462 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
the rest. I have got great hope for the future and I believe in a bright future for my community. They are the downtrodden and the future is for the under-dog. Therefore, I am not hopeless. I am not without hope. Dr. Ambedkar might feel pessimistic, but as far as I am concerned, and as far as the youths of the Scheduled Castes are concerned, we have courage enough to fight on equal footing our battle of liberation.
Mr. Chairman: Order, order. Is the hon. Member opposing the Bill or supporting it?
Shri R. Velayudhan: I am not opposing this Bill at all, but only requesting that the list drawn up should be changed where necessary after verification with actual facts. With this request, I support the Bill.
Shri Deshbandhu Gupta (Delhi) : I rise to support this Bill. The Bill merely seeks to ensure representation of Harijans in the House of the People from the Part C States and there can be no objection to this from any part of the House. But I would like to point out that the reason given by Dr. Ambedkar the Mover of this Bill that this was not defined when the Representation of the People Bill was before this House does not seem to be quite correct. This reservation is after all a temporary reservation for a period of ten years and perhaps it was thought desirable to leave out some areas without this reservation so as to see whether Harijans could be returned to the House of the People without reservation. ( An Hon. member: Very doubtful.) My friend says very doubtful. I am not prepared to have a bet with him on that. But I can say that so far as Delhi is concerned I would like the Mover of the Bill and other friends to realise that Delhi and Ajmer were the only two places, even under the old regime, which enjoyed joint electorates, whereas throughout the country there were separate electorates and reservations of seats on that basis. I need hardly remind the hon. Mover and other friends who feel like him that Delhi had returned to the Central Assembly through joint electorate, the candidate belonging to the minority community and that too in the teeth of opposition from reactionary elements. Although opposition