Ambedkar’s Proposal to Safeguards Minorities Against Communal Majority in Democracy

Abstract

As early as in 1909, the British had accepted the principle of political representation in the central and provincial legislatures for religious minorities in British India. In 1909, the Muslims were given representation in the central and provincial legislatures through nominations. Other small minorities were also accorded political representation through separate electorate and/or through nomination. Later, in the 1935 Act, political representation through separate electorates was retained for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians and Europeans. The 1935 Act also accorded separate electorate to the Scheduled Castes (SCs). However, in case of the SCs, the separate electorate was replaced by a ‘joint’ electorate method under pressure from Gandhiji’s fast unto death. In the new Constitution of India in 1950, the political reservation was withdrawn for most of the minorities except the SC and Scheduled Tribes (STs). SCs and STs were awarded political reservation through the ‘joint electorate’ method. However, Ambedkar had proposed a comprehensive scheme for the political representation for social and religious minorities based on the principal of balanced representation, rule of unanimity and principal of faith and confidence.