Nehru had sidelined Ambedkar forcing his resignation and failed to protect Harijans

In 1951, Ambedkar resigned from the Nehru cabinet and made it clear in Parliament how he was treated by Nehru as a cabinet colleague.

(RSSFACTS is a column that demystifies the functioning, organisational structure and ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.)

In the wake of the parliamentary debates recently held to commemorate the 75th year of the implementation of the Indian Constitution, the relationship between India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr B.R. Ambedkar, a beacon of social justice and a key architect of the Indian Constitution, has come to the fore.

On October 10, 1951, Ambedkar resigned from the Nehru cabinet and made it clear in Parliament how he was treated by Nehru as a cabinet colleague.

Here are some excerpts from his speech (Dr. Ambedkar Foundation Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, Vol. 14; pp. 1317–1327):

Babasaheb said, “I will first refer to matters purely of a personal character, which are the least of the grounds that have led me to tender my resignation. As a result of my being a Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, I knew the Law Ministry to be administratively of no importance. It provided no opportunity for shaping the policy of the Government of India. We used to call it an empty soapbox, only good for old lawyers to play with. When the Prime Minister made me the offer, I told him that, besides being a lawyer by my education and experience, I was competent to run any administrative department. In the old Viceroy’s Executive Council, I held two administrative portfolios: Labour and the CPWD, where a great deal of planning and projects were dealt with by me, and I would have liked to have some administrative portfolio.”

He added, “The Prime Minister agreed and said he would give me, in addition to Law, the Planning Department, which he said was intending to create. Unfortunately, the Planning Department came very late, and when it did, I was left out. During my time, there were many transfers of portfolios from one minister to another. I thought I might be considered for any one of them, but I have always been left out of consideration. Many ministers have been given two or three portfolios, so that they have been overburdened, while others like me have been wanting more work. I was not even considered for holding a portfolio temporarily when a minister in charge had gone abroad for a few days. It is difficult to understand what principle the Prime Minister follows in distributing government work among ministers. Is it capacity? Is it trust? Is it friendship? Is it pliability? I was not even appointed to be a member of main committees of the Cabinet, such as the Foreign Affairs Committee or the Defence Committee. When the Economic Affairs Committee was formed, I expected, in view of the fact that I was primarily a student of economics and finance, to be appointed to this committee. But I was left out. I was appointed to it by the Cabinet when the Prime Minister had gone to England. But when he returned, in one of his many reshuffles of the Cabinet, he left me out. In a subsequent reshuffle, my name was added to the committee, but that was as a result of my protest.”

Ignoring Dalits

On November 22, 1951, while delivering a speech at a reception organised by the Bombay Branch of the Scheduled Castes Federation, Ambedkar elaborated further on this issue.

He said, “I will first refer to matters purely of a personal character, which are the least of the grounds that have led me to tender my resignation. As a result of my being a Member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, I knew the Law Ministry to be administratively of no importance. It gave no opportunity for shaping the policy of the Government of India. We used to call it an empty soapbox, only good for old lawyers to play with. When the Prime Minister made me the offer, I told him that, besides being a lawyer by my education and experience, I was competent to run any administrative department. In the old Viceroy’s Executive Council, I held two administrative portfolios: Labour and CPWD, where a great deal of planning and projects were dealt with by me, and I would have liked to have some administrative portfolio. The Prime Minister agreed and said he would give me, in addition to Law, the Planning Department, which he said was intending to create. Unfortunately, the Planning Department came very late, and when it did, I was left out.”

Ignoring Harijans, Appeasing Muslims

On November 22, 1951, while speaking at a reception in Mumbai, Ambedkar further elaborated on his resignation issue. He said (Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches; Dr. Ambedkar Foundation; Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India; Vol. 17; Part 3; pp. 449–452), many people had asked him two questions: Why did he not resign earlier? If he had resigned earlier, it would have been possible to build a strong front against the Congress. The second question was why he had failed to join hands with the Congress. He said that for the last four years he had been one of the ministers in the Congress government. He had entered the ministry to know, by close contact with the top leaders in Congress, whether they really desired to do good for the Harijans. From his experience, he could say that the Congressmen did not genuinely wish to improve the condition of Harijans.

He further said that at the time of Partition, the Pakistan Government allowed caste Hindus to come to India, but the Nehru Government prevented Harijans from leaving Pakistan, and many were converted to Islam. The Mahar Battalion managed to bring some Harijans to India, but they were not given any help by the Indian Government. Some offered hunger strikes at Rajghat, but no one paid any heed to their strike. He had to tell them that their grievances would not be redressed by the Congress Government. As he could not do any good for the Harijans, he decided to resign, and Pandit Nehru had not yet given any reply to the charges he made against the Congress Government.

During his parliamentary speech on his resignation, Ambedkar also raised this issue. He said, “What I want to know is, are Muslims the only people who need protection? Are the SCs, STs, and Indian Christians not in need of protection? What concern has he shown for these communities? As far as I know, none. Yet, these are the communities which need far more care and attention than the Muslims.”

Earlier RSSFACTS columns can be read here.