118 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
used against you. You all know, how the Caste-Hindus have made your daily life unbearable by prohibiting you from getting labour, by disallowing your cattle to graze in the jungles and prohibiting your men from entering the village. But very few of you might have realised as to why all this happens. What is at the root of their tyrrany ? To me, it is very necessary, that we understand it.
This is a Matter of Class Struggle
The instances cited above have nothing to do with the virtues or vices of an individual. This is not a feud between two rival men. The problem of the Untouchability is a matter of class struggle. It is a struggle between Caste-Hindus and the Untouchables. This is not a matter of doing injustice against one man. This is a matter of injustice being done by one class against another. This class struggle has a relation with the social status. This struggle indicates how one class should keep its relations with another class. This struggle starts as soon as you start claiming equal treatment with others. Had it not been so, there would have been no struggle for the simple reason like serving the chapatis, wearing the super quality clothes, putting on the sacred thread, fetching the water in a metal pot, riding the bridegroom on the horse-back etc. In all these cases, you spend your own money. Why then the high caste Hindus get irritated ? The reason for their anger is very simple, your behaving on par with them insults them. Your status in their eyes is low, you are impure, you must remain at the lowest rung, then alone, they will allow you to live happily. The moment you cross your level, the struggle starts. The instances given above also prove one more fact that the Untouchability is not a short or temporary feature, it is a permanent one. To put it straight, it can be said that the struggle between the Caste Hindus and the Untouchables is a permanent phenomena. It is eternal, because the religion which has placed you at the lowest level of the society is itself eternal, according to the belief of the High Caste people. No change, according to times and circumstances is possible. You are at the lowest rung of the ladder today. You shall remain lowest forever. This means, the struggle between the Hindus and the Untouchables shall continue forever. How will you survive through this struggle is the main question. And