Page 89 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

There was intense anxiety in the country. It turned into agony as days went by

without a solution. Gandhi was already in poor health. He was exhausting the

slender reserves in his body. The response and amends had to be quick.

On the eve of the fast, on the 19th of September, "caste Hindu leaders" and the

leaders of the "depressed classes" met at Bombay. Pandit Madan Mohan

Malaviya had taken the initiative for the Conference. Dr. Ambedkar was present
at the Conference. So were leaders like Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari, Dr.

Moonje, Sapru and Jayakar, Kunzru, Hansa Mehta, Anasuyabai Kale, M. C. Rajah

and many others. Everyone was keen that Gandhi's life should be saved. An
acceptable solution must be found. There followed a series of discussions and

drafting of formulae. The leaders assembled in Bombay shuttled between

Bombay and Yervada (Poona) to find a formulae that would be acceptable to

Gandhi. Dr. Ambedkar repeatedly insisted on "full compensation" to his
community.

The debates centred around separate electorates; reservation of seats in the

legislatures; the number of seats to be reserved; the number of years for which
the system of reservations should last. These were most relevant for an

agreement that could bring pressure on the British to withdraw the 'communal

award'.

Gandhi had nothing against the reservation of seats. The number should be fair

and just. The difficulty about separate electorates was overcome by the

suggestion that in reserved constituencies the common electorate should elect
its representative from a panel of four chosen by the voters belonging to the

depressed classes. But there could be no agreement on the number of years for

which reservations were to last. Dr. Ambedkar proposed that there should be a

referendum to decide the question after ten years. Gandhi would not agree to
ten years. He wanted it to be after one year or 5 years. Otherwise the long

period might be used to canvass reservation in perpetuity, thus frustrating the

very purpose of joint electorates and the effort to achieve total integration on
the basis of equality.

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