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During the freedom struggle, Dr, Ambedkar demanded separate constituencies for the backward classes. There were different arguments made in favour of protection of

depressed classes in the Constituent Assembly. Nagappa stated that numerically the backward class people were not a minority. They constitute 20-25% of the total population. But they have been kept away from society. They have neither access to education not participation in administration. Sh. K. J. Khandelkar, addressing the constituent assembly dominated by the members of the upper castes, stated: “We have been crushed for centuries. We have been crushed for centuries that our brain and body do not work. Our heart has become feeling less. Now we are not able to move ahead. This is our Plight.”