324 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
ripe or prepared for Dominion Status or not, the Indian people would insist in all circumstances to have at least some share of responsibility at the centre. Indians would never agree to be content with merely Provinical Autonomy but they would insist upon some introduction of responsibility at the centre. The old gentleman was of course expected to go much beyond that, as his mandate was Independence. Curiously, unfortunately and fatally for this country, the old gentleman was so manouvered that he was made to agree that in the circumstances of 1931, he was prepared to be content with and accept the recommendations by the Simon Commission. Gentlemen, who rescued the situation? Sir Samuel Hoare, the then Secretary of State, and the Conservative Party which was in office, were very anxious to close down the R.T.C. A great point was that we had appointed a Tripartite Commission, representing the three Parties in the Parliament, the Liberal, Labour and Conservative Parties. Sir Samuel Hoare looked upon it as a point of honour that Parliament should stand by the recommendations of Simon Commission and should not proceed beyond what they had recommended. Mr. Gandhi’s attitude was God-sent interference. The argument presented by Sir Samuel Hoare that if Mr. Gandhi is not the greatest-man in India, who was greater than him ? Who is Sapru, who is Dr. Ambedkar and who is Jinnah ? If Mr. Gandhi is content with Provincial Autonomy, the whole show should be closed down and the Conference shut up and the Parliament should be proud to frame a bill in terms of the Simon Commission. I was one of those who protested against that kind of thing. We said such a thing we can never have and we can never be a party to it, we raised so much disturbance that the British Cabinet was obliged to appoint a small Cabinet Committee in order to take evidence as to what the real sense of the Representatives of the R.T.C. was. Representations were invited in order to test the case and I was one of the patient men who were called upon to give evidence before the Cabinet Committee. It was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, the Prime Minister and the Secretary were the other two members. I like to say and I am proud of the fact that I was one of those who told the Committee of the Cabinet that even the Depressed Classes will not tolerate the Parliament going back. Is