WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? 127
Have you any freedom in Hindu religion ?
Some people might say that you have a freedom of trade guaranteed by law like any other citizen. You are also said to have got the personal liberty like others. You will have to think deeply over such statement to see whether they really carry any meaning. What is good in saying, you have freedom of trade to a person who is not allowed by the society to do any other business rather than an ancestral one. What is the use of telling someone such words, you are at liberty to enjoy your property, nobody else will touch your money, when all doors of acquiring property are closed to him. To tell a person, who is treated as unfit for entry into any service due to the defilement attached to him by birth, and under whom working is most contemptuous for others, that he has a right to serve, is to make mockery of him. The Law may guarantee various rights, but only those can be called real rights which you are permitted by the society to exercise. The Law guarantees to the Untouchables the right to wear decent clothes but the Hindus do not allow them to put on these clothes, what is the use of this right ? The law guarantees to the Untouchables the right to fetch water in metal pots, the right to use the metalic utensils, the right to put tiles on their houses but the Hindu Society does not allow them to exercise these rights, what is the use of such rights ? The various instances of such violations can be cited. In short, that which is permitted by the society to be exercised can alone be called a right. The right which is guaranteed by law but is opposed by the society is of no use at all. The Untouchables are in more need of social liberty than that which is guaranteed by law. So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by law to you, is of no avail. Some persons might advise you that you have physical freedom. Of course, you can go anywhere, can speak anything you wish, subject to the restrictions imposed by law. But what is the use of such freedom ? A man has a body as well as a mind. Mere physical freedom is of no use. Freedom of the mind is of prime importance. Really speaking, what is meant by the physical freedom to a man ? It means, he is free to act according to his own freewill. A prisoner is unchained and made free. What is the principle underlying this ? The principle is that he should be free to act according to his own free will and he should be able