24 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar delivered his Presidential Address at The All India Depressed Classes Congress, Nagpur, on August 8, 1930.
He said,
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
I greatly appreciate the honour you have done me by inviting me to preside over your deliberations to-day, and I am grateful to you for the same. But while I value so much this mark of confidence, I feel the responsibility attaching to the position which you have so kindly called upon me to assume is one of an unusual difficulty, from which it would not have been unwise to have sought an escape. Nevertheless I have consented to assume it because it was borne in upon me that at this juncture it was the duty of every public man to place his services, for what they might be worth, unreservedly at the disposal of his compatriots labouring in the promotion of a common cause. But in taking this responsibility I derive courage from the thought that you will not stint me support and assistance, and that the trusted leaders of our people who are assembled here on this occasion will give us all the benefit of their considered judgment and ripe experience.
I. Problem of Self Government in India.
- The one question that is looming large in the horizon today is, “Is it possible for the peoples of India to become one united self-governing community ?” We have met here to define the attitude of the Depressed Classes with respect to this question which is agitating not only the minds of this country and of the British Empire but also of the whole world as well. Our answer to this question will go a great way in the decision of the final destiny of this country. Our decision will certainly have the potency of retarding or accelerating its realisation and may possibly go so far as to make it or mar it. You cannot therefore, I venture to say, treat this question in a light-hearted manner. You must weigh with deep consideration, its pros and its cons. Let us not fear that our judgment will be different from that of others. But let us be careful that our conclusions will be the result of independent thought and honest belief.