542 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
III
Grounds urged by the Cabinet Mission in Justification of its decision.
- For justifying their decision not to recognise the Untouchables as a separate element the Cabinet Mission has relied upon the results of the elections to the Provincial Legislative Assemblies which took place in February 1948. In the course of the debate in Parliament on the Cabinet Mission’s proposals which took place on 18th July 1946, the members of the Mission have tried to make out the following points :—
(i) That in the election, the Congress captured all scats reserved for the Untouchables; that therefore the Congress represented the Untouchables. That being the case there was no justification for giving separate representation to the Untouchables.
(ii) That the following of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation and my own was confined only to Bombay and Central Provinces.
Futility of the grounds
- These are monstrous propositions and will not stand close and honest scrutiny. The Cabinet Mission, to start with committed a great mistake in adopting the results of the election as a basis for assessing the representative character of the Congress. In doing so, the Mission failed to take into account the following circumstances :—
(i) The Hindu electorate was throughout the war intensely anti-British and although it did war work it did not do it willingly. The Congress Party which was anti-British and had non-cooperated with the war effort was a hot favourite of the Hindu electorate. The other parties particularly the Scheduled Castes suffered in the election because they were pro-British and had cooperated in the war effort.
(ii) Just before the date fixed for election, the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief staged the trial of the I.N.A. men. The Congress at once took up the cause of the I.N.A. men and made it an election issue. The trial was the principal factor which enhanced the influence of the Congress which was on the wane.