ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY 75
his teacher in the school. All eyes were rivetted upon the speaker. He was not the least agitated. He knew his mind; he knew what to say and how to say it. Except the Premier MacDonald and Joshi none from that August Assembly had seen poverty in its crudest and ugliest form. There were highlights in the Conference, Pundits and literateurs, but he was the only leader who had attained the highest degree in the academic world, the Doctorate in Science. This man was Dr. Ambedkar, the leader of the suppressed humanity in India.
At the outset, Dr. Ambedkar declared that in speaking before the Conference, he was placing the viewpoint of onefifth of the total population of British India—a population as large as the population of England or France—which was reduced to a position worse than that of a serf or a slave. He then declared to the surprise of all that the Untouchables in India were also for replacing the existing Government by a Government of the people, for the people and by the people. He said that this change in the attitude of the Untouchables to British rule in India was surprising and a momentous phenomenon. And justifying his stand, he observed with a rise in his voice and a glow in his eyes : “ When we compare our present position with the one which it was our lot to bear in Indian society of pre-British days, we find that, instead of marching on, we are marking time. Before the British, we were in the loathsome condition due to our Untouchability. Has the British Government done anything to remove it ? Before the British, we could not draw water from the village well. Has the British Government secured us the right to the well ? Before the British, we could not enter the temple ? Can we enter now? Before the British, we were denied entry into the Police Force. Does the British Government admit us into the force ? Before the British. we were not allowed to serve in the Military. Is that career now open to us ? To none of these questions can we give an affirmative answer. Our wrongs have remained as open sores and they have not been righted, although 150 years of British rule have rolled away.”