190 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
to remain separate or to reunite with Southern Ireland. Similarly, Dr. Ambedkar had proposed that Pakistan should be given independence for ten years, at the end of which it would be known whether it was an economic proposition. He admitted that if the people of Pakistan then wished to join up with Hindustan they would be in a weak position to negotiate and all the bargaining counters would be on the other side. During the ten-year period there might be a common council, but it would be purely consultative and would have no executive power. Any All-India Central Government to which the Muslims could, in their present mood, be brought to agree would be so weak as to be useless. There were many other fissiparous tendencies besides the Muslim demand for Pakistan, and the only Central Government worth having would be a strong one which could hold the country together.
In reply to an enquiry on the method of representation of the Scheduled Castes in the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Ambedkar said that he did not want a Constituent Assembly at all. It would be dominated by the Caste Hindus, and the Scheduled Caste members would be no more than a small minority which would always be outvoted even if a three-quarters or a two-thirds majority were required for the Assembly’s decisions. All the assurances of protection which His Majesty’s Government had given to the minorities would go by the board. Moreover, there would be an immense amount of corruption in the Assembly-members would be bought over to vote against the interests of their communities.
His own proposal was that the tasks envisaged for the Constituent Assembly should be divided into two classes, viz :—
(a) Constitutional questions properly so-called, e.g. the relations between the Legislature and the Executive and their respective composition and functions. There was no great controversy about these matters which did not excite the emotions. To deal with them was beyond the mental capacity of the type of man whom Provincial Assemblies might be expected to send up, and was a job for experts.
(b) Communal questions.
Questions under the first of these headings should be referred