IT is indeed extraordinary and educative that B R Ambedkar regretted in 1955 that the census conducted in 1951 omitted caste column to enumerate castes. He wrote with anguish that “The census which is the only source of information on these points (figures concerning caste) fails to help me”. “The last census,” (1951) he remarked “omits altogether the caste tables which had been the feature of the Indian census ever since its birth.” In pinning the blame for that lapse he stated, “The Home Minister of the Government of India (C. Rajagopalachari) who is responsible for this omission was of the opinion that if a word does not exist in a dictionary it can be proved that the fact for which the word stands does not exist. One can only pity the petty intelligence of the author.”
His aforementioned sensitive utterances without blaming Nehru were made in the context of the census reports of 1951 providing only the numbers of Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians and untouchables. Describing such information as of no value he asserted, “What we want to know is the distribution of castes in different linguistic areas”.
Examples of High Caste Dominance
Without fear of getting contradicted he claimed that the caste set-up within the linguistic area was such that it contained one or two major castes, large in number, and a few minor castes living in subordinate dependence on the major castes. Citing some illustrations, he referred to the Punjab of PEPSU where the Jats dominated the whole area and the untouchables lived in subordinate dependence on them. In the context of Andhra, he stated that Reddis or the Kammas and the Kappus possessed all the land, occupied the offices, remained predominant in the business and the untouchables lived in subordinate dependence on them. Referring to Maharashtra he flagged the huge majority enjoyed by the Marathas in every village where the Brahmins, the Gujars, the Kolis and the untouchables lived in subordinate co-operation. Ambedkar described the preponderant majority of Marathas as “communal majority” of which the wretched untouchables, the Kolis and the Malis became the victims.
