Babasaheb Dr B.R Ambedkar

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z:\ ambedkar\vol-05\vol5-05.indd MK SJ+YS 23-9-2013/YS-10-11-2013 386 386 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES A temple may be open to the untouchables in the same sense as the Ritz Hotel in London is open to all. We however know that the Ritz Hotel is not in fact open to all. It is open only to those who can afford. In the same way a temple may be open to the untouchables yet in fact it is open only to those untouchables who can afford to enter. If the cost of temple entry is assault or social boycott then the cost will be prohibitive and the temple though nominally open is really closed. Assault and social boycott are a matter of course with the Hindus and it would not be too much to assume that in some case the Hindus would resort to such means to prohibit the Untouchables who dare to enter a temple which is declared to be open to them. If the case is one like this then it is a fraud. Which of the two classes of cases are more numerous, it is difficult to say accurately. But a guess may be made on the basis of certain facts. There are two classes of Hindus now in India—the orthodox Hindus who care more for religion than for politics and the Congress Hindus who care more for politics and less for religion. The former who have no political ends to subserve can be honest i.e. true to their convictions however wrong they may be. The latter who have to serve political ends cannot always take an honest view but are prone to adopt dishonest ways. The first method of abandonment though honest brings discredit upon the Hindu community in the eyes of the world and is therefore politically unsuitable. The second method of opening the temple nominally and closing it really by Hindus (This word is inserted by us against the blank space of MS.—Ed.) is politically highly advantageous. It has the merit of a system which shows to the world that credit is opened and which clandestinely but without the world knowing prevents its being drawn upon by the person in whose favour it is declared to be opened. The Congress Hindus are more numerous than the orthodox Hindus. That being the case I should think that the second classes of cases must be more numerous than the first. That genuine cases of opening of temples are very few and that most of the published reports of opening of temples is just false propaganda is clear from the fate of the Temple Entry Bill of Mr. Ranga Iyer brought by him in the Central Legislature in 1934. Of that Bill I will speak of at a later occasion. With this I would have closed this discussion of the subject. But Mr. Gandhi insists that a spiritual awakening has taken place among the Hindus and relies upon the Temple Entry Proclamation of Travancore. I am therefore obliged to deal with this claim. The success of temple entry cannot be determined by the number of temples opened. It can be determied only by reference to the motive with which it is done. Is the motive spiritual ? That can be the only test.
z:\ ambedkar\vol-05\vol5-05.indd MK SJ+YS 23-9-2013/YS-10-11-2013 387 GANDHI AND HIS FAST 387 Now I say that temple entry is not a spiritual act. It is a political manouver. Is Mr. Gandhi acting from spiritual motive? In appealing to the Hindus Mr. Gandhi said: “I have adressed this appeal to you, which proceeds out of my soul’s agony. I ask you to share that agony and shame with me and cooperate with me, for I have no other end to serve than to see Sanatoria Dharma revivified and lived in its reality in the lives of millions who at present seem to me to deny it.” This soul’s agony was born after the Poona Pact. What did Mr. Gandhi think of the Problem of Temple Entry before the Poona Pact? Before the Poona Pact Mr. Gandhi was of different opinion. That opinion was expressed not very long before the Poona Pact and not long before this appeal was addressed to the Hindus from which I have....... It was expressed in Gandhi Shikshan, Vol. II, p. 132. Mr. Gandhi then held the opinion that separate temples should be built for the use of Untouchables. Mr. Gandhi said: 1 “How is it possible that the Antyajas (Untouchables) should have the right to enter all the existing temples? As long as the law of caste and ashram has the chief place in Hindu Religion, to say that every Hindu can enter every temple is a thing that is not possible today.” It is obvious that Temple Entry is not original with him and therefore not spiritual. The agony is caused by the grave and sudden provocation brought about by the demand of the untouchables for separate electorates. Mr. Gandhi was afraid of the principle underlying separate electorates. He felt that this principle may be extended and may ultimately lead to separation and cessation of the Untouchables from the Hindu fold. It was to counter this move that he changed his opinion and started the temple entry move. The motive of Mr. Gandhi is political and there is nothing spiritual about it. I do not wish this conclusion to rest merely upon this evidence of change of front on the part of Mr. Gandhi. There is abundance of other evidence in support of it. I will refer first to the Guruvayur Temple Satyagraha which was started by a caste Hindu by name Kellappan to secure entry into the Guruvayur Temple for the Untouchables. A few facts regarding this episode may be interesting. 1 Quoted from ‘What Congress & Gandhi have done to the Untouchables’, p. 107 (Not in MS).
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’ Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (14
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No one can hope to make any effecti
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Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Writings a
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Collected Works of Babasaheb Dr. Am
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(vi) FOREWORD It is a matter of som
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(viii) PREFACE The success of legis
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(xii) EDITORIAL It was learnt that
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(xiv) EDITORIAL *9. The Decline and
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(xvi) EDITORIAL Part—III What the
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(xx) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page BOOK II
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Babasaheb Dr B.R Ambedkar

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