288 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
from the Hindus. We hope to achieve it by separation in religion. We have to go by stages. We had to begin our struggle with a demand for political equality by demanding political separation. This was most a difficult task, for the Depressed Classes could not find a safe and a secure platform from which to give vent to their political demands. There was a time when this was quite impossible. The Congress organization had become so dominant that in Bombay city they would not allow any other party to hold any political meeting. The Congress volunteers used to come and breakup such meetings. Nobody dared to hold a meeting. To meet this menace we decided to add to the orignial function of the Volunteer Crops a new duty namely to take part in politics and protect our platform from the turbulent and repressive activities of the Congress Volunteers. This proved a most efficacious method of dealing with the menace of the Congress Volunteers. I well remember the incident that took place in Bombay just about the time that I was going to the first Round Table Conference. The Congress held, in Bombay just near where I was living, a public meeting in the name of the Depressed Classes to condemn my going to the Round Table Conference and to declare that I was not true representative of the Depressed Classes. I told the organizers of the meeting that I did not mind any resolution being passed provided it was a meeting of the Depressed Classed and that their meeting was not the meeting of the Depressed Classes. They declined to desist from the line of action they had decided upon. In the evening the meeting was held. Our volunteers came in a body and to the utter discomfiture of the Congress Volunteers captured the meeting. The Congressmen had to run for their life leaving behind their chair, table and bell which was brought by our volunteers as a trophy. Our Volunteer Corps has been the strongest in Bombay. Nobody has ever dared to challenge our volunteers. If we have carried out our political activities without being molested by anybody it is because of the strength of our volunteer organization. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.
You borrowed the idea from Bombay. But I see that you have left Bombay very much behind in the vastness of your organization. In this you excite my admiration. Bombay will