546 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- The members of the Cabinet Mission argued that for the sake of maintaining uniformity in the composition of the Constituent Assembly they had to adopt in the case of the Untouchables the result of the Final elections as they had done in the case of the other communities. The argument is a form of special pleading which has no force. The Mission knew the final election of the Muslims, the Indian Christians and the Sikhs was by separate electorates. The final election of the Scheduled Castes was not by separate electorates. Consequently, for the sake of uniformity the Mission should have taken the results of the primary elections for giving representation to the Untouchables in the Constituent Assembly. The Mission was bound to do so because it was admitted by Sir Stafford Cripps in the debate that the system of election of the Untouchables as determined by the Poona Pact was incquilious. Why did the Mission then adopt it as a basis for its decision ?
IV
What could be done to save the Untouchables from impending peril
- The Cabinet Mission has by the Constitution of the Constituent Assembly left the Untouchables entirely at the mercy of the Caste Hindus who have an absolute majority in it. The Untouchables want the restoration of separate electorates given to them by the Communal Award by H.M.G. and the abrogation of the Poona Pact which was forced upon them by coercion practised by Mr. Gandhi through his fast unto death. This, the Hindus are bound to oppose. In reply to the criticism that they have been left to the mercy of the Hindu majority the Cabinet Mission has been advertising their proposal for an Advisory Committee on Minorities as a means of safeguarding minority rights. Anyone who examines the powers and Constitution of the Advisory Committee will know that the body is worse than useless.
(i) In its composition it is only a pale reflection of the Constituent Assembly. The Hindus will dominate it in the same way as they do the Constituent Assembly;
(ii) The fact that there will be a certain number of Untouchables in the Constituent Assembly as well as in the Advisory Committee elected by the goodwill of the Congress can be of no help to them