DR. R. AMBEDKAR — THE LEADER AND SPOKESMAN OF THE UNTOUCHABLES

 
Sunday, September 11, 1932, I got up early and went to P.T.S. [police training school] for the 8 a.m. roll call. I met my Meher when I returned, but he was very busy. In the afternoon I was napping, all the while thinking of him, when he entered the room and, seeing me asleep, tapped me with his alphabet board and woke me up.

In the morning, his brothers and mother went away. Suddenly in the evening he left for Bombay for a stay or two days. I was in a bad way due to his sudden departure, yet I was happy still being here in the ashram.

Unbeknownst to Minoo, Meher Baba had arranged, per Gandhi's previous request, to go to Bombay to meet with Dr. R. Ambedkar, the leader and spokesman of the Untouchables, also known as the depressed classes. Politically, the time was ripe for securing electoral rights for the Untouchables jointly with the general population, not as a separate class, and Baba wanted to persuade Dr. Ambedkar to join Gandhi in pushing for this classification.