Names and numbers: ‘The Untouchables are classified as Hindus but properly speaking are not Hindus at all’

Excerpted from A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B.R. Ambedkar by Ashok Gopal, published by Navayana on the occasion of Babasaheb's 132nd birth anniversary.

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BEFORE the inevitable rift between Ambedkar and Gandhi, and before the negotiations leading to the Poona Pact of 1932, a basic question regarding the Depressed Classes (DCs) came to the fore: How were they to be enumerated for the purpose of political representation? Ambedkar had definite views on the subject, which were influential, and their consequences are felt even today.

The issue of enumerating the DCs properly had bothered colonial officials for several decades, and the matter gained urgency after the first two Round Table Conferences, as the British government had shown readiness to give these groups political representation in some form or another. As was evident from his first meeting with Ambedkar in Mumbai, even Gandhi had partially accepted this inevitability. The issues that remained were the quantum of representation and the manner in which it was to be provided. Irrespective of the way in which these matters were going to be decided, the government had to arrive at an exact count of the DC population. An exercise to arrive at province-wise numbers began even before the Poona Pact was signed. Underlying the effort were some basic questions. On what basis was a group to be adjudged as being in a 'Depressed' state? If only Untouchable groups were to be considered 'Depressed', by what parameters were they to be identified? What constituted untouchability exactly?

As the foremost leader of the DCs and as a person whose opinion commanded weight, Ambedkar had a significant role in determining the answers to these questions. The whole process was also framed by earlier efforts undertaken by the British government to define Untouchables, and the basic challenge that was faced, that is, untouchability manifested in varying ways and intensities across jatis and locations.