190 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Policy of District Magistrate :—I regret to say that I was not satisfied with the policy of the District Magistrate in connection with the Satyagraha of the Untouchables. In my last letter I had informed Your Excellency how a private door of the house of the Pujari was being used by the public as an entrance to the temple and how our Satyagraha was being frustrated thereby.
The District Magistrate did not pay any regard to our contention and on the Ramnavami Day not only allowed the public to use the private entrance of the Pujari in complete disregard of our contention but prohibited our Satyagrahis to sit as usual at the adjacent public way the barricade from which was removed to provide exit to the touchable Hindus entering by the private door. As a result 18 Untouchables out of 300 who offered Satyagraha were arrested on the Ramnavami Day.
After the riot of the 9th, the District Magistrate proposed to me that I must stop the Satyagraha or else he will withdraw the Police. His proposal was considered by the Satyagraha Committee and was rejected and I think rightly. Nothing could be a greater disaster to movement of the Untouchables than the stopping of the Satyagraha at this juncture. The touchable Hindus would gain the impression that any slight use of the force is sufficient to crush the movement of the Untouchables.
Under the circumstances I or Satyagraha Committee can allow such an impression to go round. Only on this, if on no other account, we must continue our Satyagraha. Regarding the withdrawal of the Police, I wish the Government of Bombay to realise fully the implications thereof.
To my mind it means that the Government is not willing to use the power it has under its command to help people who are struggling for their rights to win them. Such a power is good for nobody and the Depressed Classes may then be justified in joining hands with those who are speaking for a change. I hope that the Government of Bombay will give proper directions to the District Magistrate on this point.
I learn from the ‘Times of India’ of today’s date that the District Magistrate has promulgated an order under Section 144 Cr. P. Code