Prof Ram Puniyani
ON 14th April, the nation celebrated Ambedkar Jayanti. Many aptly celebrate it as ‘Equality Day’. Nationwide celebrations also witnessed lectures and seminars to recall the values and principles of the man who pioneered the ideology and movements striving for equality and democracy. Interestingly, those whose agenda is opposed to these values, those who are working for the opposite agenda of the Hindu rashtra (nation) and base their ideology on Manusmriti, also sang praises for him. The Hindu holy book dictates the values that uphold the caste system and patriarchal values.
While paying lip service to Ambedkar, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat equated him to the founder of his own organisation, KB Hedgewar. “Both dedicated their lives to social progress and held a common aspiration for the nation’s growth,” he said. Now what is common between Ambedkar’s dream of social equality, democracy, federalism, abolition of caste and RSS founder’s vision of a Hindu nation, based on the ancient holy books upholding the caste system and patriarchy? These are in direct contrast with each other. But since paying tribute to Babsaheb has become mandatory for all for electoral compulsions, Bhagwat has to stretch things to pull him into the ambit of the list of their icons.
Not to be left behind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, went on to criticise the Indian National Congress. “Congress has become the destroyer of the Constitution. Dr Ambedkar wanted to bring in equality… Babasaheb wanted every poor, every backward to be able to live with dignity and with his head high, to have dreams and complete them…Congress has always treated SCs, STs, and OBCs as second-class citizens.”
Modi is distorting the facts. It is true that Ambedkar was critical of Congress and Mahatma Gandhi at various occasions; still it was Congress and Gandhi with whom he interacted maximally to achieve his goal of social equality in particular. Gandhi is much criticised for betraying the cause of the Dalits. ‘Poona Pact’ has come under severe criticism, but all said and done it was the most practical step towards affirmative action for the Dalits. Gandhi was so touched by Ambedkar’s positions that he understood the ills of caste in a deeper way and made eradication of untouchability his prime mission for the next two years: going from village to village, ensuring that Dalits are permitted entry into the temples and are able to draw water from the village wells. This also became the mission for many Congress workers.
This is the time when BJP ideology founders were singing praises for the values of the caste system and arguing that it is this system which has given stability to Hindu society! Ambedkar’s yeoman service to the nation was recognised by the national leaders and they were keen that Ambedkar should be part of the Constituent Assembly, In her biography ‘BABASAHEB: My Life with Dr Ambedkar’, Savita Ambedkar quotes correspondence between Dr Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, G Mavalankar, and BG Kher, “to stress how all the top Congress leaders were extremely keen to have her husband elected to the Constituent Assembly unopposed. “For instance Patel wrote to Mavalankar on July 5, 1947: ‘Dr Ambedkar’s nomination has been sent to PM. I hope there would be no contest and he would be returned unopposed so that he could come here on the 14th.’”
Congress ensured that Babasaheb won the seat for the Constituent Assembly and made its chairman. The participation and contribution of Babasaheb, well supported by Congress, yielded the fruit in the form of the Indian Constitution. On the contrary, Organiser, the mouthpiece of RSS, the parent organisation of the BJP, came out heavily saying that this Constitution has nothing Indian about it. The ideological mentor cum fellow traveller of RSS, Savakar was against it proclaiming that “Manusmriti is the Constitution for India.”
Same way, Ambedkar handled the responsibility of drafting the Hindu Code Bill, with Nehru standing behind him. The code was opposed by some elements within, but mainly by the ideologues of Hindu nationalism, who went on to burn the effigy of Ambedkar on 12 December, 1949. While RSS-BJP are upholding the Brahmanical version of Hinduism, Babasaheb had already declared that I was born a Hindu but I will not die a Hindu.
Similarly, as RSS was talking of Hindu rashtra, Babasaheb in the revised edition of the book on Pakistan, opposed it on the ground that this may pave the way for Hindu Raj “which will be the biggest tragedy for us.” BJP’s Hindu nationalist ideology is deeply opposed to Babasaheb’s dream of annihilation of caste and has been deeply opposed by Modi’s ideology. Modi’s parent organisation RSS has floated Samajik Samrasta Manch, which talks about harmony among castes rather than its annihilation.
Currently, some ideologues are arguing that since annihilation is not easy, so let us resort to strengthening sub-caste identities to get them more privileges! This will be a disaster for the values of our fraternity, the core principle of the Indian Constitution. RSS is also trying to wean sections of Dalits by co-option and social engineering. RSS organisations are also inventing icons of sub-communities among Dalits and giving them values of patriarchy, and caste hierarchy, along with an anti-Muslim slant.
One could see the response of BJP to the implementation of Mandal Commission, which was a major step towards social justice. In response, the BJP did not oppose it for electoral calculations but instead intensified its Ram Temple campaign. The way the BJP is floating the identity issues and derailing the path of social justice is highly despicable. At the same time, through various manoeuvres it has also succeeded in turning a section of the deprived youth into its foot soldiers who dance in front of mosques with naked swords.
On top of it, it is Rahul Gandhi of Congress who brought to the fore the implementation of the Constitution as the major path for social and economic justice. Putting the blame on the plight of Dalits/OBCs and neglect of Babasaheb by Congress is like putting the truth on its head!
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and a former professor at IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
