Dr Ambedkar Had Supported A Plebiscite (Vote) On Kashmir Issue, Not Military Use

(Dr Ambedkar had supported a plebiscite (vote) on Kashmir issue, gave examples where the plebiscite had taken place effectively to solve similar issues and was unhappy with the government spending so much money on the military. As a true democrat, he was a firm believer that people should have the choice to decide on their future. The following text is from BAWS Vol. 15, page 849. The whole text below is in one paragraph in original. Text separated into paragraphs to make reading easier. – Velivada Editor)

Then, Sir, on our part we never seem to be able to realise that the sooner we settle this Kashmir problem the better for us, because if the excuse for this enormous is increase in our Defence Budget is to be attributed to the Kashmir tangle, is it not our duty to do something, to contribute something, positively in order to bring that dispute to an end?

I cannot expatiate on the subject, but so far as I have been able to study the part played by the Government of India in connection with the negotiations that have been taking place on the settlement of the Kashmir issue, I am sorry to say that I have not read a single word which I can describe as a positive and not a negative suggestion on the part of the Government of India to settle this question.

All that they are dealing with is the question of military allotment. The question of plebiscite is in no way new in the history of the world. One need not go back to the ancient past to find precedents for settling questions of this sort by plebiscite.

After the First World War, I certainly remember there were two questions to be settled by plebiscite. One was the question of Upper Silesia and the other was the question of Alsace-Lorraine. Both these questions were settled by plebiscite, and I am sure that my hon. Friend Shri Gopalaswami Ayyangar, with his mature wisdom and sagacity, must be knowing of this.

It is not possible for us to borrow something from the line of action taken by the League of Nations with regard to the plebiscite in Upper Silesia and Alsace-Lorraine which we can usefully carry into the Kashmir dispute and have the matter settled quickly so that we can release Rs. 50 crores from the Defence Budget and utilise it for the benefit of our people?