...............OTHERWISE............MINORITIES 63
led to the unemployment of thousands of poor working people without doing any good to the country.
He would at once say that he and the members of the Depressed Classes wanted self-government just as much as the Congress people, but what they said was that they and the other minorities in the country should also have their fair share in the new constitution. If, as the Congress seemed to desire, the British had simply to go away under the new constitution, leaving the system of administration as it was, then the result would be that the advanced Hindu Classes would remain in power and rule the minorities. That was what the Depressed Classes objected to. He declared that if the Round Table Conference failed owing to that attitude of the advanced classes, the blame for such failure would lie on the Congress and the advanced Hindu Classes. He hoped the Hindu delegates, who would attend the Round Table Conference, would bear in mind the claims of the minorities if they wanted to make it a success.
Proceeding Dr. Ambedkar said that he intended to extend his stay in England to carry out another object he had in view. The two main grievances of the Depressed Classes were that they were debarred from serving in the police and the military and his idea was to bring that grievance to the notice of the War Office and the British Cabinet with a view to its being removed. He also intended to go to Russia, Germany, America and Japan, and carry on propaganda on behalf of the Depressed Classes. They knew that the Congress had been carrying on propaganda in those countries against England and he thought that he would be perfectly justified in securing the sympathy of the people of those countries for the Depressed Classes by making them acquainted with the conditions under which they lived in this country.
Mr. Keluskar and Mr. Naik then addressed the meeting.” [1]
1 : The Times of India, dated 3rd October 1930.