SCHEDULED CASTES’................MANIFESTO— 401
- To sum up under the scheme set out by the Federation the available resources for the development of the country will come to (1) From the Army Budget .. Rs. 50 crores
(2) From the Salt Revenue .. Rs. 30 crores
(3) From Excise .. Rs. 25 crores
(4) From Life Insurance
(5) From compulsory Insurance of Figures not State and Private Employees available.
- The sources indicated can be depended upon to provide enough funds for the development of the country.
IV. Co-operation between Scheduled Castes Federation and other Political Parties
Mere Organization does not make a party. A party means a body of people who are bound by principles. Without principles a party cannot function as a party for in the absence of principles there is nothing to hold the members of it together. A party without principles is only a caravanserai. The Scheduled Castes Federation will not, therefore, ally itself with a Political Party which has not laid down its principles and whose constitution does not demand a pledge from its members to stand by those principles and whose principles are not in antogonism with these of the Federation.
It is not enough to have political ideals. What is necessary is the victory of ideals. But the victory of ideals can be ensured only by organized parties and not by individuals. For these reasons the Federation will not support independent candidates who belong to no party except in exceptional cases.
Secondly, the Scheduled Castes Federation would like to work in co-operation with the Backward Classes and the Scheduled Tribes. For they are more or less in the same position as the Scheduled Castes. These classes unfortunately have not developed that degree of political consciousness which the Scheduled Castes have by reason of political and social activity of the Scheduled Castes Federation during the last twenty years. The Constitution of Free India has made the Backward Classes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Scheduled Castes virtually the masters of the country.