Question

"Dalit participation was limited in the Civil Disobedience Movement". Examine the statement.

Answer 1

The abstract concept of Swaraj did not move the nation's 'untouchables,' who from around the 1930's had begun to call themselves Dalit or oppressed. For long the Congress had ignored the Dalits, for fear of offending the sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus. Gandhiji persuaded the upper castes to change their hearts. He himself cleaned toilets to dignify the work of the bhangi (the sweepers). He called the ‘untouchables’ Harijan, organized satyagraha to secure them entry into temples, and access to public wells, tanks, roads and schools. But many Dalit leaders were keen on a different political solution. Political empowerment, they believed, would resolve the problems of their social disabilities. They began organising themselves, demanding reserved seats in educational institutions, and a separate electorate that would choose Dalit members for legislative councils.