I HAVE NO HOMELAND 55
The interview thus ended in a grim atmosphere. Gandhi was the boss of Indian politics, the dictator, the uncrowned king of the Indian masses, who were dazed and electrified by his dynamic actions. To answer Gandhi back was to incur permanent displeasure and to create undying bitterness. And that too a Hindu leader doing it was a thing beyond Gandhi’s imagination ! But the die was cast. The spark of opposition was ignited. The interview sounded the beginning of a war between Gandhi and Ambedkar.
It is, however, surprising to note here that Gandhi thought that Ambedkar was not a Harijan. Till he went to London he thought he was some Brahmin who took deep interest in Harijans and therefore talked intemperately.*
Following is the press report of the meeting.
“ Dr. Ambedkar Sees Mr. Gandhi
Dr. Ambedkar, leader of the Depressed Classes, saw Mr. Gandhi on Friday afternoon. He tried to impress on Mr. Gandhi his point that the Congress had not so far done anything tangible for the Depressed Classes and that Mr. Gandhi was under a delusion in imagining that the Depressed Classes were solidly behind him as the representative of the people. Mr. Gandhi did not admit that the Congress had not done anything or was not doing anything for the Depressed Classes. Dr. Ambedkar eventually left without convincing Mr. Gandhi or being convinced by him.” [1]
“Dr. Ambedkar on Mr. Gandhi’s Folly
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Depressed Classes delegate, who had a frank talk with Mr. Gandhi on the previous day about his attitude towards the Depressed Classes, interviewed by a representative of The Times of India, said : “To place the interests of Bardoli above those of India and refuse on that account to go to England to take part in the deliberations of the Round Table Conference seems to me to be the height of folly. To bother about the petty tyrannies of village officers and to be unmindful of the bigger problem, the settlement of which will enable us to exercise control on those very officers, is a thing which I cannot understand.”
- The Diary of Mahadeo Desai, Vol. I, Navajivan Publishing House, P. 52.
1 : The Times of India, dated 15th August 1931.