432 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
freedom. Independence will be a farce for our people. This will be independence of the High Caste people and not ours. But if our true representatives are in Parliament and State Assemblies, they can fight for our cause and get grievances redressed. Only then our children can get proper education; only then our poverty can be removed and only then we will be given equal share in all spheres of life. Although special privileges have been provided for the Scheduled Castes people in the Indian Constitution, the other parties specially the Congress are unnecessarily interfering with them. They are putting up their own henchmen for election to the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes. How can the people elected on Congress tickets safeguard our interests when they will have to go according to the wishes of their master ? What can they do for us?
I want to tell you about the people who were elected to the Parliament on Congress tickets to the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes. They were about 30 in number and in the Parliament for the last four years. Not a single member out of the thirty raised any question in the Parliament about the grievances of the Scheduled Castes. Even if a question was put in Parliament, the Speaker did not allow it and the matter ended there. If the Speaker was generous and had allowed the question and it was included in the business then the Chief Whip of the Congress would go to the member concerned and ask him to withdraw the question before it is printed. Per chance, if the question had been printed, then the Chief Whip would ask the member concerned to leave the Station for the day when the answer is required and thus there would be no discussion at all in the Parliament on the matter raised as the member himself would not be there. For one month there is discussion on the Budget in Parliament. At that time any person can speak on the Budget and point out that such and such privileges should be provided for his community or his party. He can point out that so much money is being spent on unnecessary projects whereas the important proposals have been neglected. During these four years, I have not seen a single member moving any Cut Motion. This is all due to Congress Party’s discipline (Dunda). If the members wanted to move a Resolution, they had to obtain the