Dt: 11/3/15
Dr Ambedkar’s Bharatiyatha
or
Dr Ambedkar, the True Bharatiya
( b. 14th April 1891 d. 6th Dec 1956)
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
There were four towering and active social reformers during the first three decades of the 20th century. These were Sri Narayan Guru in Kerala, Ramaswami Naicker in Tamilnadu, Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Chowdary in Andhra Pradesh and Dr Ambedkar (first in Maharashtra and then throughout India). Of these four, Ambedkar was the most towering activist and intellectual whose impact on the Indian society is the greatest and is most intensely manifesting now.
Narayan Guru emphasised improvement by self effort. He energise the entire dalit community of Kerala harmoniously and without conflict with the upper castes lift themselves up morally, socially, educationally and economically.
Ramaswamy Naicker’s legacy is one of hatred against the so called upper castes and the spawning of several Dravidian parties each rooted in a combination of casteist groups. Tamilnadu is now the play -ground for mutually hostile caste groups all playing into the hands of Christian missionaries in their blind hatred of what they call Brahminical Hinduism .
Ramaswamy Chowdary’s was a reformists movement largely embracing a particular community in some districts of Andhra Pradesh but that paved for the rise of reformist and self-help movements especially for education among other castes also. Dr Ambedkar’s is the most valuable and the nation embracing activist reformist intellectual movement. His opposition to Gandhi was very well reasoned. His determined stand against the caste- induced inequality and servitude for the untouchables had moved Mahatma Gandhi to take up Harijan Seva and anti-untouchability campaigns. Gandhiji’s and Congress’ efforts of value to the upliftment of Harijas and the abolition of untouchability.
As Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution and through his numerous memoranda Dr.Ambedkar was able to put much of his vision for social justice in
the Constitution . He was not entirely satisfied with the Constitution which is commonly attribute to him. In fact, in 1953 speech in the Rajya Sabha he even said he would be prepared to burn the Constitution as it has not gone far enough to remove the casteist inequality deriving from the Hindu Sastras. He believed that unless the Sastraik injunctions and rules and practices are repudiated and given up, casteism would not disappear any soon.
2. It is unfortunate that one of India’s greatest scholar, statesman, patriot and social reformer Dr B.R. Ambedkar is portrayed by vested interest’s as a dalit leader who rebelled against Hinduism while Dr. Ambedkar contribution for building up modern India ranks equal to those of our great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr Rajendra Prasad and others . Dr. Ambedkar is an example of the fulfilment of the message that Lord Krishna gave in the Bhagawad Gita --uddharet athmana ---
Udharet aatmanaa aatmanam na aatmaanamavasadayet
Aatma yeva hi aatmano bandhuh aatma eva ripuratmanah –B.G 6.5
One should lift oneself up by one’s own efforts. One should not degrade himself (by not putting any effort )
3. Against heavy odds Dr. Ambedkar, born into the lowest of our society rose to the pinnacle as a great statesman , scholar, legal luminary and our constitution writer. It is absolutely unjust and unbecoming for any section of the people to describe him or hold him as a leader merely of a particular r section. It would be appropriate to recall some of his unique contributions to the Indian society and nation.
4. Ramsay McDonald, the Labour Prime Minister of UK gave the communal award (Aug 1932) according to which the Sheduled Castes were to be given a separate electorate and reserved seats in legislatures. Mahatma Gandhi went on a fast unto death denouncing this award as he held the separation of the SCs whom he called Harijans, from the main stream of Hindus would be the death knell of this nation. Dr. Ambedkar fervently held that people elected by that particular section of people only could be true representatives. When Gandhiji’s death was thought to be imminent, Dr. Ambedkar relented and said he would not be the cause of Ghandhiji’s death. He therefore agreed for a common electorate but with a certain number of seats reserved for the Harijans. This was a win -win situation both for Dr. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi. But for his great regard for human life he would not have compromised. That speaks of the innate dharmic quality that motivated Dr. Ambedkar throughout his life.
5. It may be noted that when he wanted separate electorate and reserved seats as per the Communal Award pronounced by Ramsay McDonald the labour Prime Minister of UK, Dr Ambedkar wanted that provision only for 10 years. Similarly, the reservations that are provided for STs & SCs in India’s Constitution were also only for 10 years as Dr. Abmedkar desired.
An interesting point is that when Prof K.T.Shah proposed the inclusion of the words secular and socialist in the Preamble of the Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar opposed that as even without those phrases the Constitution as drafted was enough socialistic and secular. Dr Ambedkar never believed in the sincerity of Congress. He expressed this clearly in his assay, “What Gandhi and Congress have done for the Dalits”. It is only to cover up the communalism and minorityism and seductive love for garibs that Indira Gandhi smuggled the words secularism and socialism into the Preamble during her dictatorial Emergency rule in 1975-77. The Congress, during Jawaharlal Nehru’s time itself vengefully got Dr Ambedkar defeated by Congress S.C candidates in Mumbai in the 1952 General Elections to the Lok Sabha and in a subsequent bye-election in Vidarbha too by non-descript S.C candidates of Congress, of course with caste Hindu votes against Dr.Ambedkar who contested on behalf of the Scheduled Castes Federation of India .
Dr. Ambedkar on Congress men
"Mr. Gandhi had become a positive danger to his country. He had choked all the thoughts. He was holding together the Congress which is a combination of all the bad and self-seeking elements in society who agreed on no social or moral principle governing the life of society except the one of praising and flattering Mr Gandhi. Such a body is unfit to govern the country". And the Bible says that something good comes out of evil, so also I think that good will come out of the death of Mr. Gandhi. He will release people from bondage to superman, It will make them think for themselves and it will compel them to stand on their own merits. And to that, he added: “My real enemy has gone, thank goodness, the eclipse is over”
Source: A Reporter At Large ( page 238/239) by M V Kamat
6. In his (undelivered but printed) address Annihilation of Caste” to the Jat Pat Todak Sangh of Lahore in 1936 Dr.Ambedkar advised Hindus that unless the tribals ( 7.5% of India’s population) are dealt with fairly and integrated into the Hindu fold, Christian missionaries would get at them and that would be a problem [It is interesting to note that Dr Ambedkar refers to the aborigines being in the savage state. In his speech , “Annihilation of Caste” he observed, “ The Hindu has not realised that these aborigines are a source of potential danger. If these savages remain savages, they may not do any harm to the Hindus. But if they are reclaimed by non-Hindus ( Christians and Muslims ) and converted to their faiths , they will swell the ranks of the enemies of the Hindus . If this happens, the Hindu will have to thank himself and his caste system. (p. 250, 251 – Annihilation of Caste by Dr. Ambedkar, Navayana Publications]. How prophetic he was! Following the Niyogi Commission Report on missionaries’ activities among tribals, states like MP and Orissa enacted laws dealing with religious conversions. Some other states enacted similar laws later . The enforcement of the laws however is almost nil with the result that tribals and others are being converted; conversions are resisted Hindu-Christian riots are beginning .
7. Dr. Ambedkar was not fascinated by India’s communists and their party although he was quite appreciative of the Marxist economic analysis . He held that history and progress of people and societies is not entirely determined by economics as Marxist believe. He distanced himself from Indian communists because their struggles he said were motivated more by political considerations than by economic issues and more importantly, social and human rights for the dalit untouchables and workers. As distinct from the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) he formed the Independent Labur Party (ILP) in 1936. Earlier in the various strikes that the communist controlled Gurni Kamgar Union (GKU) of Bombay launched in 1924 ,25,28 & 29, he dissuaded the dalit untouchable textile workers from participating in the strikes. In fact, he called upon them to disassociate from communists. The communists branded Dr Ambedkar as enemy of labour. Com. EMS Namboodiripal in his book, “The History of the Indian Freedom Struggle” wrote, that Ambedkar’s concern for the issue of caste and untouchability “ was a great blow to the freedom movement, for this lead to be diversion of the people’s attention from the objective of full independence to the mundane cause of the upliftment of the Harijans” . Dr. Ambedkar attributed the hostility of the communists to him to the upper caste leadership of the communist party in India. Dr Ambedkar placed social justice and equality and freedom of change of profession which can come through education, above electoral political democracy and the political equality of different sections of people. He was for social justice and not the communist brand of socialism he believed that state must provide the capital for industrial development and for agriculture. He also believed that state has an important role in mobilising resources through for example : nationalised insurance for the development of industries and agriculture.
An untouchable Hindu was untouchable to all:
In 1917, Dr Ambedkar returned to Baroda with a Doctorate from Columbia University, New York to serve the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayojirao Gaekawad as per the terms of his scholarship that the Maharaja gave to Dr. Ambedkar. He searched for some accommodation. As soon as he disclosed his caste, no Hindu, no Christian, no Muslim was prepared to give him any room because he was an untouchable! He disguised himself as a Parsi and got admission to a Parsi quarter. As soon as the Parsi discovered that Dr.Ambedkar was an untouchable he was thrown out of the house by armed persons
8. In March 1940 the Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution at its annual session in Lahore. Dr. Ambedkar studied the Muslim problem of India for the previous centuries and came to the conclusion that peaceful coexistence as one nation of Muslims and Hindus was impossible by the very nature of Islam which divides people into believers and non-believers, the latter condemned to hell. He wrote a tome, “Pakistan or India Divided” in September 1940 in which he showed what a blunder Hindus and the Congress were committing in opposing the partition of India. India would be a stronger and more unified and homogeneous nation –state after Pakistan was given away as Muslims have been demanding and rioting for it. The final, final solution for the centuries - long Muslim problem in India was division and most importantly total exchange of minority populations between Pakistan &Hindustan. He correctly predicted that non-Muslims, that is Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs would be expelled from Pakistan as it indeed happened. He advocated the sending away of all Muslims from Hindustan to Pakistan as that alone would conduce to a Muslim problem -free India. He cited the example of what happened in Turkey after the Ottomon Empire was dissolved at the end of the World War in 1919. The Muslims in Turkey -ruled Bulgaria and Hungary and the Balkan provinces were brought to Turkey and all Christians in Turkey were sent away to Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece and other Balkan states under the auspices of the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations) in a very peaceful and planned manner. It is unfortunate that inspite of Md.Ali Jinnah and the top Muslim League leaders wanting the exchange of populations Gandhi and Nehru did not agree and India is left with the perpetually unsolvable Muslim problem, which now is reverting to the character and dimensions of pre-1947.
9. In the book, “Pakistan or the Partition of India” Dr. Ambedkar wrote, “I do not think the demand for Pakistan is the result of mere political distemper, which will pass away with the efflux of time. As I read the situation, it seems to me that it is a characteristic in the biological sense of the term which the Muslim body politic has developed in the same manner as an organism develops a characteristic. Whether it will survive or not, in the process of natural selection, must depend upon the forces that may become operative in the struggle for existence between Hindus and Musalmans”. The characteristic Dr Ambedkar discerned may called Pakistaniat, like Kashmiriat or Hindutva . In the Muslims’ struggle for partition and Hindus’ opposition to it, the first triumph of Musalmans created Pakistan. The Pakistaniat that became the DNA of Muslims then, has incubated well in the Musalmans who created Pakistan but stayed on, in India. The operative forces post-partition are the Pakistaniat-infected Muslims and the Muslim-vote soliciting self-styled “secular” parties (Congress and the regional excepts Shiva Sena) on the one hand and the BJP which is not shy of Hindutva, on the other. Pakistaniat in sections of Muslim Indians is no longer in the incubation stage; it is manifesting among intellectuals like Prof. Amar Abbas who advocated (Economic and Political Weekly Dec 2000) one more partition of India to create Mogulistan ( a belt of territory straddling across northern areas of Bengal, Behar and UP upto Pakistan ) and the Oweisis of Hyderabad who are, as before partition demanding reservations for Muslims and the “secular” parties carving out Muslim- majority districts like Malappuram and Kasargode in Kerala and Mewat in Haryana and launching “Muslim First” programs of development in 92 districts ( identified by Sachar Committee Report on Muslims). Not heeding to Dr. Ambedkar’s advocacy of exchange of minority populations, is now leading to virulent manifestation of Pakistaniat DNA in what remains as India.
10. At the time of writing the Constitution Jawaharlal Nehru wanted an extraordinary special status to be given to J&K. On advice from Nehru, Shaikh Abdullah met with Dr Ambedkar giving all the specious reasons for the greatest autonomy to J&K. Dr.Ambedkar patiently listened to him and said to the effect : India should defend Kashmir with life and blood of India’s soldiers and money; Kashmiries can acquire property and be represented in India’s Parliament but non-Kashmiri Indians cannot acquire property or be represented in your legislature. You will have a separate flag; separate constitution, separate Prime Minister! I am a Minister swearing loyalty to India I cannot let down my country by agreeing to your peculiar terms. Unfortunately, Jawaharlal Nehru prevailed upon the servile Congressmen to give special status to J&K in terms of Art-370, much against the wish and argument of Dr. Ambedkar.
11. Dr. Ambedkar tried to eliminate the caste order among Hindus. All his efforts did not bring the required degree of change. He said that he was born a Hindu but would not like to die a Hindu. The Nizam of Hyderabad offered Rs. 7.5 cr if he converted to Islam; dozens of Christian missionaries from all over the world came requesting him and his people to convert to Christianity. Dr. Ambedkar refused to convert either himself or his people to Islam saying that the brotherhood in Islam is confined to only “believers” and in Christianity the lot of the dalits who already embraced that religion has not at all improved . He was aware of the plight of the Blacks’ slavery in the US even after conversion to Christianity and also the untouchability and ghettos imposed upon the Blacks, natives of South Africa even after conversion to Christianity. He believed that conversion to either Islam or Christianity would lead to denationalisation of Dalits. In 1956 he advised India’s Harijans at a mammoth rally in Nagpur on the. 2500th anniversary of Buddha’s nirvana that they should embrace one of India’s dharmas, Buddhism which is universal in its outlook and is the best of the dharmas that arose in Bharat.
Muslims too....
In 1934 Dr Ambedkar and some of his followers were going to Daulathabad in the Nizam’s Hyderabad dominion. It was mid evening. They were walking. They felt thirsty. They wanted to drink water from a pond on the way. Immediately some Muslims obstructed him and his friends, saying that untouchables would not be allowed to drink water from that pond !
12. A scholarly and bold vigorous assertion of Dr Ambedkar was that the theory of Aryan invasion was a myth propagated by the racist colonists. He held that the untouchables were former Buddhists who were overwhelmed by the onslaught of Sanatan dharma on Buddhism and the defeated and depressed Buddhists were ostracised and treated as untouchables and dispossessed persons. His finding was in contradiction of the orientalists of Europe and the Marxist historians of India .
13. The Christian missionaries and their duped dalits are studiously describing Dr.Ambedkar as an enemy of Hindus while the fact is that Dr Ambedkar decisively rejected the superiority of Islam and Christianity over the Indic dharmas and exhorted his men to embrace the Indic religion Buddhism and reject the de-nationalising Islam and Christianity. The Rashtriya Svayam Sevak (RSS) is doing great justice to Dr Ambedkar than all the dalits by including his name among the prathah smaraneeyas (those who are to be rendered obeisance with sunrise) in their daily hymn, ekathmatha stotram ( the hymn to the fundamental unity of India ). He is saluted along with Shankara, Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Gugru Govind Singh and Kesav Bhaliram Hegdewar......
14. When he was the Law Minister in independent India’s government, apart from drafting the Constitution, he also piloted the Hindu Code Bills reforming and bringing uniformity among Hindus in respect of marriage and succession. He liked to bring in Uniform Civil Code as enjoined by Article - 44 but Jawaharlal Nehru came in the way saying the Muslims were not prepared for it then (and never will they agree in India while Muslims in the European and American countries and even in Goa are subjected to a Uniform Civil Code).
Jogindranath Mondal had to flee from Pakistan :
Jogindranath Mondal was a ranking leader of Schedule Caste in East Pakistan . The Muslim League has nominated him as Minister in the Interim Cabinet of the Vice Roy (1946-47) in Delhi . After partition he became the Law Minister of Pakistan in Karachi. He noticed with horror the forced conversions , rape and loot of the Dalits in East Pakistan . His complaints to Liakat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan was dismissed by the latter as, “Islam does not allow such things, your complaints are false “. He was so mistreated that he fled Pakistan and took refuge in Calcutta where he died unnoticed and unwept. The Muslim League’s love for the Dalits was like the bear’s hug.
15. Dr. Ambedkar held that if the congenital inequality in the Indian society is to be ended, it could only be through education. That is why unlike in any other Constitution of any nation in the world, he provided Article 21A for compulsory free education for every child for 8 years. Unfortunately, no government sincerely implemented this either before or now. That is why the congenital inequality is still persisting.
16. Dr. Ambedkar is one of the greatest sons of India. It is no wonder that there are many more statues to him than even to Mahatma Gandhi but those who are engaged in anti-Hindu activities, especially conversion activists are studiously and deliberately not referring to his prescriptive advice to dalits of this country not to convert to Islam or to Christianity but only to one of the dharmas of Bharat, namely Buddhism. (3,352 words)
END