The book contains in brief the charges levelled by Dr. Ambedkar against the Congress and Gandhi, and the replies given to them by K. Santhanam.
Congress, Gandhi and Ambedkar: Assessment and Observations of Untouchability
Sheshrao Chavan
Authorspress, New Delhi
Pages: 252; Price: Rs 750
This book is about two leaders, long dead, though some people do believe that their legacy continues to guide generations that followed them. That is hard to say. Dr Ambedkar had no respect for the Mahatma, whereas Gandhi did his level best to meet Dr Ambedkar’s demands concerning the eradication of untoucability.
Gandhi had a larger picture of Hindu society than Ambedkar had and it showed in his writings in his weekly paper The Harijan. Ambedkar edited no such paper. But his presence in the political field was enough to remind all concerned about India’s — and more specifically the Hindu commu¬nity’s – problem concerning caste and untouchability.
Gandhi was a freedom fighter. Ambedkar wasn’t. He did not fight the British. One might say he even collaborated with them. He was for quite some time member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. It isn’t that he was opposed to the idea of a free and independent India. But he had only one vision in mind: capture power, power to speak for all untouchables and let no one step into his domain.
Ambedkar was a very complex personality. Even after decades of his passing away he remains an enigma, when the British Government decided to break up Hindu society by giving the Untouchables a separate electorate – under what was called the Communal Award – Gandhi decided to oppose the very concept and threatened to go on a hunger strike unto death if the British did not withdraw it.
Ambedkar called on Gandhi to discuss the matter at Yervada Jail. He was later to write: “I must confess that I was immediately surprised when I met Mahatma Gandhi…there was so much common between him and me; I was astounded to see that the man who held such divergent views from mine at the Round Table Conference came to my rescue rather than to rescue the other side. I am very grateful to Mahatma Gandhi…”
It was the same Ambedkar who, following Gandhi’s assassination on 30 January 1948 wrote in a letter a week later to Laxmi Kabir, he was later to marry, which said that “Mr Gandhi had become a positive danger to his country (and) has choked all thought”. In the long letter Ambedkar concluded by saying: “I think good will come out of the death of Mr Gandhi. He will release people from bondage to superman, it will make their think for themselves and it will compel them to stand on their own merits. My real enemy is gone, thank goodness. The eclipse is over.”
Over the years for Ambedkar, Gandhi had turned from a Mahatma to Mr Gandhi. It was a total U-turn. Similarly was how he weighed in his role in the Constituent Assem¬bly. On 12 September 1953, addressing the House he said: “Sir, my friends tell me that I have made the Constitution. But I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person to burn it out. I do not want it. It does not suit anybody.”
Eighteen months later, addressing the Parliament he said: “I say with a certain amount of pride that the Constitution which has been given to this country is a wonderful document…It is the simplest and the easiest…Anyone who can follow English can understand the Con¬stitution.” In sense this book not only brings that contradictory nature of Ambedkar, but it also brings out the graciousness of the Mahatma.
Truth to say, Ambedkar hardly represented all untouchables, as Gandhi unquestionably did. Ambedkar was strictly representative of the Mehars to which community he belonged. By his behaviour and arrogance he had lost the good will of the rest of the untouchables whom Gandhi named Harijan: the children of God. Indeed, when elections were held for the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar fielded 175 candidates. None of them got elected. Ambedkar himself was defeated from his constituency – the Bombay Presidency.
In this connection two points need to be stressed: Both Gandhi and Ambedkar were agreed that untouchability, a blot on Hindu society, should be wiped out. Both of them linked untouchability to the religious sphere as a main lever. Gandhi’s opposition to Ambedkar was purely on principles and poli¬cies. Personally he paid Ambedkar glowing tributes and insisted that Jawaharlal Nehru invite Ambedkar in his first cabinet.
Just before the Wavell Plan was released in 1945, Ambedkar had released a book written by him entitled ‘What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables. He was highly critical of both, Chapter V of the book dealing with the Harijan Sevak Sangh was the most spiteful chapter of all. In it he tried to show that the original intention was to keep the Sangh scrupulously aloof from politics.
As Ambedkar saw it the Congress plan was to “kill untouchables with kindness” with the Sangh being used as a political proselytising agency of the Congress.
The last two chapters constituted a rambling tirade against Gandhi and his teachings. It had to be suitably answered. The job was assisted by the Congress to K. Santhanam who was editor of The Indian Express (1930-40) and Joint Editor of Hindustan Times (1943-48) who did an excellent job. At one point in his book Ambedkar asked: After having the accepted the “Poona Pact why did not Mr Gandhi keep faith with the Untouchables by telling the Congress not to despoil the politics of the Untouchables…? The fact was the Poona Pact was never meant to segregate Harijans from the Congress. That had to be made clear that the Untouchables were
not the private property of Ambedkar.
Sheshrao Chavan who himself is an authority on Ambedkar has in this book included in brief the charges levelled by Ambedkar against Congress and Gandhi and the explanations given by Santhanam. Towards the end Chavan has written a chapter entitled ‘Objective Assessment’ to put Gandhi and Ambedkar in the right perspective. As Chavan sees it, “Gandhi and Ambedkar were historic necessities. Gandhi for the independence of India and Ambedkar for social liberation of the Untouchables…their paths while often diverged, ultimately converged…”
Gandhi loved, respected and admired Ambedkar while the latter “missed no opportunity to criticise, condemn and humiliate Gandhi during his life and even after his death”. This book reveals it all. As Gandhi noted: “We can only win over the opponent by love, never by hate”. Gandhi practised what he preached. Love, Ambedkar reacted by the only way it seemed possible and necessary for him, sadly.
M.V. KAMATH
