12
RIGHTS NOT AFFECTED IN THE EVENT OF CONVERSION
“Talk of the possibility of the Depressed Classes having to forego their political privileges under the Poona Pact in the event of their leaving the Hindu Community is discounted by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who regards it as a Congress stunt to frighten him and his party from contesting the elections.
“I have evidence in my possession to show that it is a Congress stunt calculated to frighten me and my party from contesting the forthcoming elections and to coerce us into remaining within the Hindu fold.”
This is Dr. Ambedkar’s reaction to the reports current in the city that the resolutions of the Yeola and Bombay conferences of the Depressed Classes and Dr. Ambedkar’s own declared intention to renounce Hinduism must militate against the enjoyment by the Depressed Classes of the privileges secured under the Poona Pact.
Dr. Ambedkar is inclined to laugh at these reports as they are, in his opinion, based on ignorance of the constitutional position and of the provisions of the Communal Award as amended by the Poona Pact.
The original provision of the Communal Award in respect of the Depressed Classes was that they should vote in the general constituencies, but in order to ensure adequate representation to them special seats were to be allotted to them the basis of this provision was a separate electroate for the Depressed Classes.
The Poona Pact, briefly put, substituted joint electorates with the Hindu community for separate electorates for the Depressed Classes. In order to ensure that the representatives of the Depressed Classes carried the confidence of their community with them, a device for a primary election by the community itself was evolved; the electorate of the joint Hindu community was to make its choice from among the panel of four candidates for each seat selected by the voters on the list of the Depressed Classes.