32. 8-11-1936 Do not become a Victim to any Conspiracy - Page 180

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DO NOT BECOME A VICTIM TO ANY CONSPIRACY

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar called a general meeting of ‘Samta Sainik Dal’ on Sunday Nov. 8, 1936 at 9 a.m., before leaving for Europe. This meeting was held at Damodhar Hall, Parel, Bombay and was chaired by Dr. Ambedkar. [1]

While addressing the meeting Dr. Ambedkar said,

“I am leaving for Europe tomorrow in connection with some very important work of urgent nature. You will have to shoulder heavy responsibility in my absence. You must be knowing that according to the new Constitution fifteen seats have been reserved in the Legislative Assembly for the Depressed Classes. Election to the Legislative Assembly will be held in February next year. We have been allotted these fifteen seats in different districts of the Province. I have nominated candidates from the Independent Labour Party to contest elections against these seats. Why did my colleagues and I choose to form the Independent Labour Party to contest the coming elections? This is the question I am going to discuss in this meeting. With a well-organised and strong party like the Indian National Congress existing in India, what was the necessity of forming a new Party, is a legitimate question which many would like to ask. It has a very simple answer.

The main object of the Congress is to achieve independence. My colleagues and I also want to attain freedom but to achieve freedom is not so simple or easy task. Even the weapon of ‘Satyagraha’ evolved by Mr. Gandhi is not likely to be efficacious. Even with non co-operation and civil disobedience it is not possible to achieve independence. This certainly is beyond our capacity. Everybody seems to be thinking in this manner. If this is so difficult, what is the use of having dreams of such meaningless independence. So long as we do not have the strength and capacity to win true freedom, it is wise and profitable to follow the well-tried methods to achieve our object. I believe this is the correct view.

India has not yet become a nation. This country is divided into as many as 4000 castes. Besides this, there are the evils like

1 : Janata, dated 5th December 1936.