Previous Year Question

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Peasants and Workers Party of India was a separate left-wing political party that developed in Maharashtra. It was not established by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

Statement 2 is correct. Dr. Ambedkar established the All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942. He wound up the Independent Labour Party and founded the Federation as an all-India political organisation. Rao Bahadur N. Shivraj became its first president.

It sought to secure for the Scheduled Castes:

• independent political representation,

• social and economic rights,

• adequate opportunities in education and public employment, and

• constitutional safeguards.

Statement 3 is correct. Dr. Ambedkar established the Independent Labour Party on 15 August 1936. It was not restricted exclusively to the Depressed Classes; its programme also addressed the economic and political problems of industrial workers, peasants and other exploited sections.

The Independent Labour Party contested the 1937 Bombay Provincial Assembly elections, held under the Government of India Act, 1935, and achieved notable success. Its political programme emphasised labour rights, agrarian problems, opposition to exploitative systems such as landlordism and the khoti system, and social equality.

Therefore, the parties mentioned in statements 2 and 3 were established by Dr. Ambedkar.

Chronology to remember:

• Independent Labour Party — 1936

• All India Scheduled Castes Federation — 1942

• Announcement of the proposed Republican Party of India — 1955; it was formally established after Ambedkar’s death in 1957.