128 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
I am sending you a copy of the Memorandum containing my views which I am sending you for your information. You will notice from the last paragraph in the Memorandum that our Committee ‘cannot’ and therefore your Committee ‘cannot’ discuss the communal question. The Prime Minister’s letter and the Questionnaire issued by the Committee makes this clear and Chair man of our Committee has given a ruling on this question both at Delhi and Lucknow which is in accord with this view. Therefore you must tell your ‘Committee’ that they cannot discuss this ques tion and if they insist, you should refuse to discuss it.”
“Change of Views
Your separate minute instead discussing Separate Vs. Joint Electorates should simply say that you refuse to discuss it because it is outside the terms of the Committee. I know your Association has got a Questionnaire. There is just one thing I must point out. I was shocked to find that Mr. Rajah has changed his opinion and is now advocating Joint Electorates. I hope your Association will not follow him in this policy which is suicidal in every way. But if it does then you must lake the consequences of a permanent breach between us and a war ‘amongst’ ourselves which I am trying to avoid at any cost. So don’t persist in it. I am glad to have the assurance that you won’t do anything without my knowledge and consent. I have written out a detailed set of answers to the Fran chise Questionnaire. I will send you a copy as soon as they are typed.
I am sending a statement of my answers to the Questionnaire for your use and also a copy of the revised Questionnaire. You will see that the Communal question is altogether eliminated.” [1]
“Now another trouble brewed for Dr. Ambedkar. Dr. Moonje made a pact with M. C. Rajah on the basis of reserved seats and joint electorates. Rajah submitted to the British Premier his memo randum telegraphically giving details of his pact with Dr. Moonje. This pact put Dr. Ambedkar in an awkward position. It may be recalled that it was Rajah who had cabled to
1 : The Bombay Chronicle, dated 7th April 1932.