ROLE OF ......................... INDIAN DEMOCRACY 149
I am therefore bound to insist upon a Statutory Guarantee for the protection of my people. If Mr. Gandhi wishes to have the Communal Award altered, it is for him to put forth his proposals and to prove that they give a better guarantee than has been given to us under the Award.
I hope that the Mahatma will desist from carrying out the extreme step contemplated by him. We mean no harm to the Hindu Society when we demand Separate Electorates. If we choose Separate Electorates we do so in order to avoid the total dependence on the sweet will of the caste Hindus in matters affecting our destiny. Like the Mahatma we also claim our right to err, and we expect him not to deprive us of that right. His determination to fast himself unto death is worthy of a far better cause. I could have understood the propriety of the Mahatma contemplating such extreme step for stopping riots between Hindus and Mohamedans or between the Depressed Classes and the Hindus or for any other national cause. It certainly cannot improve the lot of the Depressed Classes. Whether he knows it or not the Mahatma’s act will result in nothing but terrorism by his followers against the Depressed Classes all over the country.
Coercion of this sort will not win the Depressed Classes to the Hindu fold if they are determined to go out. And if the Mahatma chooses to ask the Depressed Classes to make a choice between Hindu faith and possession of political power I am quite sure that the Depressed Classes will choose political power and save the Mahatma from self-immolation. If Mr. Gandhi coolly reflects on the consequences of his act I very much doubt whether he will find this victory worth having. It is still more important to note that the Mahatma is releasing reactionary and uncontrollable forces, and is fostering the spirit of hatred between the Hindu Community and the Depressed Classes by resorting to this method and thereby widening the existing gulf between the two. When I opposed Mr. Gandhi at the R, T. C. there was a hue and cry against me in the country and there was conspiracy in socalled nationalist press to represent me as a traitor to the nationalist cause, to supress correspondence coming from my side and to boost the propaganda against my party by publishing exaggerated reports of meetings and conferences, many of which