IF DEMOCRACY....................OUR DOOM 243
The three Conferences that were held in Nagpur from July the 18th to the July 20, 1942, namely
(1) The All-India Depressed Classes Conference, presided over by Rao Bahadur N. Shiva Raj B.A., B.L., M.L.A. (Central);
(2) The Depressed Classes Women’s Conference, presided over by Mrs. Dongre of Amraoti; and
(3) The Samata Sainik Dal Conference, presided over by Mr. Gopal Singh, M. B. E., M. L. A. (Punjab).
The All-India Depressed Classes Conference was remarkable for three things. It was remarkable because of the record attendance of men and women. There were not less than 75,000 people present at the session, and there were not less than 20,000 women. In addition to this, this was a Conference which was fully representative of the Depressed Classes of almost all the Provinces of India.
The second thing for which this Conference will remain memorable is the Resolutions that were passed at this Conference. These Resolutions contained for the first time a clear and positive enunciation of the political demands of the Depressed Classes. Nobody who reads them can have any doubt as to what the political demands of the Untouchables are. As some newspaper reporters have said, the Resolutions passed by this Conference constitute the Pakistan of the Depressed Classes, both in the nature of the demands that were made and also by the definiteness in which they were worded.
The third thing for which this Conference will remain memorable is the Resolution passed by the Conference to establish an All-India Organization to be called the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation. In this Organization which will act as the one single mouth-piece of the Depressed Classes of India, and the Conference has taken a definite decision that all other petty and provincial Organizations shall be merged in this one single Organization which will have its provincial branches in the different Provinces of India.