IF DEMOCRACY....................OUR DOOM 253
may get political power in their own hands to use it to promote their welfare or to use it to save themselves against the tyranny and oppression of the Hindus. I do not want to dilate upon what the Mahatma or other Hindus did by way of manoeuvring to defeat the claim. It is sufficient to say that at the Round Table Conference the Untouchables won and the Mahatma lost. The Communal Award was the result of this contest. Its great virtue lies in the fact that the Untouchables were recognised in the national life of India and entitled to claim separate political rights. That is the importance of the Communal Award.
Mr. Gandhi, at first, did not accept the Communal Award. He started a fast unto death to compel the British Government to unsettle a settled fact. He failed in the fast as he failed at the Round Table Conference in defeating the claim of the Untouchables to be treated as a distinct element separate from the Hindus and entitled to separate political recognition. In the Poona Pact which was the result of his fast, he had to admit the main contention I had put forth at the Round Table Conference.
In the first round, the victory had gone to the Untouchables. Our position remained intact even after the war had commenced and the Congress had come to occupy a dominant position in Indian politics. Indeed, our claim was reassured and sustained by the declaration of the Viceroy made on the 8th August 1940 in which it was made clear that the Muslims and the Untouchables were distinct and separate elements in the National life of India and that the British Government will not enforce a constitution which has not the support of the Muslims and the Depressed Classes.
I have spoken so far of the strength of our position. I must now speak to you of the forces that tend to weaken our position. One malignant factor which has been working to weaken our position is Gandhi and Gandhism. By signing the Poona Pact, I helped to save the life of Mr. Gandhi. But Mr. Gandhi accepted the Poona Pact not as a gentleman signing an agreement with the intention to