142 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
by some of the sympathisers of conversion. In the first place, it has been heard that some of the Mahars are worried as to what will be the fate of their Watan (hereditory rights of a village servant). It has also been heard that the high caste Hindus opposing to the conversion have threatened the Mahars in the villages that they will be deprived of their services as village servants if they leave the Hindu religion. All of you are aware that I am least worried if the Mahar Watan is abolished. During the last ten years, I have been advocating that if there is anything that doomed the fate of Mahars is the Mahar Watan alone and the day on which you will be freed from these chains of Maharki, I will think your path of liberation is open to you. However, for those who want this Mahar Watan, I can assure them that their Watan will not be jeopardised by their conversion. In this regard, the act of 1850 can be referred. Under the provisions of this act, rights of a person as a successor and property are not affected by virtue of his conversion. Those who feel this reference of law as insufficient, they have to take into consideration the circumstances prevalent in Nagar District. A number of persons from the Mahar community in this District have become Christians and at some places, in one family, some are Christians, while others still remained as Mahars. However, the Watan rights of these converted Christians have not vanished. This may be confirmed from the Mahars of Nagar. So, none should fear that their Watan will come in peril by conversion.
A second doubt is about political rights. Some people express fear as to what will happen to our safeguards if we convert. Nobody can say that I do not realise the importance of the political safeguards that the Untouchables have achieved. Nobody else has taken so much pains and has made so much efforts for securing these political rights for the Untouchables as I have taken. But I feel, it is not proper to depend solely on political rights. These political safeguards are not granted on the condition that they shall be everlasting. They are bound to cease sometime. According to the Communal Award of the British Government, our political safeguards were limited for 20 years. Although no such limitation has been fixed by the Poona Pact, nobody can say they are