52 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
is an accepted constitution in existence. But where there is no such constitution, few will be inclined to listen to the gospel of constitutional means. Such a view cannot be strange even to the British mind. For after all, was not the Ulster movement a movement of Civil Disobedience? And did not the best of British politicians support and participate in it ? The question is not whether the movement of Civil Disobedience is right or wrong. The question is whether it is opportune and consistent with the safety and security of our interests. I am opposed to the Civil Disobedience Movement because I am convinced that it is extremely inopportune. With all the evils inherent in imperialism the British Empire in India does leave some scope for the advancement of the Indian people. I am not alone in holding such a view. It is the view of Mahatma Gandhi who proclaims that treason against the established Government in India is his bounden duty. Not only has that been the spirit of the British Empire but genuine effort was made in 1920 to translate that spirit into a reality by the introduction of responsibility in the Provinces with a view to the progressive realisation of the ideal of self-government in India. Perhaps the reality fell too short of the ideal. Perhaps the realization of the ideal was proceeding at too slow a pace. But can it be said that there was a going back upon that policy? If there was a going back, one could understand the opportuneness of Civil Disobedience. But far from that being the case the goal was defined afresh in unmistakable terms in the Viceregal pronouncement to be that of Dominion Status and a Round Table Conference came to be offered to the Indians to discuss the ways and means of an early realization of that ideal. True enough the announcement has short-comings in it, from the point of view of those who stand for immediate Dominion Status. But that was hardly a reason for the Congress to reject the offer of Round Table Conference. The fight for undertaking and understanding of one sort or another with the Viceroy or the British Cabinet, seems to me a needless if not a useless fight. For undertaking or no undertaking, if the voice of India could be united in making the demand for Dominion Status it should never fail to produce its effect upon the British Parliament. At any rate nothing could