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LETTERS BY LORD PETHICK - LAWRENCE
TO MR. ATTLEE, PRIME MINISTER
India Office,
3rd September 1946.
Secretary of State’s Minute : Serial No. 48/46.
Prime Minister,
You asked for my view on Dr. Ambedkar’s letter to you of the 12th August, 1946.
As regards his second paragraph you will find an analysis of the election results for the Depressed Classes in the memorandum which my Private Secretary sent to yours on the 26th July with the draft reply to Dr. Ambedkar’s previous letter. Shortly, the facts are that in the Primary Elections which were contested, Congress polled more votes than Dr. Ambedkar’s Organisation, while a still larger proportion were polled by Independent candidates who may or may not be supporters of Dr. Ambedkar. But apart from this, twothirds of the seats were won by Congress unopposed. The figures are, of course, not conclusive but it is not justifiable to say that the First Lord’s statement in the Commons has “no foundation in truth,” though I think it was rather too positive.
As regards paragraph 3 of Dr. Ambedkar’s letter, it was not stated in the House of Commons that his influence was confined to Bombay and Central Provinces. He is referring to the President of the Board of Trade’s speech, in which the actual words used were “ Dr. Ambedkar’s Organization is somewhat more local in its character (than the Congress Organization) being mainly centred in Bombay and the Central Provinces”. I have made enquiries as to what happened in the Bengal Election to the Constituent Assembly which is, of course, by proportional representation. Dr. Ambedkar got five first preference votes. Sarat Chandra Bose also received five first preference votes. The quota for election in Bengal was four votes. Naturally the Congress would organize their voters to secure as nearly as possible four first preferences for each of their