ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY 107
about the insincere attitude of the Congress towards the grievances of Untouchables. What can the poor Mahatma do when the whole country simply believes in Untouchability ?” [1]
The next day was Saturday, August 15, 1931. Almost all the Round Table Conference delegates were to sail for London by the S. S. Mooltan. The Ballard Pier at Bombay presented a picturesque appearance on the day. From princes to paupers all soils of people were present at the Pier. Friends, admirers, followers and devotees assembled to wish bon voyage to their Princes and heroes. One leader who received a great ovation as soon as he got down from the car was Dr. Ambedkar. Over two thousand volunteers had collected on the road outside and greeted him as he arrived at the Mole Station with shouts of “Dr. Ambedkar ki jai ” and “Long live Dr. Ambedkar ”. [2]
“On boardship Dr. Ambedkar came across Sir Prabhashankar Pattani, who asked him about the outcome of the latter’s interview with Gandhi. Sir Prabhashankar told Dr. Ambedkar that as he had left the hall in the middle of the interview, he was not in the know of its outcome or end. Dr. Ambedkar, who got the clue from the strange note in the voice of the Knight, asked him why he had left the hall in the middle. The Knight said bitingly that according to Hindu scriptures a gentleman should quit the place where a detractor reviled a good man, if the hearer could not cut out the tongue of the detractor on the spot. Dr. Ambedkar was all the more tickled by the growing insensible temper of the Knight and, without any sign of irritation on his face, asked him what punishment was prescribed by Pattani’s Hindu scriptures for a rank hypocrite and an abject flatterer. At this crack of the whip Pattani got wild and asked Dr. Ambedkar what he meant by such a brutal attack. Dr. Ambedkar replied that he meant what the knight understood and added that Gandhi should be freed from the grip of abject flatterers like him. The Police Commissioner, Wilson, intervened, and a further scene was averted. The Knight must have left a wiser man. Indeed, the world would be no less benefited, if all its great men turn introspective and get themselves rid of the flattering functions of men surrounding them !
1 : The Times of India, dated 18th August-1931.
2 : Keer:Pp. 168-169.