I WAS..................INDIA 325
that an ignorable part that one can say I have played? Can it be said that the Scheduled Castes stood against responsibility at the centre ? Let me tell you another instance. We have got innumerable Native States in this country, really 1/3 of our population lives under the rule of the Indian Princes, where there is no law, where everything is done at the personal authority and at personal whims of Princes. It was one of the decisions at the R.T.C. that the Indian States should be brought in as one of the elements in the All-India Federation. The great issue was whether the representations of the Indian States should be elected by the people themselves or whether the representatives of Indian States should be nominated by the Princes. It was one of the greatest issues over which a long controversy was going on for good many days. Probably, some of you may be under the impression that on an issue like this, so important, so vital, and I may say, so dear to Mr. Gandhi in his own terms, what was the attitude of Mr. Gandhi on this point? You will be surprised to hear that Mr. Gandhi bodily went over to the Princes nominating representatives of the States to the Conference. It was I alone, a single individual member of the R.T.C. who fought from the very beginning to the end over this issue (cheers). Even Rt. Hon’ble Shastri—I may tell you very funny stories about this old gentleman—(voices : we shall be glad to hear them). We were all very much opposed to Federation. It was one of the important points which I maintained from the beginning to the end that the politics of British India should not be mixed up with the politics of Indian States. British India has been separated from Indian India, particularly for over 150 years. No doubt, we have common destiny. Nonetheless, the fact remains that we in British India have travelled a different road. The Indian States have been going along a different road. We have got different sort of political education which they have not.
Problem of Indian States
We have inherited different political traditions, and therefore I was all along insisting that British India should be permitted to travel on her road for political emancipation rather than have her destiny mixed up complicated by the introduction of Indian States. Rt. Hon’ble Shastri was one of our colleagues, or