IF DEMOCRACY....................OUR DOOM 251
education. Years ago Untouchables were not permitted to be Members of Local Boards and Municipalities for fear of causing pollution. All this has now changed. Our progress in public service has not been as rapid as we wish. In some respects the Untouchables have an entry. I must mention the Police and the Army. The Police Department was closed to the Untouchables and not even a constable’s place was open to the Untouchables. This has changed in some Provinces at least. Our people are now recruited in the Police Service. I must also mention the Army. Upto 1892, Mahars were everywhere in the Army and there were Armies of Mahars. After 1892 the entry of the Mahars in the Army was stopped. During the great War of 1914, recruitment of the Mahars in the Army was restarted and one battalion of the Mahars was formed. After the last War that battalion was again disbanded. Now, however, our regiments are again being formed. Commissions are being granted to our young men and 5 or 6 of our young men have received King’s Commission and are holding posts of responsibility and honour in the Army. The greatest progress that we have made is to be found among our women folk. Here you see in this Conference these 20000 to 25000 women present. See their dress, observe their manners, mark their speech. Can any one say that they are Untouchable women. The progress made by our women is the most astonishing and encouraging feature of our movement and it is of course the most gratifying feature.
This is a record of progress of which we may all be legitimately proud. It is a progress for which we have not to thank anybody. It is not the result of Hindu charity. It is an achievement which is entirely the result of our own labour. The question is how can we maintain this progress. That is a question we must never forget to ask ourselves. Progress in the competition of communities is the result of power. This power may be economic, it may be social or it may be political. Have we power to sustain our progress ? Have we economic power ? I am sure we have none. We are a class of serfs. Have we social power ? I am sure we have none. We are a degraded portion of humanity. The only thing, therefore, we can depend upon for our continued progress is the capture of political