ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problems that the All India Scheduled Castes Federation raised with implementing a Western-style majority-rule parliamentary democracy, especially for India. The federation pointed to the fact that Dalit politics were often labeled communal rather than political, and the Dalit constituency was seen as part of the majority, rather than a minority political constituency that needed to be represented. Bhimrao Ambedkar, as a spokesman for the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, emphasized the need for politics in India to be recognized as based on caste both for minority political parties like the Federation, and for the majority represented by the Indian National Congress. The party used their stance as prompting principled politics to argue for separate electorates for Dalits to ensure that Dalits were represented, heard, and responded to in Indian’s democratic system. Additionally, Ambedkar and others urged Indian political actors to rethink the meaning of democracy for India to include principled politics and ethical actions rather than expedient policies that ignored minority political movements and actors.
