Anti Untouchability Board and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Anti Untouchability Board and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

 

I have no desire to hold any political conversation with him. But I should want to discuss with him problems of untouchability, as he was Chairman of the Anti-Untouchability Board appointed by the Congress in 1929 and he had specialized on the question of temple-entry, having himself been instrumental in opening to the Harijans his own family temple and in having a number of other temples opened in many parts of India. 1 I have had a long chat with Sjt. Ghanshyamdas Birla, as also Satisbabu regarding the Anti-Untouchability Board for Bengal. I have also several letters from Bengal complaining about the formation of the Board. Before it was formed Ghanshyamdas had told me that he was going to ask you to form the Board, and without giving any thought to the suggestion I at once endorsed it. But I see that the idea has not found favour in Bengal, especially so far as Satisbabu and Dr. Suresh are concerned. They think that the Board is bound to have a party colour about it. I do not know how far this fear is justified, but I do know this that the work of anti-untouchability should not become a party affair in any way whatsoever.

We want all who desire the reform to associate them freely and whole-heartedly with any organization that may be formed. I would therefore suggest that you should call all the workers representing different groups and parties and place yourself at their disposal and let them then choose whomsoever they like as President, offering to give your whole-hearted co-operation to the President and Board of their choice. I know that this requires self-abnegation. If I know you well, I know that this is not beyond you. Of course if you feel that there is nothing in the complaints made and that you will be able to smooth down all the difficulties and that you will be able to bring all the parties together, I have of course nothing to say. In making the suggestions that I have made I have assumed the impossibility of securing the association of all parties with the Board as it is constituted at present. I have now placed the whole thing before you. You will do whatever is best in the interest of the cause. 2

Let not the reader laugh at the somewhat high-flown language of the writer. What he has said is God’s truth. The Bhangis have hitherto done their work uncomplainingly, and therefore the caste men have not cared to know how these have served society for centuries. If we had not regarded these servants of society as untouchables, we would not have shut our eyes upon them or their work. Having chosen to do so and having confined them to infernos, we ourselves daily descend to these infernos called privies and do not care to look at the dirt about us or to notice the stink that pervades these places. What is true of the Bhangis and the municipality of Muttra is true more or less of all the Bhangis and all the municipalities of India. The reform suggested by the Anti-untouchability Board of Muttra is most desirable and can be undertaken without much cost by every municipality. 3 I have made drastic suggestions for cutting down the administrative expenses and they are being carried out. Instead of asking to be appointed on the Executive of the Anti-untouchability Board, you can form your own advisory boards to help the Anti-untouchability Board with suggestions every now and then. That is how you can make yourselves most useful. 4 

Now, in the sense in which slavery was abolished in 1833, untouchability was abolished in 1932 at that representative meeting of Hindus assembled in Bombay in September 1932,1 under the Chairmanship of Pandit Malaviyaji. It was no bogus affair. It was signalized by the immediate establishment of the All-India Anti-untouchability Board. There has been an incessant campaign against untouchability going on ever since, throughout the length and breadth of the land as the pages of Harijan can amply prove. One life is being definitely held as hostage for the due fulfillment of the solemn pledge of the Hindus. 5 Asked regarding the ways to secure entry for Harijans into temples of all-India importance, such as the Vaidyanath Temple at Deoghar and Vishnupur Temple at Gaya, Gandhiji emphasized the importance of winning the heart of caste Hindus by peaceful propaganda without coercion or compulsion of any kind whatsoever in that way he thought untouchability was bound to disappear in course of time. Regarding the desirability of persuading Harijans to enter Hindu temples, Gandhiji thought that caste Hindus should throw open the temples, but it was for the Harijans to enter or not. They should create in them a desire to lead pure lives and merely entering the temples will not lead to purity of life. Asked regarding touch ability in the matter of food and water, Gandhiji said that water and food did not necessarily become polluted by touch and it was only impure hands that caused pollution. Asked whether secondary education alone was desirable for Harijans or whether it should be supplemented by vocational or industrial education, Gandhiji said that all kinds of education should be provided for the Harijans and arrangements should be made for vocational training. 6 

The Government of Bombay is to be congratulated upon their decision to build wells for Harijans in the Presidency of Bombay. The sum set apart is a trifle for the work to be done. As is well known, wells have been constructed for Harijans for years past in Gujarat by the late Anti-untouchability Board set up by the Congress and since 1932 by the Harijan Sevak Sangh. The latter has an extensive programme of well-building for Harijans, and Sjt. Juthabhai, a quiet and great worker, has made up his mind to devote his attention to this noble humanitarian work. It is greatly to be desired that in this work there would be perfect co-ordination between the various agencies working towards the same end. If co-operative effort is not possible, there may be at least a division of labour and areas. Whatever is done, the end should be quick work, good work and cheapest cost. The last can be satisfied only if there is unskilled voluntary labour forthcoming either on the part of Harijan Hindus or savarna Hindus or both. 7

 

References:

 

1. Letter to Home Secretary, November 29, 1932
2. Letter to Dr. B. C. Roy, December 7, 1932
3. Harijan, 18-3-1933
4. Harijan, 29-7-1933
5. Harijan, 14-10-1933
6. The Bombay Chronicle, 9-4-1934
7. Harijan, 11-5-1935