172 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
have come into being. I must also thank Pandit Malaviya for the courtesy and forbearance that he showed in the hot exchange of words and acrimonious debates that went on during all these negotiations.
The change that has been brought about in the Communal Award has been brought about by the insistence of the view that Separate Electorates are injurious to the national interests. I must confess that I remain unconvinced of that argument. I can quite understand that for a majority representation Separate Electorates are harmful but I still remain unconvinced that for minority representation Separate Electorates are an evil.
I do not believe that Joint Electorates are going to be the final solution for the problem of absorbing the “Depressed” Classes in the Hindu Community.
Any electoral arrangement, I believe, cannot be a solution of the larger social problem. It requires more than any political arrangement and I hope that it would be possible for you to go beyond this political arrangement that we are making today and devise ways and means whereby it would be possible for Depressed Classes not only to be part and parcel of the Hindu Community but also to occupy an honourable position, a position of equality of status in the community.
So long as the “Depressed” Classes an ignorant lot, not imbued with a sense of self-respect, it was possible for them to accept the social status that was given to them by Hindu law, but as they get education they will begin to smart under these social Laws and there is a great danger of their seceding from Hindu Society. I beg of you to bear that in mind and hope that you will do the needful in the matter.”
Rao Bahadur M. C. Rajah further supported the resolution. He said that he clearly saw a change of heart among the caste Hindu and that was why he supported the Agreement. He had no doubt at all that the Agreement will have the unstincted support of all the “Depressed” Class people in the country.
Mr. C. Rajgopalachari moved a vote of thanks to the chair.