द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

THE FIGHT RESUMED 277
stated at the Round Table Conference in London on Novem-
ber 13th, 1931, if the depressed classes were torn away from
the main body of Hindus by the grant of a separate electorate,
he would resist it with his life and in pursuance of that
resolve, he would fast unto death. On April 13th, Sir Samuel
Hoare had replied in a non-committal way, saying that the
Government would give the matter their fullest consideration
before coming to a decision. The 'Communal Award'¹ of
the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, was thereafter
announced on August 17th. It provided for a certain number
of seats for the depressed classes in the Provincial Legislatures
which would be filled up on the basis of a separate electorate.
In addition to this, members of the depressed classes would
be entitled to stand for election from the general con-
stituencies earmarked for Hindus and would be registered in
a common electoral rôle along with other Hindus. The award
further provided that if His Majesty's Government were
satisfied that the communities concerned were mutually agreed
upon a practicable alternative scheme, either in respect of
one or more of the Governor's provinces or in respect of the
whole of British India, before the new Government of India
Bill was passed into law, they would be prepared to recom-
mend to Parliament that the alternative should be substituted
for the provisions now outlined. On August 18th the Mahatma
addressed a letter to the Premier informing him that in
accordance with what he had written to Sir Samuel Hoare
on March 11th, he had resolved to commence fast unto
death at noon on September 20th. 'The fast will cease if
during its progress, the British Government, of its own
motion or under pressure of public opinion, revise their
decision and withdraw their scheme of communal electorates
for the depressed classes whose representatives should be
elected by general electorate under common franchise, no
matter how wide it is.' The Mahatma further asked that the
entire correspondence be given immediate and full publicity.
¹ As the members nominated by the British Government to the Second
Round Table Conference in 1931 could not come to an agreement on the
question of representation, electorate, etc., for the legislatures under the
New Constitution, the British Prime Minister announced the Government's
decision. This decision is known as the Communal Award.