Mr. Vice-President, Sir, this clause about untouchability is one of the most important of the fundamental rights. This clause does not propose to give any special privileges and safeguards to some minority community, but it proposes to save one-sixth of the Indian population from perpetual subjugation and despair, from perpetual humiliation and disgrace. The custom of untouchability has not only thrown millions of the Indian population into the dark abyss of gloom and despair, shame and disgrace, but it has also eaten into the very vitality of our nation. I have not a jot of doubt, Sir, that this clause will be accepted by this House unanimously; not only the Indian National Congress is pledged to it, but for the sake of fairness and justice to the millions of untouchables of this land, for the sake of sustaining our goodwill and reputation beyond the boundaries of India, this clause which makes the practice of untouchability a punishable crime must find a place in the Constitution of free and independent India. I refuse to believe, Sir, that there is even a single soul in this august body who opposes the spirit and principle contained in this article. So, I think, Sir, that today the 29th November 1948 is a great and memorable day for us the untouchables. This day will go down in history as the day of deliverance, as the day of resurrection of the 5 crores of Indian people who live in the length and breadth of this country. Standing on the threshold of this new era, at least for us, the untouchables, I hear distinctly the words of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, words that came out from an agonized heart, full of love and full of sympathy for these down-trodden masses. Gandhiji said: “I do not want to be reborn, but if I am reborn, I wish that I should be born as a Harijan, as an untouchable, so that I may lead a continuous struggle, a life-long struggle against the oppressions and indignities that have been heaped upon these classes of people.” The word Swaraj will be meaningless to us if one-fifth of India’s population is kept under perpetual subjugation. Mahatma Gandhi is no more among us in the land of the living. Had he been alive today, no mortal on earth would be more pleased, more happy, more satisfied than him. Not only Mahatma Gandhi, but also the other great men and philosophers of this ancient land, Swami Vivekananda, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore and others who led a relentless struggle against this heinous custom, would also be very much pleased today to see that independent India, Free India has at last finally done away with this malignant sore on the body of Indian society. As a Hindu, I believe in the immortality of the soul. The souls of these great men, but for whose devotion and life-long service India would not have been what she is today, would be smiling upon us at this hour at our courage and boldness in doing away with this heinous custom of untouchability.
