8 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
orders, their eyes literally blazing with fire and their hands itching for retaliation and revenge. Their leader, however, appealed for peace and discipline. There was hushed silence for a while. A word of provocation from Dr. Ambedkar would have turned Mahad into a pool of blood and destruction. The number of delegates still lingering in the town, in the pandal and in the Bungalow together could have easily outnumbered the hooligans and battered down their skulls. Hundreds among the Untouchables were men who had seen, fought, and moved actively in the theatres and battles of the First World War.
But discipline was wonderfully maintained at the behest of their leader. They set their faces against the aggressors. Their struggle was non-violent and constitutional. They did not dream of breaking the law. Thus a more serious riot was averted. At nightfall all the delegates left for their respective villages. Dr. Ambedkar with his lieutenant, Anantrao Chitre, left the bungalow as it was booked by a Government Officer from that evening, and took up his residence in the police station rooms. He completed his inquiry into the riot and returned to Bombay on 23rd March.
Policemen appeared on the scene after the storm was over. They arrested some of the orthodox rowdies as trespassers. Out of the nine orthodox Hindu heroes, five who were found to be most valorous, were, afterwards on June 6,1927, sentenced by the District Magistrate to four months’ rigorous imprisonment. Dr. Ambedkar was not far from truth when he remarked that had not the chief officers in the District been non-Hindus, justice would not have been administered impartially to the Untouchables. Under Peshwa rule, he said, he would have been trampled to death by an elephant. And it was the Peshwa rule under which Untouchables were not allowed to enter the city of Poona during certain hours by day- time, and when they were admitted at other times they had to walk in the city with earthen pots hanging from their necks to spit into.” [1]
1 : Keer, Pp. 69-71,73-77.