182 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
— Extract from the Fifth Despatch of the Government of India dated 23rd April, 1919 on the Report of the Southborough Committee on Franchise.
- “Nor must forget the essential necessity in the interests of Indian unity, of the inclusion of the Indian States in any Constitutional scheme.
I need refer only to two of them—the great Muslim minority and the Scheduled Castes—there are the guarantees that have been given to the minorities in the past; the fact that their position must be safeguarded, and that those guarantees must be honoured.”
— Extract from the speech made by Lord Linlithgow, at the Orient Club, Bombay, on January 10, 1940.
- “These are two main points which have emerged. On these two points, His Majesty’s Government now desires me to make their position clear. The first is as to the position of the minorities in relation to any future Constitutional scheme
It goes without saying that they (H. M. Government) could not contemplate the transfer of their present responsibilities for the peace and welfare of India to any system of Government whose authority is directly denied by large and powerful elements in India’s national life. Nor could they be parties to the coercion of such elements into submission to such a Government.”
— Extract from the Statement by Lord Linlithgow on 8th August 1940.
- “Congress leaders .......... have built up a remarkable organization, the most efficient political machine in India.......... if only they had suceeded, if the Congress could in fact speak, as it professes to speak, for all the main elements in India’s national life, then however advanced their demands, our problem would have been in many respects far easier than it is to-day. It is true that they are numerically the largest single party in British India, but their claim in virtue of that fact to speak for India is utterly denied by very important elements in India’s complex national life. These others assert their right to be regarded not as more numerical minorities but as separate constituent factors in any future Indian policy. The foremost among these elements stand the great Muslim community. They will have nothing to do with a constitution framed by a constituent assembly elected by a majority vote in geographical