of the Cabinet Mission should be amended in the following respects :
(1) The following clauses should be added as clauses (7) and (8)
- No. 376.