74 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The Maharaja of Bikaner identified himself and the princely order with the aspirations of British India and declared that the Princes were prepared to federate of their own free will with self-governing Federal British India. This was a surprise to all. This declaration of Federation was also endorsed by the Maharaja of Patiala and the Nawab of Bhopal.
The Muslim Members welcomed an All-India Federation : but with great vigour they pressed for a status for the NorthWest Province equal to that of the other Provincial units of British India and for the creation of a separate province of Sind.
Jayakar, in his deep and sweet flow of speech, asked for a declaration of Dominion Status, and added: “If you give India Dominion Status today, in the course of a few months the cry of independence will die of itself. If, on the other hand, we return empty-handed from our labours in the Conference, it will be the surest way of raising in volume and in intensity this demand for independence.”
Dr. Moonje, following the Maharaja of Patiala, refuted all the arguments of Lord Peel and told the Conference how the British Government had crushed Indian shipping, cotton and other industries. He added that the British belief that they would put down the National Movement of Civil Disobedience by a display of force was erroneous ; the time had passed.
N. M. Joshi pleaded for more rights for the labourers in the new constitution. Sir Mirza said that the future constitution should be based on federal basis. Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer opined that the future constitution should be worth living under. Then, after two or three speakers, rose a man, stout, sober and confident, with scintillating eyes and tight lips. Arisen from the lowest rung to the height by dint of his mental and moral force alone, he sat there in the assembly of the princes and potentates, legal celebrities and great brains representing great thrones, jahagirs, institutions and interests. He represented the poorest of India’s poor who were half-fed, half-nude and dumb ! What would he say now ? How would he say it ? There was in the Assembly the prince who had financed his education. There was one amongst them who was