The Sarvahara Jan Andolan (SJA) and Sanvidhan Kruti Samiti are organising a ‘Samta March’ or ‘Equality March’ to mark 96 years of Mahad Satyagraha or Chavdar Lake Satyagraha which was led by Dr. BR Ambedkar

On March 20, 1927, Dr Ambedkar led a Satyagraha to allow Dalits (known as untouchables then) to use water in a public tank in Mahad. He and his co-workers led a procession of 2,500 “untouchables” through main streets towards the Chavdar tank. Dr. Ambedkar took water from the tank and drank it and others followed him. This was rather revolutionary.

To mark this monumental event for Dalits, Sarvahara Jan Andolan (SJA) organizes this march from Raigad fort to Mahad every year. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, this march had to be put on hold, and is being reinvigorated this year.

The March not only celebrates the Mahad Satyagraha but is a message against the ideologies of Shivaji Maharaj and Dr Ambedkar being corrupted in the current social scenario. With the rising atmosphere of hate, a message of equality was the need of the hour.

The March will begin at 7 am on March 19 at Raigad fort and culminate at 5pm at Chavdar Lake in Mahad.

“This March would earlier be attended only by Dalits and Dalit organisations. However, since 2017 other sections of the society also started getting involved. This is a historical event and should be celebrated by all while celebrating constitutional values,” said Ulka Mahajan, founder of SJA, while speaking to Sabrang India.

Any organization and individuals can join the March. The details are in the pamphlet:

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The post Equality March to mark Dr Ambedkar’s Mahad Satyagraha appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This acute denial of access to common resources continues today… countrywide. In fact, the assertion of a right to life of equality has made Dalits even more susceptible to brute violence as a complicit state simply looks on. In terms of fair access, re-distribution and equality other categories of Indians have joined Dalits as victims of targeted brutality and hate. Notably Indian Muslims and Christians.

In 1927, in rural Maharashtra, the denial of access continued despite the Bombay legislative council passing a resolution in August 1923, years before, making resources, especially water to be freely available to all. The Chavdar Tale Satyagraha, 94 years ago today has entered protest folklore in Maharashtra and is also known as Mahadcha Mukti Sangram (Mahad’s Liberation Struggle) and Mahadchee Samajik Kranti (Mahad’s Social Revolution). India’s government institutions observe March 20 as Social Empowerment Day. Tragically, despite the history and the date India continues on a path of collusive denial.

21st century India remains cruel to her most oppressed sections, the state is often a silent onlooked, complicit in violence unleashed when rights are asserted and dignity fought hard for. Gujarat, hailed as a model state for a certain kind of development, saw the brute murder of Amrabhai Boricha, a 50-year-old activist, who was attacked with spears, iron pipes and swords till he died in Sanodar village, while a policeman silently watched No action to date has been taken against the policeman for this brutal attack that was carried out by Kshatriyas of the village, right in front of his daughter’s eyes. This was 18 days ago.

The present central government has admitted to parliament (Rajya Sabha, March 17) that in 2019 and 2018 respectively, there were 2,369 and 2,067 registered rape cases against women of the Scheduled Castes! Bad or worse, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, that deals with penalising perpetrators for sexual crimes against children, 2019 reported 1,117 cases and 2018 reported 869 cases against Dalit children.

Adivasi women and girls fared no better: registered rape case against women and children of the Scheduled Tribes for the last two years, 2019 saw 714 cases against women and 396 cases against children. In 2018, as many as 609 women registered rape complaints, whereas 399 cases were registered by minors. In this bleak scenario, Rajasthan reported the highest number of cases against Dalit women (491) and Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of cases against Dalit minors (214). Shockingly, Madhya Pradesh also recorded the maximum number of cases against Scheduled Tribe women and children with 219 and 139 cases, respectively.

Apart from violent crimes, many parts of India still follow the caste practice of not allowing Dalits to access handpumps, tube-wells, etc located in areas dominated by the more privileged castes One such area is Bundelkhand, which is constantly hit by water scarcity. Water tankers are not sent to Dalit villages, Dalits are not even allowed to touch functional water pumps and have to walk multiple kilometres just to get water.

A report by India Today in 2019 revealed how some of these water pumps in rural India are guarded by lathi-wielding men. When someone was asked why this protection of tubewells from people who need it, the answer was: “This is to prevent the theft of water. Unknown people (read Dalits) come here to steal water and we cannot afford this because there is already a water shortage.” 

What is the mindset that treats the drinking of water, a common resource as theft? The recent case of the young Muslim child beaten for drinking water from a temple in Ghaziabad is another case in point. Justifying the brutal beating up of the young boy, the logic used by the temple priest was that Muslims are not allowed entry into temples and, therefore his drinking of water is ‘theft.’

Denying water to the oppressed classes is a caste Hindu practice that continues, and is one of the most prevalent forms of othering that still exists. As we pay tribute to the Chavdar Tale (pond/tank) satyagraha, the words of Babasaheb in the lead up to the protest remain prescient: “The Untouchables, either for purposes of doing their shopping and also for the purpose of their duty as village servants, had to come to Mahad to deliver to the taluka officer either the correspondence sent by village officials or to pay Government revenue collected by village officials. The Chawdar tank was the only public tank from which an outsider could get water. But the Untouchables were not allowed to take water from this tank. The only source of water for the Untouchables was the well in the Untouchables quarters in the town of Mahad. This well was at some distance from the centre of the town. It was quite choked on account of its neglect by the Municipality”

(“The Revolt of the Untouchables”, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol 5).

That day 94 years ago, was preceded by a conference organised by Depressed classes on the issue of Civil Rights and Babasaheb Ambedkar was the chief guest and guide of the event (March 19-20). Mahad, a town in Konkan, was selected for the event because it had a nucleus of support from ‘caste hindus’. These included A.V.Chitre, an activist, GN Sahasrabudhe of the Social Service League and Surendranath Tipnis who was then president of the Mahad municipality. Babsaheb was felicitated.  Over 2,500 delegates participated in it. The conference decided to start a Satyagrah led by Baba Saheb Ambedkar and drink water at the Chavdar Talab. This was a historic moment. Dr Ambedkar and the other Satyagrahis defied all the public pressure and reached the Chavadar Talab, drank water and got ‘implemented’ the resolution passed by the Bombay Legislative Assembly.  Ambedkar also made a statement addressing the Dalit women during the Satyagraha. He asked them to abandon all old customs that provided recognisable markers of untouchability and asked them to wear saris like the privileged caste women. (Before that time, the Dalit women were not allowed to drape saris completely).

The 1920s had myriad instances of caste Hindus defying the bonds of despicable and exclusionary caste practice and speaking against both untouchability, deprivation and denial.  The Manusmriti Dahan (burning of the Manu Smriti) was undertaken by both Sahasrabudhe and Ambedkar on December 25 of the same year. Ten years later, in December 1937, the Bombay High Court ruled that untouchables have the right to use water from the tank!

The India of today does not merely turn its eyes and ears away from instances of violent caste exclusion. Today’s privileged elite, disengaged with the realities of millions of Indians do not care to identify themselves with any symbolic protest for a more dignified or egalitarian society. So many comparative examples come to mind.

In 2020, USA broke out in outraged protest when a brutal killing of a Black man by a police officer leading to weeks and weeks of protests. This was in a country maimed by the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak where the protesters were overwhelmingly white. Or take yesterday when the president of the USA, Joe Biden ordered the US flag to be flown at half-mast due to the brute killings of Asians in Atlanta. India, ruled by a militarist and supremacist ideology today scoffs at the more modern parametres of equality and dignity. Tragically, the tricolour is also sought to be appropriated by those who have no regard for either the Constitution, Babasaheb, Social Justice or Empowerment.

An Ode then to the Mahad Satyagraha….

Flyer published before Mahad Satyagraha in 1927

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The post Mahad Satyagraha: After 94 years, do we have Equality, Dignity & Access? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
This story was first published on January 26, 2016. (Towards Equality:  Why did Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar publicly burn the Manu Smruti on December 25, 1927?). We are re-publishing it today, December 24, 2017.

Manusmruti Dahan Din

Eight-eight (now 89!)  years ago, on December 25, 1927, huge strides were made in the movement for self-dignity of Dalits. Under the leadership of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, a small town/village, Mahad in Konkan, the coastal region of Maharashtra, made history.
 
Manusmurti Dahan Din. The day that the text of caste Hindus epitomizing hegemony, indignity and cruelty to Dalits and mlecchas (that included women) was publicly burned in a specially constructed symbolic funeral pyre before Dr Ambedkar and thousands of volunteers gathered to protest and agitate.
 
The Mahad satyagraha (peaceful agitation and protest) had been organised so that Dalits (untouchables) could drink from the Mahad (Chavadar) water tank, a public water source open to all. A previous legal notification of the Collectorate authorised free access to all. Despite the existence of this order, caste hegemony and oppression had not created conditions for access to this facility for the oppressed. On the eve of the protest, caste Brahmins had obtained a stay order from a local court against untouchables accessing water from the tank!
 
Pressure of an unimaginable kind was put by caste Hindus to somehow abort the protest. This included tightening access to any public ground for the proposed meeting. Finally, a local gentleman Mr. Fattekhan, who happened to be a Muslim, gave his private land for the protest, extending solidarity with the struggle. Arrangements for food and water as also other supplies had to be made meticulously by the organisers facing a revolt in the village. A pledge of sorts had to be taken by the volunteers who participated in the protest. This pledge vowed the following:

• I do not believe on Chaturvarna based on birth.
• I do not believe in caste distinctions.
• I believe that untouchability is an anathema to Hinduism and I will honestly try my best to completely destroy it.
• I will not follow any restrictions about food and drink among at least all Hindus.
• I believe that untouchables must have equal rights to access to temples, water sources, schools and other amenities.

 
The arrival of Dr. Ambedkar to the site of the protest was cloaked in high drama, faced with the possibilities of all kinds of sabotage from other sections of society. He came from Bombay on the boat “Padmavati” via Dasgaon port, instead of Dharamtar (the road journey), despite the longer distance. This was a well-planned strategy, because, in the event of boycott by bus owners, the leaders could walk down five miles to Mahad.
 
In front of the pandal where Dr Ambedkar made his soul-stirring address, the “vedi” (pyre) was created beforehand to burn the Manusmruti. Six people had been labouring for two days to prepare it. A pit six inches deep and one and half foot square was dug in, and filled with
sandlewood pieces.
 
On its four corners, poles were erected, bearing banners on three sides. The banners said, 
1. “Manusmruti chi dahan bhumi”, i.e. Crematorium for Manusmruti.
2. Destroy Untouchability and 
3. Bury Brahmanism.
 
It was on December 25, 1927, in the late evening, at the conference, that the resolution to burn the Manusmruti was moved by Brahmin associate of Ambedkar, Gangadhar Neelkanth Sahastrabuddhe and was seconded by PN Rajabhoj, an untouchable leader. Thereafter, the book Manusmruti was kept on this pyre and burned. The Brahmin associate of Ambedkar, Gangadhar Neelkanth Sahastrabuddhe and five six other Dalit sadhus completed the task. At the pandal, the only photo placed was that of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. This has been interpreted to mean that, at this stage the Dalit leadership, including Dr. Ambedkar had yet to be disillusioned with Gandhi.
 
In his presidential speech Ambedkar said that the aim of the movement was not only to gain access to the water or the temple or to remove the barriers to commensality; the aim was to break down the varna system which supported inequality in society. He then told his audience about the French Revolution, and explained the main points of the Charter of Human Rights enunciated by the French Revolutionary Council. He pointed out the danger of seeking temporary and inadequate solutions by relating how the rebellion of the plebians of Rome against the patricians failed, primarily because the plebians sought only to gain a tribune of their choice instead of seeking to abolish the system dividing society into patricians and plebians.

In the February 3, 1928 issue of the Bahishkrit Bharat (his own newspaper) he explained the action saying that his reading of the Manusmriti had convinced him that it did not even remotely support the idea of social equality.

The root of untouchabilty lies in prohibition of inter-caste marriages, that we have to break, said Ambedkar in that historic speech. He appealed to higher varnas to let this “Social Revolution” take place peacefully, discard the sastras, and accept the principle of justice, and he assured them peace from our side. Four resolutions were passed and a Declaration of Equality was pronounced. After this, the copy of the Manusmruti was burned
 
One sees here a definite broadening of the goal of the movement. In terms of the ultimate goal of equality and of the eradication of the varna system, the immediate programme of drinking water from the Mahad water reservoir was a symbolic protest, to herald the onset of a continuing struggle for dignity.
 
The other crucial points of Dr. Ambedkar’s speech were:
“…So long as the varna system exists the superior status of the Brahmans is ensured….Brahmans do not have the same love of their country that the Samurai of Japan had. Hence one cannot expect them to give up their special social privileges as the Samurai did in the interest of social equality and national unity of Japan. We cannot expect this of the non-Brahman class either. The non-Brahman classes like the Marathas and others are an intermediate category between those who hold the reins of power and those who are powerless. Those who wield power can occasionally be generous and even self-sacrificing. Those who are powerless tend to be idealistic and principled because even to serve their own interest they have to aim at a social revolution. The non-Brahman class comes in between; it can neither be generous nor committed to any principles. Hence they are preoccupied in maintaining their distance from the untouchables instead of with achieving equality with Brahmans. This class is weak in its aspiration for a social revolution…..We should accept that we are born to achieve this larger social purpose and consider that to be our life’s goal. Let us strive to gain that religious merit. Besides, this work (of bringing about a social revolution) is in our interest and it is our duty to dedicate ourselves to remove the obstacles in our path.
 
There was a strong reaction in the section of the press, perceived to be dominated by the entrenched higher caste interests. Dr Ambedkar was called “Bheemaasura” by one newspaper. Dr. Ambedkar justified the burning of Manusmruti in various articles that he penned after the satyagraha. I n the February 3, 1928 issue of the Bahishkrit Bharat (his own newspaper) he explained the action saying that his reading of the Manusmriti had convinced him that it did not even remotely support the idea of social equality. To burn a thing was to register a protest against the idea it represented. By so doing one expected to shame the person concerned into modifying his behaviour. He said further that it would be futile to expect that any person who revered the Manusmriti could be genuinely interested in the welfare of the Untouchables. He compared the burning of the Manusmriti to the burning of foreign cloth recommended by Gandhi. Protests the world over had used the burning of an article that symbolised oppression to herald a struggle. This was what the Manusmurti Dahan was.

 
The tactical retreat
 
Meanwhile, condemned by a sudden Court ruling to hold back the satyagraha of drinking water from the public water tank, Dr Ambedkar explained the dilemma faced by on the one hand the government/British Collector and entrenched high caste interests.
 
In a note entitled ‘Why the Satyagraha was Suspended’ in the 3 February 1928 issue of the Bahishkrit Bharat, Ambedkar said:
“The untouchables are caught between the caste Hindus and the government. They can attack one of the two. There is nothing to be ashamed of in admitting that today they do not have the strength to attack both of them at the same time. When the caste Hindus refused to concede the legitimate rights of untouchables as human beings willingly and on their own initiative, we thought it wise to arrive at a peace (agreement) with the government…… There is a world of difference between a satyagraha launched by caste Hindus and one launched by untouchables. When the caste Hindus initiate a satyagraha it is against the government and they have community support….. When the untouchables launch a satyagraha all the caste Hindus are arraigned against us.” 
 
He observed further that the agitation of the untouchables was not limited to the Mahad water tank. It had been launched to achieve the larger goals the untouchables had set for themselves. The answer to whether it could have been sustained depended upon one’s estimate of the loss and the hurt that would have resulted from the satyagraha and the means that were available to protect the people from this loss and hurt. If the people had seen that they could not recover from the loss inflicted on them by one satyagraha in Mahad they would never rise again to join another satyagraha. This question had to be weighed.
 
What stands out is the openly rational, almost calculated approach to the strategy of the struggle and a willingness to present it as such. There is no effort to obfuscate or mystify it. Ambedkar responded to the concern that the withdrawal of the satyagraha would give caste-Hindu slanderers an opportunity to scoff at the untouchable leaders, by saying merely that he had not launched the satyagraha to win their approbation.
 
References:
The Social Context of an Ideology, Ambedkar’s Social and Political Thought, MS Gore, Sage Publications

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नागपुर। महाराष्ट्र की दीक्षाभूमि में 14 अक्टूबर 1956 में हुई ऐतिहासिक धर्मांतरण की यादें उस समय ताजा हो गई जब रविवार, 25 दिसंबर को मनुस्मृति दहन दिवस पर राज्य और बाहर के सैकड़ों ओबीसी वर्ग के लोगों एंव 'वी लव बाबासाहेब' संगठन के युवाओं ने दीक्षाभूमि पर बौद्ध धर्म स्वीकार किया। बौद्ध धम्म का संदेश देने वाले ओबीसी नेता हनुमंत उपरे के निधन के बाद उनके पुत्र ने लाखों ओबीसी बंधुओं को मूल धर्म में लौटने का आह्वान किया। 
 
राज्य के सभी जिलों के ओबीसी समाज ने धर्मांतरण समारोह के लिए पंजीयन कराया था। राजस्थान, बिहार, मध्य प्रदेश, पश्चिम बंगाल और गुजरात राज्यों के भी ओबीसी व अनुसूचित जाति के लोगो ने दीक्षाभूमि पर धर्मांतरण किया। इसके पहले सुबह 12 बजे संविधान चौक से धम्म रैली निकाली गई। 
 
रैली में सबसे आगे भिक्षु, उनके पीछे धम्मदीक्षा लेने वाले ओबीसी समाज के लोग तथा उपासक-उपासिकाएं चले। रैली में बहुत हर्षोल्लास का वातवरण देखा गया। गौरतलब है कि 2006 में साहित्यकार लक्ष्मण माने ने बौद्ध धर्म ग्रहण किया था।
 
 

आपको बता दें कि धर्म ग्रहण करने का यह पहला चरण था। पहले चरण में ही हजारों लोगों बौद्ध धर्म में प्रवेश किया। इसके बाद चरणबद्ध ढंग से 3744 जातियों के 10 लाख ओबीसी समाज के लोग बौद्ध धर्म स्वीकार करेंगे। 
 
सत्यशेधक ओबीसी परिषद तथा सार्वजनिक धम्मदीक्षा परिषद दीक्षाभूमि द्वारा संयुक्त रूप से कार्यक्रम का आयोजन किया गया था। भदंत आर्य नागार्जुन सुरेई ससाई के हाथों दोपहर 3 बजे धम्मदीक्षा समारोह प्रारम्भ हुआ। डॉ. बाबासाहेब आंबेडकर स्मारक समिति के कार्यवाहक सदानंद फुलझेले प्रमुखता से उपस्थित रहें। 
 
धर्मांतरण करने वालों को बुद्ध एंड हीज धम्म, धम्मविधि पूजा-पाठ, 22 प्रतिज्ञा तथा बुद्ध की मूर्ति भेंट की गई। संदीप हनुमंतराव उपरे एंव उनके परिवारजनो के साथ ओबीसी बंधुओं ने बौद्ध धर्म की दीक्षा ली।

Courtesy: Nationaldastak

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