On 29th April 1947 Shri V. C. Kesava Rao [Madras General] at the Constituent Assembly spoke as follows;
“I move that in Sub Clause 2b of Clause 4 of the word “road, the words Schools, Hostels, Temples or places of worship” be inserted.
I want to say that some schools are thrown open to the Harijan in the Villages, they are not allowed to sit along with the caste Hindu Students, they are asked to sit on the floor or at a distance, I would like to say in this connection that education is birthright of every citizen so the Harijan or an untouchable should be given the same right as every other citizen. As regards Temple, I may submit that Untouchables are made to worship God only from a distance and not before God, even though Untouchables are saying that they are Hindus, for the last so many centuries they are being denied this rights and they are made to worship God only from a distance and not within the Temple itself, I think that untouchability is a sole cause for the non-admission of Untouchables in Temples. I request that this thing may be taken into consideration.”
Comment: The anguish of the Speaker is understandable since the situation have gone worse even after seven decades – we should not forget a prominent man [Dr. B. R. Ambedkar] was also asked to sit outside the classroom and listened to what the Teacher has to teach and when he happened to drink water from the pot using the tumbler the entire water was thrown out and his face was smeared with lunch pockets.