272 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Futility of the grounds urged by the Mission in justification of their decision
The members of the Cabinet Mission argued that Dr. Ambedkar’s following was confined to the Scheduled Castes in the Bombay Presidency and the Central Provinces only. There is no foundation for this statement. The Scheduled Castes Federation is functioning in other Provinces as well and it has won therein notable electoral successes, as great as, if not greater than, in Bombay and the Central Provinces. In making this statement the Mission has failed to take into account the single victory Dr. Ambedkar obtained in the election to the Constituent Assembly. He stood as a candidate from the Bengal Provincial Legislative Assembly. He topped the poll as the general seats were concerned, beating even Mr. Sarat Chandra Bose the Leader of the Congress Party. If Dr. Ambedkar has no influence outside Bombay and Central Provinces how did he get elected from Bengal? It must be further remembered that there are 30 seats for the Scheduled Castes in the Bengal Provincial Assembly. Out of the 80 as many as 28 were elected on the Congress ticket. Of the two who belonged to his party one fell ill on the day of the election. Notwithstanding this Dr. Ambedkar topped the poll. This could not have happened unless the Scheduled Caste members of Bengal elected on the Congress ticket had voted for him. It must also be remembered that Scheduled Castes in Bengal do not belong to the community to which Dr. Ambedkar belongs. This shows that even those Scheduled Caste members who belong to the Congress and who do not belong to his community regard him as the leader of the Scheduled Castes. This completely disproves the statement made by the members of the mission.
The member of the Cabinet Mission argued that for the sake of maintaining uniformity in the composition of the constituent Assembly they had to adopt in the case of the Untouchables the result of the Final elections as they had done in the case of the other communities. The argument is a form of special pleading which has no force. The mission knew the final election of the Muslims, the Indian Christians and the Sikhs was by separate electorates.