Communal Award and Poona Pact:
I. Introduction
- The Communal Award was announced by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, on August 16, 1932.
- The award was based on the findings of the Indian Franchise Committee (also called the Lothian Committee).
II. Main Provisions of the Communal Award:
- The Communal Award granted separate electorates for various minorities including Muslims, Europeans, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, depressed classes, women, and even the Marathas in some seats in Bombay.
- The depressed classes were granted 78 reserved seats and were accorded the status of a minority for a period of 20 years.
- Seats in the provincial legislatures were to be distributed on a communal basis and the existing seats were to be doubled.
- Weightage was to be granted to Muslims in areas where they were in the minority.
- 3% of the seats in all provinces, except the North West Frontier Province, were to be reserved for women.
- The depressed classes were to receive a "double vote" - one through separate electorates and the other through the general electorates.
- Seats were to be allocated for laborers, landlords, traders, and industrialists.
- In the province of Bombay, 7 seats were to be allocated for the Marathas.
III. Response of the National Leaders
- The award was perceived by the national leaders led by the Congress as another manifestation of the British policy of divide and rule.
- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had stressed in the past that the depressed classes should be treated as a distinct, independent minority separate from the caste Hindus.
- The Bengal Depressed Classes Association had also lobbied for separate electorates with seats reserved according to the proportion of depressed class members to the total population as well as for adult franchise.
IV.Congress Stand
- Though opposed to separate electorates, the Congress was not in favour of changing the Communal Award without the consent of the minorities.
- Thus, while strongly disagreeing with the Communal Award, the Congress decided neither to
accept it nor to reject it.
- The effort to separate the depressed classes from the rest of the Hindus by treating them as separate political entities was vehemently opposed by all the nationalists.
V. Second Round Table Conference and Gandhi's Stand
- In the second Round Table Conference held in London, Ambedkar again raised the issue of separate electorates for the depressed classes.
- Gandhi attempted to strike a deal with Muslims, promising to support their demands as long as the Muslims voted against separate electorates for the depressed classes.
- Gandhi rejected Ambedkar's proposal for reserved seats in a common electorate and denounced the other delegates as unrepresentative.
VI. Mediation and the Poona Pact
- Ramsay MacDonald offered to mediate on the condition that the other members of the committee supported his decision.
- The outcome of this mediation was the Poona Pact, which provided for reserved seats for the depressed classes within the Hindu electorate, but without separate electorates.
- The Poona Pact was signed by Ambedkar on behalf of the depressed classes and by Madan Mohan Malaviya on behalf of the Congress.
VII. Conclusion
- The Communal Award and the Poona Pact were significant steps towards ensuring representation for minorities in India's political system.
- However, the debate over minority representation continued to be a contentious issue in Indian politics for many years to come.
Poona Pact-
Introduction:
- The Poona Pact was signed on September 24, 1932, by B.R. Ambedkar on behalf of the depressed classes.
- It abandoned the idea of separate electorates for the depressed classes but increased the seats reserved for them from 71 to 147 in provincial legislatures and to 18% of the total in the Central Legislature.
- The Poona Pact was accepted by the government as an amendment to the Communal Award.
Impact of Poona Pact on Dalits:
- Despite giving certain political rights to the depressed classes, the Poona Pact could not achieve the desired goal of emancipation of the depressed class. It enabled the same old Hindu social order to continue and gave birth to many problems.
- The Pact made the depressed classes political tools that could be used by the majoritarian caste Hindu organisations.
- It made the depressed classes leaderless as the true representatives of the classes were unable to win against the stooges who were chosen and supported by the caste Hindu organisations.
- This led to the depressed classes submitting to the status quo in political, ideological, and cultural fields and not being able to develop independent and genuine leadership to fight the Brahminical order.
- It subordinated the depressed classes into being part of the Hindu social order by denying them a separate and distinct existence.
- The Poona Pact perhaps put obstructions in the way of an ideal society based on equality, liberty, fraternity, and justice. By denying to recognise the Dalits as a separate and distinct element in the national life, it pre-empted the rights and safeguards for the Dalits in the Constitution of independent India.
Joint Electorates and Its Impact on Depressed Classes:
- The Working Committee of the All India Scheduled Caste Federation alleged that in the last elections held under the Government of India Act, 1935, the system of joint electorates deprived the scheduled castes of the right to send true and effective representatives to the legislatures.
- The committee further said that the provisions of the joint electorate gave the Hindu majority the virtual right to nominate members of the scheduled castes who were prepared to be the tools of the Hindu majority.
- The working committee of the federation thus demanded the restoration of the system of separate electorates and nullification of the system of joint electorates and reserved seats.
- Even after signing the Poona Pact, Dr B.R. Ambedkar continued to denounce it until 1947.