176 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
I Responded to the call of humanity and Saved the Life of Mr. Gandhi.
In this regard Dr. B. R. Ambedkar said,
“The story of this fact has been told by Mr. Pyarelal in a volume which bears the picturesque and flamboyant title of “The Epic Fast,” The curious may refer it. I must, however, warn him that it is written by a Boswell and has all the faults of a Boswelliana. There is another side to it, but there is neither time nor space to present it here. All I can do is to invite attention to the statement* I issued to the Press on the eve of Mr. Gandhi’s fast exposing his tactics. Suffice it to say that although Mr. Gandhi declared a fast unto death, he did not want to die. He wanted very much to live.
The fast nonetheless created a problem, and that problem was how to save Mr. Gandhi’s life. The only way to save his life was to alter the Communal Award which Mr. Gandhi said hurt his conscience so much. The Prime Minister had made it quite clear that the British Cabinet would not withdraw it or alter it of its own, but that they were ready to substitute for it a formula that may be agreed upon by the Caste Hindus and the Untouchables. As I had the privilege of representing the Untouchables at the Round Table Conference, it was assumed that the assent of the Untouchables would not be valid unless I was a party to it. The surprising fact is that my position as the leader of the Untouchables of India was not only not questioned by Congressmen but it was accepted as a fact. All eyes naturally turned to me as the man of the moment or rather as the villain of the piece.
As to myself it is no exaggeration to say that no man was placed in a greater and graver dilemma than I was then. It was a baffling situation. I had to make a choice between two different alternatives. There was before me the duty, which I owed as a part of common humanity, to save Gandhi from sure death. There was before me the problem of saving for the Untouchables the political rights which the Prime Minister had given them. I responded to the call of humanity and saved the life of Mr. Gandhi
- See Pp. 143-150 of this part-Editors.