Poona Pact, 1932
September 24 2022, today, marks the 90th anniversary of the famed Poona Pact. The pact was an agreement between M. K Gandhi and Dr. B. R Ambedkar, that would go on to define the role of the Scheduled Classes in the politics of Independent India.
There were many historical events that led up to the Pact. The British Government had promised in 1919 that a committee would be appointed a decade after the Montford reforms. So in 1928, the Simon Commission was put together to study and underline the constitutional reforms needed for India. The commission was boycotted by the Congress because it had no Indian representatives. In 1930, the Congress had also boycotted the first round table conference on the basis of the commissions’ report. The first conference was attended by all political figures and representatives of their communities except Gandhi and the Congress
Ambedkar laid the case of the Scheduled Castes and demanded for electoral safeguards
In the second round table conference, Lord Irwin had reached an agreement with the Congress so the congress attended the conference with Gandhi as their representative
Gandhi refused to agree to Ambedkar’s demands of a separate electorate for the depressed castes and the power to also vote in the general electorate
Gandhi would not even agree to allow reserved seats for depressed class representatives
But, Ambedkar emerged victorious as on 17 August 1932, the British announced the Communal Award which provided separate electorates for minorities and the Depressed Classes (as they were called then)
Gandhi, who was in Yerawada Central jail, declared that he would start a fast unto death campaign from jail
On September 20, Gandhi began his fast
The nation was in frenzy
Ambedkar was threatened and in a move that would torment him for the rest of his life, he signed the poona pact which provided reservation for the depressed classes but not a separate electorate
At the time, the pact was seen as a win and Gandhi a hero despite criticism from the Hindu Mahasabha
Since then strong criticism has been levied upon the pact by dalit scholars as the reason why despite reservation, the dalits’ situtation is not any better than it was 90 years ago
Ambedkar in his most famous work ‘Annihilation of Caste’ gives the example of the Roman Republic. The Romans had Patricians, the upper castes and the Plebeians, the lower caste. This was determined by birth.The patricians constituted the Comitia Centuriata, or the century Assembly and there was no entry for the plebeians. This assembly obviously ignored the rights of the plebeians. And it had the final say in all administrative matters. Even when the assembly included plebeians, their presence was merely symbolic. This is how Ambedkar explains the inadequacies of reservation without separate electorates.
Ambedkar kept trying to secure separate electorates for the oppressed classes but could never succeed. In 1945, in his book ‘What Congress and Gandhi Have done to Untouchables’, he writes:
“There was nothing noble in the fast. It was a foul and filthy act. The Fast was not for the benefit of the Untouchables. It was against them and was the worst form of coercion against a helpless people to give up the constitutional safeguards of which they had become possessed under the Prime Minister’s Award and agree to live on the mercy of the Hindus. It was a vile and wicked act. How can the Untouchables regard such a man as honest and sincere?”
Many writers and dalit scholars have criticised Gandhi’s coercive fast.
Arundhati Roy in ‘The Doctor and the Saint’ writes, “It (the fast) was barefaced blackmail, nothing less manipulative than the threat of committing public suicide”
Suraj Yengde in his book ‘Caste matters’, while explaining the term “Token dalits” or the dalits who employ their caste identity for mere tokenism and further weaken the dalit movement attributed this phenomenon to the Poona Pact.
Anand Teltumbde has also, in numerous works, explained the predicaments of dalits that have arised due to the Poona Pact.
The list goes on and on
Ambedkar knew that reservation would not be enough and everyday he is proven right.
Speaking on the 80th anniversary of the pact in 2012, Mavalli Shankar as the State Secretary of the Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (DSS Karnataka) claimed that the question of seperate electorates today was more relevant than it was in 1932.
What was the media reporting? A look at one of India’s most widely read english daily the times of India:
Gandhi started his fast at 12 noon on the 20th of September. Later he was permitted to be interviewed by Times of India. In the interview that was published the following day on 21 September, he said “Full justice wanted for depressed classes”. He spoke at length about his compassion for the untouchables and also revealed that he was no longer against the reservation of seats.
Times of India also reported that a sub committee comprising of M. C. Rajah, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Ambedkar was formed to arrive upon a settlement. The committee had very little time as Gandhi’s life hung in the balance. The committee requested Gandhi to postpone the fast by 10 days but he refused. Ambedkar and his supporters had only 2 days to make very important decisions and the country was against them as the Mahatma was dying.
On 22nd September, the times of India posted Ambedkar’s terms of the settlement in which he had demanded that the seats reserved by the communal award be increased by 3 times. The paper also posted Gandhi’s call to open up temples for the untouchables. Other headlines revealed that many temples were against this and the Karachi Temple priests were on strike.
The paper also carried a strong letter to the editor critiquing Gandhi
Ambedkar met Gandhi in prison on September 22
The next day, Times of India reported that an agreement between Ambedkar and Gandhi was likely and Gandhi’s health was weakening rapidly.
On the 23rd, all the parties were locked in an 8 hour long meeting. Ambedkar was issued a death threat by a students meeting reported times of india on 24th, the day of the pact. The paper also reported the 8 hour long meeting and hinted that the pact was imminent.
The paper also printed a photo which is now a legendary historical archive with the caption “Hindu Peace Makers at Poona”
Another story the paper reported which is probably forgotten and never finds its way in the mainstream media is of a cook who died by suicide. The cook had undertaken the fast in solidarity with mahatma. In his suicide note he said that he was “unable to endure the hardships of the world”
Gandhi, meanwhile, in an interview after the 8 hour long conference spoke about Swaraj and confessed that maintaining his fast was getting very difficult.
The Poona Pact was signed at 5pm on 24 September 1932.
Times of India did not print on the 25th (sunday) but on the 26th, in their editorial – ‘The Poona Agreement’, it launched a scathing criticism of the Mahatma. It said:
“The Hindu community is to be congratulated on reaching so speedily a settlement satisfactorily to both sides. Yet it would be a grave error to regard Mr. Gandhi’s fast as the sovereign remedy for knotty problems which many people seem to think it is. Mr. gandhi has merely, by a subtle form of coercion, forced the settlement of an issue which he himself created.”
The editorial obviously did not criticize Gandhi for coercing Ambedkar to forgo separate electorates for the depressed classes but it pointed out that Gandhi had created the entire mess himself. It also ascertained that reservations would not be enough to help the untouchables and declared that fasting was not a practical solution to political problems.
The paper also carried many stories about the reaction of Indians to the pact, the exact terms of the pact, the promises made by the Congress and Gandhi
Gandhi also said he was “proud” of Ambedkar for fighting for his people
The next day, on 27 September, Times of India carried two more powerful editorials. The first on the morality of the fast. It said:
“The fact remains that had Mr. Gandhi acted as a practical politician at the second Round Table Conference the depressed classes problem would have been settled a year ago”
The second rebuked the resistance of the Hindu Mahasabha against the pact and Mr. M. C. Kelkar’s criticism of the same.
The paper also defended Ambedkar from the abuse of other dailies by busting the myth that Gandhi always wanted reservation for the depressed classes.
Times of India’s reportage can be considered fair and in comparison with other prominent English dailies, it stands out. For example, The Hindu’s editorial on 26 September, which was later reproduced in the book ‘The first hundred: Editorials from the Hindu 1878-1978’ by Kasturi and Sons Ltd. as one of the 100 best editorials in the 100 years of Hindu’s existence, said:
“There is universal rejoicing in this country over the satisfactory settlement of the Depressed Classes question brought about by Mahatmaji’s inspiring and heroic lead.”
This 90th anniversary comes in the same week as newspaper NewsTrail, Bangalore, has published two editorials on violence against dalits, the first on 20-9-22 and the second on 23-9-22
The editorial of 20 september is titled “Dalits remain the oppressed lot” and is in the context of the rape and murder of two underage dalit girls in Lakhimpur-Kheri
The editorial of 23 september is in the context of a dalit boy from Kolar who was beaten up severely for merely touching an idol of a hindu deity. The editorial also reminds the readers of an incident from three years ago when even an MP from Chitradurga, A Narayanaswamy was denied entry into the Pavagada village because he is a member of the Madiga sub caste. The humiliation suffered by Narayanaswamy is the perfect example of the powerlessness of a dalit politician. They exist only as stooges of the upper caste politicians and will only exist as long as they are toothless. This is what Ambedkar meant when he said reservations would not be enough.
Dalit individuals trying to escape their immediate circumstances also cannot be blamed for choosing to fend for themselves at the expense of their community. Only The vicious caste system is to blame.
This anniversary also falls upon a time when the Supreme Court is hearing the EWS quota case. Dr. Santhosh of Zakir Husain Delhi College has said that the quota is “not true to the constitutional spirit” because it discriminates against the SCs and Sts by leaving them out of it.
The Centre is also considering setting up a national commission to study the situation of “dalit” Christians to answer the question of whether they should be included in SC reservations. Ambedkar was aware of dalits and untouchables in islam and christianity and tried to explain how far reaching the caste system is. The commission at this time seems unnecessary as the report of Ranganath Commission (2007) which suggested SC reservations be made religion neutral, has confirmed the socio economic status of dalits in other religions.
All of this only confirms that the situation of Dalits, 90 years after the Poona Pact, 75 years after Independence and 71 years after adopting a Republican Constitution is much the same.
Gandhi’s adamance about the Communal Award will be debated and defended forever but it cannot be denied that the Dalit Movement was arrested by the wretched Poona Pact of 1932!
