24
* Lord Pethick-Lawrence to Mr. Attlee
L/P&J/10/50 : ff 38-40
India Office, 3 September 1946
Secretary of State’s Minute : Serial No. 48/46
Prime Minister,
You asked for my views on Ambedkar’s letter to you of the
12th August. @
As regards his second paragraph you will find an analysis of the election results for the Depressed Classes in the memorandum which my Private Secretary sent to yours on the 26th July† with the draft reply to Ambedkar’s previous letter. Shortly, the facts are that in the primary elections which were contested, Congress polled more votes than Ambedkar’s Organisation, while a still larger proportion were polled by Independent candidates who may or may not be supporters of Ambedkar. But apart from this, two-thirds of the seats were won by Congress unopposed. The figures are, of course, not conclusive but it is not justifiable to say that the First Lord’s statement in the Commons has “no foundation in truth,” though I think it was rather too positive.
As regards paragraph 3 of Ambedkar’s letter, it was not stated in the House of Commons that his influence was confined to Bombay and Central Provinces. He is referring to the President of the Board of Trade’s speech, in which the actual words used were “Dr. Ambedkar’s Organization is somewhat more local in its character (than the Congress Organization) being mainly centred in Bombay and the Central Provinces”. I have made enquiries as to what happened in the Bengal Election to the Constituent Assembly which is, of course, by proportional representation. Ambedkar got five first preference votes.
- The Transfer of Power, Vol. VIII, No. 250, pp. 411-12.
@ No. 142.
† L/P& J/10/50 :ff 63-9