34. We are a Separate Element in the National Life - Page 374

34

WE ARE A SEPARATE ELEMENT IN THE NATIONAL LIFE

A journalist from London, Mr. Bevarali Nikolas interviewed Dr. B. R. Ambedkar when he became a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Mr. Beverali recorded his interview in his book “Verdict on India” published in the year 1944. The personal observations that were revealed in the interview about Dr. Ambedkar are as follows : Editors.

‘A man of about fifty, waiting for me in a wicker chair on the veranda of his house. Bulky, dynamic. Very charming manners, but nervy, inclined to fiddle with his shoe-laces. Seemed to be on his guard, as though ready to parry taunts from all directions. Well after all it’s only to be expected.

So runs an extract from my diary.

The man is Doctor Ambedkar. And in a moment we shall see what it is ‘only to be expected.’

Dr. Ambedkar is Labour Member in the Government of India. and one of the six best brains in India. He is the Cavour School of Statesman, an implacable realist. When he speaks in public he is galvanic, creative, an almost embarrasingly to the point. To comparing a Hindu Chart with a fusillade of pistol shots.

As a result, he is one of the best hated man in India.

And why is it ‘only to be expected,’ this nervousness— this suggestion that he would be ready to take offence ?

Because Dr. Ambedkar, in the eyes of most of the 180 million Caste Hindus is ‘Untouchable’. A person to bring pollution if his Mayfair dinner jacket should happen to brush against their dhoties. A creature from whose touch the extreme orthodox must fly as though he were a paper, a mouster whose slightest contact compels them to precipitate themselves into the nearest bath-tube,