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JOINT VS. SEPARATE ELECTORATES DR. AMBEDKARS VIA MEDIA
Minority in a Province to Decide Question
The Times of India reported Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s statement on this subject as saying that—
“The exchange of views and compliments between Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Mr. Jinnah has once more revealed that there is no hope in the immediate future of the Hindus and Muslims agreeing to replace the Communal Decision of His Majesty’s Government by a settlement based on mutual agreement. Pandit Malaviya has left the field by saying that for the present the two communities must work separately, I do not know how many will look with satisfaction at the prospect of the two communities working separately. To me at any rate it appears that working in separation must inevitably end in working in antagonism.
I am neither a Hindu nor a Muslim, and I make this proposal not as a Partisan but as a student of the problem.
Before I set forth the proposal, I should like to promise that the expression “minority” has been loosely used in the communal controversy and what is worse is that it is used without any reference to the Province or to the constituency in a Province in relation to which alone it can have any meaning in politics. In my view a community is a minority and is entitled to get protection as a “minority” only if it is a minority in the Province, or strictly speaking if it is a “minority” in the constituency. Except in relation to the Province or to the constituency a “minority” has no political significance.
A Suggestion
Staring from this basic point, on which I should like to lay the utmost emphasis I can, my proposal is to separate the two questions that are covered in the Communal Award, namely the question of seats and the question of electorates. These two questions are