34 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
demand some specific consent, some quantitative definition of that phrase must be framed. There is prevalent in the Congress-circles a theory according to which adequate representation is tantamount to representation according to population. In my opinion this arithmetical theory of the representation of minorities is a crude and absurd doctrine and forms the best reflex of the prevailing ungenerous attitude of the majority towards the minorities in India. A Minority holds such power as it can derive from its members and its social standing. And it is because that it feels that this much power is insufficient for its protection that it claims an augmentation of it. Without such, an increase in its representation it does not feel strong enough to withstand the force of the majority armed with political power. On this view, the protection of the minority consists in. an increment of representation above its population quota. Now if this is true, one may well ask where is the protection of the minority if its representation is confined to its population? To speak of protection to minorities and confine their representation to their numbers seems to me a contradiction in terms. To prescribe that the minorities shall be represented in the legislatures according to their numbers is to make the legislatures do nothing more than be society in miniature and thus reflect the strength of the majority and the minority in the proportion in which they exist in society outside. Such a scheme keeps the balance of power in tact. It keeps the status quo as it is. From the stand point of the protection of the minority interest, any reform in order to be a real reform, must involve a change in the balance of power in favour of the minorities and this can be secured only by allowing over and above its population ratio some weightage in the allotment of its representation.
- While all minorities are agreed upon the necessity of weightage in the matter of their representation, there does not seem to be any agreement in the application of it. This is due, it seems to me, to a want of clear understanding regarding the function that weightage is expected to perform. From what I have said above, it will be obvious to you that weightage is a scheme improvised for lengthening the arm of a minority,