PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 913
Castes ? Is it possible for the Scheduled Castes to be financed by the Government in the matter of purchasing lands if land was to be sought ? These are the three ways by which land could be given to the Scheduled Castes. Government should by law limit the holding of those who hold land and take away the excess and hand it over to the Scheduled Castes. Secondly the Government may finance the purchase of land if any is to be sold.
Sir, it is clear to everybody that land-holding in India is not merely a matter of economic livelihood. It is a matter of social status. A person holding land has a higher status than a person not holding land. Now it is quite clear that in the villages this matter of economic status is of the utmost importance to everybody. And no Hindu wishes that an untouchable should possess a piece of land so that he may reach a higher status than his community is entitled to under the social system. Sir, the question of a scheduled caste man getting a bit of land in the village seems to me to be utterly impossible. I do not know to what extent the Government will be able to make a law limiting the holdings. There might easily be a revolution. If the Government had, in passing land legislation, instead of giving the title of the property to the peasant, kept the title to themselves as paramount owners of land, they might have been able to pass a law that as the land belonged to the Government nobody would be allowed to hold more than a certain number of acres. But the Government has committed one of the greatest acts of folly in creating these peasant proprietors. Sir, once Talleyrand told Napolean. “Why do you want all this bother with Europe ? Why do you want to create all this enmity ? Why should you not be content with becoming the King of France with me as your Prime Minister?” There were a certain number of soldiers standing outside the palace of Napolean holding their guns with bayonets shining in the light of the sun. Napolean was a very abusive person. He told Talleyrand : “You were so much done in a silk stocking. Do you see my battalions ?” He said, “Yes, I see them”. Then Napolean asked, “Why should I not be an Emperor ?” To that Talleyrand replied and my friends will remember that reply : “ You can do anything