The deposition of Dr. Ambedkar in front of the Simon Commission in 1928 makes for some good weekend reading.
https://velivada.com/2019/09/03/dr-babsaheb-ambedkar-and-simon-commission/
95 years have passed, but the social boycott of those who exceed the bounds of their social status continues. Most workers who enter my household take off their footwear without being asked to. And they do not take a seat unless asked to. They are not doing this out of respect. They are keeping the peace. How long must they continue to keep the peace at the expense of their self respect?
I quote a section of Dr. Ambedkar's statement before the commission:
Chairman: You are particularly anxious to get appointments in the public service?
Dr. Ambedkar : Yes, decidedly.
Commission: Why is that so?
Dr. Ambedkar : On that point I should like to say this, that our experience so far as the administration of the law is concerned is very bitter. I wish to say most emphatically that in many cases the law is administered to the disadvantage of the depressed class man. I would like to give a concrete case of what actually happened in one of the districts, without, of course, mentioning names. The Bombay Government annually lets out its forest lands for cultivation to the villages on certain stated terms. Now we discovered that in the allotment of those forest lands the depressed class man, who was often a landless labourer or with very little land, and who was clamouring for some sort of economic stability, never came in for a share. The Mamlatdars, who were really in charge of distributing the lands, showed absolute favouritism to the caste Hindu as against the depressed class man. Last year in one district we organised and sent a deputation to the Assistant Deputy Collector of that district, placing before him our grievances with respect to these forest lands. He issued a circular to the Mamlatdars saying that the applications from the depressed classes should be considered. Now, some of the Mamlatdars, to show they were acting up to the circular, did give some lands to the depressed classes. But we found that they rather fooled us, if I may say so. What they did was, on paper they allotted a very large amount of land to the depressed classes and a very small amount of land to the caste Hindus, but when we came to see actually what was allotted to us we found that the land allotted to the depressed classes was all rocky and unfit for cultivation and the depressed class people would not take it for anything, and the land allotted to the caste Hindus though small, was all rich and fertile. Now I think that is a most fragrant abuse of the administrative power which is entrusted to the officials, and I personally attach far more importance to good administration of law than to more efficient administration of law.
Chairman: You are using it as an argument to support your view that the depressed classes should have a full representation?
Dr. Ambedkar : In the services.
Chairman: That is your point?
Dr. Ambedkar: That is my point. I will give some instances of what happens in judicial courts actually in this Presidency. I happened to defend a depressed class man in one of the courts, and, to my great surprise, I found that the man had to stand outside the court behind a little window, outside the wall, and he would not come in simply because, he said, ” It is all right so far as you are concerned, but after you have left there will. be terrible social ostracism if I enter the court.”
Chairman: It was the client who did not want to come in?
Dr. Ambedkar : Who dare not come in.
Chairman: What sort of social ostracism had he in mind?
Dr. Ambedkar : The social ostracism would be that if he went back to the village there would be the boycott of the shop-keepers; nobody would sell him grain. The villagers would stop his dues as a village servant. He would not be allowed to come into the village. The depressed class people always live on the border of the village, not in the centre or in the midst.
Chairman: Your point would be that he was timid about coming into court on this occasion because he thought that afterwards the other people of the village, not his own lot but the others, the caste people, would regard him as having pushed himself in where he should not go?
Dr. Ambedkar : Certainly—having exceeded the bounds of his social status.
https://velivada.com/2019/09/03/dr-babsaheb-ambedkar-and-simon-commission/
95 years have passed, but the social boycott of those who exceed the bounds of their social status continues. Most workers who enter my household take off their footwear without being asked to. And they do not take a seat unless asked to. They are not doing this out of respect. They are keeping the peace. How long must they continue to keep the peace at the expense of their self respect?
I quote a section of Dr. Ambedkar's statement before the commission:
Chairman: You are particularly anxious to get appointments in the public service?
Dr. Ambedkar : Yes, decidedly.
Commission: Why is that so?
Dr. Ambedkar : On that point I should like to say this, that our experience so far as the administration of the law is concerned is very bitter. I wish to say most emphatically that in many cases the law is administered to the disadvantage of the depressed class man. I would like to give a concrete case of what actually happened in one of the districts, without, of course, mentioning names. The Bombay Government annually lets out its forest lands for cultivation to the villages on certain stated terms. Now we discovered that in the allotment of those forest lands the depressed class man, who was often a landless labourer or with very little land, and who was clamouring for some sort of economic stability, never came in for a share. The Mamlatdars, who were really in charge of distributing the lands, showed absolute favouritism to the caste Hindu as against the depressed class man. Last year in one district we organised and sent a deputation to the Assistant Deputy Collector of that district, placing before him our grievances with respect to these forest lands. He issued a circular to the Mamlatdars saying that the applications from the depressed classes should be considered. Now, some of the Mamlatdars, to show they were acting up to the circular, did give some lands to the depressed classes. But we found that they rather fooled us, if I may say so. What they did was, on paper they allotted a very large amount of land to the depressed classes and a very small amount of land to the caste Hindus, but when we came to see actually what was allotted to us we found that the land allotted to the depressed classes was all rocky and unfit for cultivation and the depressed class people would not take it for anything, and the land allotted to the caste Hindus though small, was all rich and fertile. Now I think that is a most fragrant abuse of the administrative power which is entrusted to the officials, and I personally attach far more importance to good administration of law than to more efficient administration of law.
Chairman: You are using it as an argument to support your view that the depressed classes should have a full representation?
Dr. Ambedkar : In the services.
Chairman: That is your point?
Dr. Ambedkar: That is my point. I will give some instances of what happens in judicial courts actually in this Presidency. I happened to defend a depressed class man in one of the courts, and, to my great surprise, I found that the man had to stand outside the court behind a little window, outside the wall, and he would not come in simply because, he said, ” It is all right so far as you are concerned, but after you have left there will. be terrible social ostracism if I enter the court.”
Chairman: It was the client who did not want to come in?
Dr. Ambedkar : Who dare not come in.
Chairman: What sort of social ostracism had he in mind?
Dr. Ambedkar : The social ostracism would be that if he went back to the village there would be the boycott of the shop-keepers; nobody would sell him grain. The villagers would stop his dues as a village servant. He would not be allowed to come into the village. The depressed class people always live on the border of the village, not in the centre or in the midst.
Chairman: Your point would be that he was timid about coming into court on this occasion because he thought that afterwards the other people of the village, not his own lot but the others, the caste people, would regard him as having pushed himself in where he should not go?
Dr. Ambedkar : Certainly—having exceeded the bounds of his social status.