MAHAD SATYAGRAHA 11
The most reprehensible part of the conduct of the Upper Caste Hindus in Mahad and Kolaba District was that messages were sent immediately to the different villages asking the upper class people there to punish the delegates of the Conference as soon as they returned to their respective villages. In obedience to this mandate assaults were committed on a number of Mahars returning from the Conference either before or after they reached their villages where the Depressed Classes have the disadvantage of being overwhelmingly out-numbered by the Upper Caste Hindus. The leaders of the Depressed Classes have appealed to the authorities for protection and the District Officials includding the D. S. P. are making enquiries on the spot. It must, however, be stated that if the Resident Magistrate had not allowed two precious hours to pass without doing anything the riot would have probably been averted.”
“ Thus ended the first big, open Conference of the Depressed Classes in Maharashtra and their first public attempt to assert their civic rights. This Conference was a great and momentous event, the opening of an epoch in the history of Hindustan. It was an event which changed both Dr. Ambedkar’s personal life and the current of social and national reorganization.
Under the leadership of their saviour, the down-trodden, the dehumanised and dumb millions opened a new chapter in the annals of India. They not only voiced their age-long grievances but also took on themselves energetically to mitigate them. They now summoned up courage and showed the right spirit in standing boldly and shaking off the dust from their feet and faces.
The struggle inaugurated by their educated leaders gripped their minds and enkindled the flame of self-respect and self-elevation. They now smarted under the insults and humiliations inflicted upon them at Mahad. They applied their minds to self-improvement and self-culture as never before. As a result of this Conference, the Untouchables gave up eating carrion, skinning carcasses, and stopped begging for crumbs.
And what happened to the Chawdar Tank that was declared to have been desecrated by the touch of untouchable Hindus ? The orthodox and reactionary Hindus called a meeting at the temple of