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MAKE DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO MAKE MAN POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS
“The charge that the Congress had not been able to make any headway in solving many of the outstanding problems of the country simply because its leaders chose to remain ignorant and refused to study politics was made, by the Hon. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Labour Member of the Government of India, in a speech at Poona on Wednesday night, the October
3, 1945.
The occasion was the opening ceremony of the Dr. Ambedkar School of Politics in Poona, of which students of the Scheduled Castes interested in politics are members. Dr. Ambedkar said that before the entry of Mr. Gandhi in the sphere of politics in this country, two main political schools of thought held the field. The first was the school led by Mr. Ranade and Mr. Gokhale, which came to be known as the Liberal school of thought. The other school was led by the revolutionaries of Bengal. The important thing about them was that both the schools were “fool-proof and knave-proof.” The qualifications for the membership of the Liberal school were so high that neither fools nor knaves could get into the organisation. Their standard was study and knowledge. Only those well versed in politics could aspire for their platform.
The Revolutionary School also set a high standard. No man who was not prepared to play with his life could be member of that party. Mr. Gandhi’s organisation, declared Dr. Ambedkar, had been thrown open to both fools and knaves. The cherished tradition of study and knowledge did not seem to appeal to the Congress organisation. This had led to many tragedies in the public life of the country, and the Congress had not been able to solve any vital problems, the communal question being one of them.
Dr. Ambedkar said that no institution or society could survive in the struggle for existence which was not free to make such adjustments in its ideas as time and circumstances required.