Abstract

1) Status of Dalits on the eve of Independence The Dalit political crisis and power transfer in India from 1945 to 1947 have been a complex issue. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar-led the movement which broke away from the Indian National Congress and Gandhis integration politics eventually found its political home in the All India Scheduled Caste Federation. However Ambedkar joined the first Nehru Cabinet of independent India in July 1947 after accepting a nomination from the Congress for a seat in the Constituent Assembly. The 1947 alliance between Ambedkar and the Congress was precarious and susceptible to further damage. Some see the relationship as a political act of charity on the part of the Congress while others contend that the alliance was an achievement of integrationist politics and an attempt by the Congress to address the untouchability issue through the use of its most vocal leader. During the late colonial era the dalit political class in India experienced a double crisis: a change i