COMMENTS ON..........POONA-PACT 465
tempered and pampered with undue attentions. Mahatma Gandhi had also an unparalleled record of service on behalf of the Depressed Classes whom he chose to be respectfully addressed as ‘Harijans.’ But the Doctor would brook no rivals. He would not tolerate no one else occupying the pedestal. Being the product of abnormal social and economic conditions in which Indian Society had abysmally let itself down, Dr. Ambedkar deliberately cultivated an abnormal individuality. (Men & Supermen of Hindustan, page 20).
‘Dr. Ambedkar’s request to Ramsay MacDonald to settle the Communal ratios in the Legislature led to his discomfiture in the life of the turbulent politician, The Doctor cried at the gate of the Yeravada Jail—
I trust that I will not be driven to the necessity of making a choice between Gandhi’s life and the rights of my people. I can never consent to deliver my people bound hand and foot, to the Hindus for generations. I don’t care even if a hundred Mahatmas are sacrificed. Mahatmas are not immortal creatures. You are all free to hang me from the nearest lamppost....... The Mahatma declared to the Doctor ‘I am proud of you. I have always listened to your speeches breathlessly.’ (Men & Supermen of Hindustan, P. 22)” [1]
3
An Author Writing Under Pen-Name
A Student of Public Affairs, in his book “Has Congress Failed ? ” expressed his views as under : “Not even his most ardent supporters will claim that Mr. Gandhi’s participation in that Conference was a success. Communal differences were holding up progress on all sides and the Minorities Sub-Committee finally was obliged to report failure to reach a settlement. Mr. Gandhi consistently refused to consider any proposal for separate electorates for any community except the Mohammedans, the Sikhs and the Europeans, and as regards the Depressed Classes he insisted that they were Hindus and must be kept within
1 : Reprinted, Khairmode, Vol. 4. Pp. 168-169.