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Joseph Kim
Social Foundations III
Professor Diamond
14 December 2012
Research Paper
By being a part of the Simla Conference, I, Dr. Ambedkar have been able to take part in
the building of a united India. The task of doing so was nothing short of a miracle though and
this is due to the number of minorities living within the 400 million inhabiting the subcontinent
of India. Unlike most nations, India does not have a homogenous population that shares the same
set of beliefs, which makes the crux of Indian nationalism a very difficult one to find. As the
leader of the Untouchables, I have fought throughout my life for the betterment of the
downtrodden. By living in a Hindu society where discrimination is based on the caste system, I
have faced countless moments where I was deemed inferior, impure, and unwanted. To create a
united Indian nation, I had to explicate the tribulation we face as a minority group to those who
live on the opposite side of the social class scale. By doing so, I was able to show that India as a
nation cannot function as a hierarchy, but we must unite together as equal citizens who do not
discriminate based on religion, class, or language. That is, the unifying factor behind Indian
nationalism comes from our heritage as Indians and no true Indian, whether he/she be a Hindu,
Muslim, Sikh, Untouchable, or part of any other political or religious faction can deny that we
share the same blood as citizens of the motherland.
Like I stated earlier, I have devoted my life to uplift and change the condition of the
Untouchables. Many at the conference accused me of working solely in the interest of my own
people while disregarding the interest of the nation as a whole. I must strongly refute these
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accusations because while I do represent the Untouchables and have faced discrimination
numerous times for being an Untouchable myself, I represent all minorities in India and work so
that all groups have an equal say in the government and therefore the nation. This is the
backbone of a united people; having a group of people who are not stratified into classes but
share the same equal rights. I wanted to create this equality by having reserved seats in the
Federal Council.
Out of the twenty seats, five seats are Muslim, six seats are Hindu, three seats are for the
Untouchables, two seats are for the Sikhs, one is for the Christians and Jews, one is for the ruler
of Hyderabad, one is for the ruler of Kashmir, and one seat is for the Communists. By having the
seats distributed in this fashion, we still have the majority being Hindu while the minorities are
being better represented than previously. While I cannot speak on the condition of all minorities
groups prior to the constitution, I can say that this is great progress for the Untouchables.
At the 1931 Indian Round Table Conference I was able to speak on behalf of the
Untouchables and give insight to those unfamiliar with our condition:
although there are various minority communities in India which require political
recognition, it has to be understood that the minorities are not on the same plane They
differ in the social standing which each minority occupies vis--vis the majority
community. We have for instance, the Parsee community, which is the smallest
community in India, and yet, vis--vis its social standing with the majority community, it
is probably the highest in order of precedence. On the other hand, if you take the
Depressed Classes, they are a minority which comes next to the great Muslim minority in
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India, and yet their social standard is lower than the social standard of ordinary human
beings.
1

To give specific examples of discrimination and abuse the Untouchables face, I will refer to the
same speech I gave before:
Take the case of employment in the police or army. In the Government of India Act it is
provided that no subject of His Majesty shall be deprived of the right of being employed
in any public service by reason of his caste, creed, or color. Having regard to that, it is
obvious that every member of the Depressed Class community who is capable, who is in
a position to satisfy the test laid down for employment in any public department, should
have the right to enter that public department. But what do we find? We find this. If a
Depressed Class man applied for service in the police department today, he is told point
blank by the executive officers of the government that no member of the Depressed
Classes can be employed in the police service because he is an untouchable person. In the
case of the military the same situation obtains.
2

This is the difference between the Untouchables and almost every other minority in India. While
supposedly protected under law, we suffer from civic discrimination which might as well been
imposed by law.
By being denied access to respectable jobs and positions we have been reduced to work
that is found profane or repugnant such as sanitation workers, street sweepers, chicken farmers
and butchers. In turn, our jobs make us impure and this perpetuates a cycle detrimental to the

1
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 74.

2
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 74-75.
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condition of a minority that constitutes about one-sixth of the population of India. How can a
nation institutionalize such widespread abuse and neglect to a number of people? This is why I
so heavily advocated for the reserved seats of the Untouchables. Only through a direct and
accurate representation of our people will any change or improvement occur in the nation.
While I made my goal clear that I wanted reserved seats for the Untouchables, I also
wanted reserved seats for other minority groups such as the Muslims and Sikhs. While the
discrimination they faced may not be as severe as what we Untouchables experience, they still
found that they were targeted as a minority group. I perfectly understood how it felt to face such
prejudice and perhaps being an Untouchable I have even more experience with that, but I wanted
to appease the Muslims so that we could create a united India. Unfortunately though, that
became a major dispute at the conference.
From the outset of the assembly, all of us at the conference easily recognized that we
each had a separate political agenda. As mentioned earlier, there are roughly 400 million people
in India: 300 million Hindus, 100 million Muslims, 60 million Untouchables, and millions more
Sikhs, Pashtuns, Parsees, Christians, and Jews.
3
One of the biggest issues we faced at this
conference was the decision on whether or not to split the northwestern region of India from the
rest of the nation to form the separate nation of Pakistan. This move was heavily advocated by
the Muslim League since those provinces are Muslim majority and they feared persecution and
violence from radical Hindus. Along with this, they claimed that they cannot properly practice
their religion without it being institutionalized by the state. Due to the vast differences and

3
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005) Print, 1.

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conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, I originally saw fit for the divide to occur but soon
realized that this would only cause more problems.
By separating Pakistan from India, a number of minorities are trapped and have to live
under Muslim laws, which would end up in conflict and persecution. Even though the Muslim
League claimed that these peoples rights would not be violated under Sharia law, it is
impossible to have equality for the minorities since having a state-backed religion will
automatically prop up one group over the others. I also pondered the thought of having the
Untouchables and other minorities move out of Pakistan if the divide were to occur but realized
that the Depressed Class was in no condition to undergo such a mass migration. This is why I
allied with the Azad from the INC to keep Pakistan from separating into its own nation. I have
constantly fought for the rights of minorities and to allow a number of my people to be left
behind in a Muslim state would go against my lifes work. This is why I believe that religion is
not the backbone of Indian nationalism.
Rallying together a group together through religion can be a powerful tool but using such
a tactic in India is not effective since it has such a diverse population. Gandhi himself stated so in
his publication Harijan:
I do not believe that Muslims, when it comes to a matter of actual decision, will ever
want vivisection. Their good sense will prevent them. Their self-interest will deter them.
Their religion will forbid the obvious suicide which the partition would mean A
Bengali Muslim speaks the same tongue that a Bengali Hindu does, eats, the same food,
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has the same amusements as his Hindu neighbor The same phenomenon is observable
more or less in the South among the poor who constitute the masses of India.
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Despite the fact that they may have different faiths, their culture and heritage is the same. As
Gandhi stated in the Harijan one does not have to believe in the same god to have peace with his
or her neighbor:
Religion binds man to God and man to man. Does Islam bind Muslim only to Muslim
and antagonize the Hindu? Was the message of the Prophet peace only for and between
Muslims and war against Hindus or non-Muslims? Are eight crores of Muslims to be fed
with this which I can only describe as poison? Those who are instilling this poison into
the Muslim mind are rendering the greatest disservice to Islam. I know that it is not
Islam Not one Muslim taught me that Islam was an anti-Hindu religion.
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While I agree with Gandhis statement above on religion, I did however dispute with him
regarding the case of the Untouchables.
Gandhi claims to be a fervent supporter of the Untouchables and patronizes us by calling
us Harijan, meaning children of God. But at the same time, I still find that we are constantly
overlooked and downcast in society despite the claims he makes and the position he holds in
Indian society. From my writing, Gandhi and Gandhism I show evidence of Gandhi being more
anxious to placate the Hindus than to help the Depressed Classes which is known as the Kavitha
Incident:

4
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 63.

5
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 64.

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Kavitha is a village in the Ahmedabad District in Gujarat. In 1935, the Untouchables of
the village demanded from the Hindus of the village that their children should be
admitted in the common school of the village along with other Hindu children. The
Hindus were enraged at this outrage and took their revenge by proclaiming a complete
social boycott. The events connect with this boycott were reported by Mr. A.V. Thakkar,
who went to Kavitha to intercede with the Hindus on behalf of the Untouchables.
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What ended up happening was that it was reported to have been amicably settled by allowing the
Harijan boys into the school. Later on, the Secretary of the Ahmedabad Harijan, Sewak Sangh,
said that the Untouchables would not send their children to school but this was not done
voluntarily but rather the Caste Hindus through a social boycott extorted the Harijans. This
deeply affected the Untouchables already limited income and furthermore, a Harijan leader was
made to take an oath that he and the other Harijans would no longer try to reinstate their children
into the schools. In response, Mr. Gandhi gave the following answer:
There is no help like self-help. God helps those who help themselves. If the Harijans
concerned will carry out their reported resolve to wipe the dust of Kavitha off their feet,
they will not only be happy themselves but they will pave the way for others who may be
similarly treated. If the people migrate in search of employment how much more should
they do so in search of self-respect? I hope that well-wishers of Harijans will help these
poor families to vacate inhospitable Kavitha.
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6
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 78.

7
Ainslie T. Embree, Mark C. Carnes, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of
Independence, 1945 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2005), 79.

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Gandhi advised the Untouchables to vacate their homes in Kavitha but he did not recommend
Mr. Thakkar to properly prosecute the Caste Hindus to stand for the Harijans rights. Obviously
the well being of the Hindus came to Gandhis mind before the Harijans, the children of God
as he so proclaims.
Gandhi also goes on to claim that the Indian nationalism arises from traditional Hindu
culture and belief as stated from his Collected Works:
Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus, every village will be a republic or
panchayat having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to be self-
sustained and capable of managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against
the whole world In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever
widening, never ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by
the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose center will be the individual always
ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of villagers, till at
last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their
arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are
integral units.
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He wants the traditional Hindu lifestyle to be the mainstay of India, but to build this dream of
having self-sustained villages that are capable of effectively governing themselves is not possible
through a simple agrarian economy. To supply the proper education for a village to govern itself
and to treat and see all minorities groups equally is not possible without industrialization.
Without it we become an economically stagnant nation with antiquated and unjust societal views
that will perpetuate the cycle of abuse among minorities.

8
Stephen Hay, Sources of Indian Tradition (New York: Columbia University, 1988), 256.

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As stated earlier, India is a nation full of minority groups, but the Untouchables are
regarded as the lowest of the lows. Even Gandhi, the icon of peace in India, seems to put the
Untouchables aside in his agenda. That is why I continuously demanded for the reservation of
seats for the Untouchables along with separate electorates so that there is accurate and outspoken
representation for my people. However, I did not limit this right exclusively to the Untouchables
as shown earlier in the number of seats reserved for other parties such as the Muslims and Sikhs.
In fact, the Sikhs while constituting less than 10% of the population of India have two reserved
seats in the Federal Council.
By distributing power and representation for not just the Untouchables but all minority
groups, we are able to create a nation where voices from the previously unheard are now given
direct action on the national level. What we share as the people of India is the same blood from
the motherland and because of this, no person is higher than another and each and every citizen
of this nation will be given the same equal rights. This shared heritage is what brings together as
a nation and through that we will prosper through future equality.









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Works Cited:
Embree, Ainslie and Mark C Carnes. Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence,
1945. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005. Print.

Hay, Stephen. Sources of Indian Tradition. New York: Columbia University, 1988. Print.