There is no doubt that remarks made by Amit Shah, union Home Minister, in the Rajya Sabha on December 17 were not just highly objectionable but reflected a cynical abuse of Ambedkar and Dalits by his government and party. It is the language of sections deeply resentful of the growing assertion of Dalits. His tone and words reflected a frustration of Dalit show of power.
Besides, Dalits and Ambedkarites do not set much store by gods and goddesses. The entire premise of Dr Ambedkar’s philosophy was that ‘religion should revolve around the concern for human beings’ and not for the ‘happiness’ of the ‘god’. As Buddha said, human philosophy should concern the welfare of human beings and that was the principle that the Charvakhas had, too. So, Baba Saheb’s real fight was not against either the Congress or BJP but against the Brahmanical Social Order (BSO). It is crucial to understand that there were people who stood firm against privileged caste domination and manipulation and those who supported the BSO within all parties.
In the midst of these pulls and pressures, movements and counter-moves during the struggle for independence, the Constitution making process was itself the single largest effort towards the reconciliation of Indian society with all its contradictions. Babasaheb Ambedkar understood this well, as did the Congress leadership of the time, particularly Nehru.
We all need to understand that Dr Ambedkar and the Congress Party had different paths and opinion but to rebuild India they joined hands. Interestingly Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the leader of Bhartiya Jan Sangh (BJS) was also part of this. They had, amongst them, serious differences but none were so adversarial as to dub each other as anti-national or inferior. They debated issues in Parliament and agreed to frame the Constitution which emerged as one of the finest documents in the modern world, a document moreover that signalled India as one.
Unfortunately, the process of the selective quoting and referencing of events has harmed our polity today. This practice functions in the vacuous public sphere of overall ignorance and lack of grounding of sound democratic principles. How many of those speak today have understood the rich cadences of the Indian national movement?
It is crucial for all us, all of us, not use the events and differences of the time for our political purposes. Congress was an umbrella organisation for all those who fought for India’s freedom. After independence, many of these organisations that were part of the Congress originally, actually formed their own parties and groups. Naturally, they emerged as political rivals too. This should be seen as a healthy development as India, now a free nation needed different checks and balances that came from those in and out of power, those who had varying world views and perspectives. Both Dr Ambedkar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee were part of Jawahar Lal Nehru’s cabinet. Even when Gandhiji was murdered in cold blood on January 30, 1948, Syama Prasad Mookerjee dissociated himself with the Hindu Maha Sabha and remained in the Indian cabinet. None asked him to resign. His resignation came in 1951 after he became President of Bhartiya Jan Sangh (BJS). The resignation was based on the Nehru Liaquat Pact. Nehru, Ambedkar and Mookerjee were members of the same Constituent Assembly and cabinet and I am sure, despite their political differences they must have been acquaintances if not good friends, with a healthy respect for each other. Those were different times.
There are a whole lot of issues which need comprehensive analysis and not selective usage of symbols and facts. Babasaheb was unhappy on the issue of Nehru’s inability to get through the Hindu Code Bill in the Parliament but he knew well that it was not easy for him as many bigwigs from both within the Congress and Jan Sangh were opposed to Hindu Code Bill. The prominent among those who were deadly opposed to the Hindu code bill were Dr Rajendra Prasad, Pattabhi Sitarammaiya, K M Munshi, Purushottam Das Tondon, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and various leaders of Jan Sangh, Hindu Mahasabha etc. Sardar Patel though in the middle, leaned towards those who opposed it. So, in terms of ideological unity, it was only Nehru and Ambedkar who wanted this progressive legislation to be passed.
As I said before, all these leaders were both highly knowledgeable and deeply respectful to each other. None questioned the integrity of others but they put forth their political points very powerfully. While Nehru’s credentials as a secular modern progressive nationalist was not ever questioned, Ambedkar and Mookerjee actually were raising the issues of safety of Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan which was not out of the box and was real.
Dr Baba Saheh Ambedkar fought his Lok Sabha elections from North Bombay and Bhandara on two different occasions and lost. That the Congress ensured his defeat is without doubt. As I said, they were political rivals. Who was responsible for making Babasaheb’s secretary stand in elections against him? Nehru? Perhaps, Praful Patel can provide an answer as his father was a powerful leader of the Congress. Perhaps, too many Aambedkarites can provide details about his work. Secondly, in the North Bombay seat, it was not merely the Congress but both the Communist Party of India as well as the Jan Sangh or Hindu Mahasabha that had also actually fielded rival candidates.
There is no doubt that Congress’s history in the subsequent years was in continual denial of Dr Ambedkar’s legacy. One needs also remember that Babasaheb used to call Congress the original Brahmanical party of India but what would he have had to say about the RSS-BJP in today? That the BJP has now replaced the Congress and is the perhaps the main Brahmin Bania party of India? This is the reality.
Now, the remains on who loves Dr Ambedkar and who does not. Who awarded him the Bharat Ratna? Certainly not the BJP. Nor the Congress. The man at the helm who accorded this honour, the Bharat Ratna to Dr Ambedkar was V P Singh, another hero who has been vilified by the Congress and Sanghis together. It is VP Singh who provided the reservation to Neo Buddhists too and got who also installed the prominent portrait of Babasaheb in parliament, got Ambedkar’s books published through the union’s Ambedkar Foundation, declared Babasaheb Jayanti as a national holiday and took several other steps.
Unfortunately, for both the Congress and the BJP –which was then supporting the National Front government headed by VP Singh from outside—decried these measures. Recently, an arrogant Brahmin spokesperson of BJP actually abused VP Singh, terming him Samanti or feudal. Frankly, the only other person who was active those days and did his work on spreading saheb’s thoughts was one of VP’s most trusted colleagues, the late Ram Vilas Paswan.
Let us not debate how big a memorial is now being built for Dr Ambedkar or how much you worship him. My simple question for the political leadership today is this. If you really believe in Dr Ambedkar’s ideology then please implement the Constitution in true spirit. Please undertake land reforms, redistribute land to the most marginalised, ensure free health services, right to education for all, stop the privatisation of our natural resources, implement reservations in true spirit and everywhere.
It is equally important to understand not to confine Dr Ambedkar to merely Constitution making alone because that way you actually see his historical role in critiquing Brahmanical Hinduism. Yes, he critiqued all Brahmanical text, gods and everything. That apart, if we believe his philosophy, then let us respect what he asked his followers at the historical Deekshabhoomi grounds in Nagpur on October 14, 1956, Dhammachakra Pravartan Diwas, in his 22 vows to follow the path of humanism, as defined by Lord Buddha.
In a true sense, if we really care for, value, Dr Ambedkar’s principles, then please stop telling us how you respect Samvidhan or how much land you have allocated to make his statue rather than redistribute land to landless people which has now been forgotten. Ensure free quality education for all and equally free qualitative health care for all.
We need an inclusive governance structure which reflects our diversity where each one of us can express our opinion without any fear or intimidation. Dr Ambedkar’s India will not, simply cannot be the model where regressive religious pontiffs lead us to the path of destruction. It must ensure the path for progressive humanist leaders to take us to the path of enlightenment.
It is time the state ensured welfare measures for the millions of oppressed Dalits, Adivasis Backward classes, from all ethnicities and religious identities and make this integral to our decision-making process.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia
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