332 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
British or it would have devolved upon Indians. There was no possibility of Japan or Germany stepping in and making itself the master of India. The possibility is now staring us in the face. It would be madness to weaken law and order at a time when the barbarians are at our gates, intending not merely to defeat the British but to enslave us for ever. There, in my mind, lies the great difference between the C. D. Movement of 1930 and the mass movement now threatened by Mr. Gandhi.
False Claim
“The Congress and Mr. Gandhi have been arrogating to themselves the right to speak in the name of the country. It is a false claim but nobody has cared to challenge it. That is because of the feeling that so long as the Congress was doing no harm to the interests of the country it was a matter of small moment whether it claimed to speak in the name of the nation or in the name of the party which it is. But when the Congress, being only a party, proposes to launch upon a policy which puts the safety, security and even the possibility of the independence of the country in jeopardy, it becomes the duty to other parties to drop the attitude of benevolent neutrality and oppose the Congress when it is throwing the country in chaos and inviting certain frustration of the realisation of the political destiny of this country which is so near at hand. I wish Indians to realise two things : first, that their destiny is bound up with the victory of democracy against Nazism and second, that once democracy wins nothing in the world can stop India to gain her freedom if Indians take care to unite themselves. I am sure Mr. Gandhi’s move is quite uncalled for.
“If democracy wins, no one can stand in the way of India’s freedom. The supreme task of Indians at the moment is to see that democracy wins. It is not out of love for principle that they should do so. It is our country’s future that requires us to do it as our duty. Mr. Gandhi is an old man in a hurry. Indians should be careful not to do anything in a hurry which they will have to regret in leisure.”
Dr. Ambedkar left Bombay on Monday night for New Delhi by the Frontier Mail. At Bombay Central, he was given a hearty sendoff by nearly 400 persons, representing the Scheduled Classes, the Independent Labour Party, the Municipal Kamgar Sangh and various other organisations, and several personal friends and admirers.” [1]
��
- : The Times of India, dated 28th July 1942.