“I confess that I have quarreled with the caste Hindus over some points, but I take vow before you that I shall lay down my life in defense of our land”
-
Babasaheb1
There is recent trend in
India, tacitly planned, spitefully designed, venomously orchestrated by some
right wing hindutva groups which brands dalits especially ambedkarites as
anti-nationals. Even though they conspicuously praise Babasaheb, they
inconspicuously lay the foundation in the minds of all non-dalits to hate
ambedkarites and leftists. The incident of RohithVemula is one such example.
Their orchestration is admirably brilliant. When all political elites praise
Ambedkar, now and then, some obscure rookie politician is made to question the
integrity of Babasaheb publicly to defame the legend. Not long ago, one such
politician decried publicly that Dr.Ambedkar does not deserve to have so many
statues in India, more than even Mahatma Gandhi, because Ambedkar was against
Indian independence!!!
No
one would have heard a more stupid and insane argument than this in his or her
lifetime. Dr.Ambedkar was never against the independence of our country. He as
a messiah of the depressed classes and the downtrodden strongly believed that
only free India can give them the real political power, which they are deprived
off. Babasaheb himself has said “We feel
that nobody can remove our grievances as well as we can, and we cannot remove
them unless we get political power in our own hands. No share of this political
power can evidently come to us so long as the British government remains as it
is. It is only in a swaraj constitution that we stand any chance of getting the
political power into our hands, without which we cannot bring salvation to our
people.”2Infact Dr.Ambedkar was a person with a true spirit of
freedom, patriotism and nationalism. He was always convinced that justice could
not be served to the people in a colonially ordained society and sincerely
believed freedom is the necessary condition for the development of the human
self. Hence he stressed “We must have a
government in which men in power knowing where obedience will end and
resistance will begin, will not be afraid to amend the social and economic code
of life which the dictates of justice and expediency so urgently call for. This
role the British government will never able to play. It is only a government
which is of the people for the people and by the people that will make this
possible.”3
Many
congressmen even today accuse Dr.Ambedkar of opposing congress, which fought
for India’s political freedom from foreign rule and hence state him as an
anti-national. If we read history of India with a true open mind, we could
understand one thing that Ambedkar was one of those few classes of people who
existed that day, who was a true patriot and batted for a real freedom. It was
true that Dr.Ambedkar was against Congress, but it was not because they fought
for freedom from foreign rule, but because they fought for freedom only from
foreign rule. He was more a patriot and a better national than the congressmen
but with a fundamental difference. As his patriotism doesn’t just meant a cry
for power, so his freedom doesn’t just meant freedom from foreign rule. For him true freedom cannot be realized only
with the breakage of colonial political structure but with a supplementary
collapse of Hindu social structure. His patriotism meant love for his own
people rather hate for British, which the congress successfully articulated. Babasaheb
believed that as long as caste hierarchy exists, strong patriarchy exists;
political freedom achieved will only be a mirage. Hence he digs at the so
called Congress patriots in the following way; “……nationalists and patriots are a peculiar people. A patriot and a
nationalist in India is one who sees with open eyes his fellowmen treated as
being less than men. But his humanity does not rise in protest. He knows that
men and women for no cause are denied their human rights. But it does not prick
his civic sense to helpful action. He finds whole classes of people shut out
from public employment. But it does not rouse his sense of justice and fair
play. He perceives hundreds of evil practices that injure man and society. But
they do not sicken him with disgust” 4 He further confirms his
position as a true patriot as, “I am glad
I do not belong to that class of patriots. I belong to that class which takes
its stand on democracy and which seeks to destroy monopoly in every shape and
form. Our aim is to realize in practice our ideal of one man, one value in all
walks of life. Political, economic and social.“5Hence Babasaheb to
answer his detractors characteristically declared“the untouchables are not opposed to freedom from British Imperialism.
But they refuse to be content with mere freedom from British Imperialism. What
they insist upon is that free India is not enough. Free India should be made
safe for democracy”.6
Dr.Ambedkar in a strictest sense
wanted a true democratically free India, not mere free India. Democracy in his
sense was not just a form of government as the congress and other mere freedom
fighters thought. For him it was a society in action. He really wanted a
democratic society to be nurtured by all stakeholders in India that gives equal
respect to all, a precondition to setup a free, independent democratic
government. At least he needed some constitutional safeguards in the free India
to realize the true freedom. Hence Dr.Ambedkar wrote,“A democratic form of Government presupposes
a democratic form
of society. The formal framework of democracy
is of no value
and would indeed be a
misfit if there was no social
democracy. The politicals never realized that
democracy was not a form of Government. It was essentially a form of society. It may not be necessary for
a democratic society to be marked by unity, by community of purpose, by loyalty to public ends and by mutuality
of sympathy. But
it does unmistakably involve two things. The first is an attitude of mind, an attitude
of respect and equality towards their fellows. The second
is a social organization free from rigid social barriers. Democracy is
incompatible and inconsistent with isolation and exclusiveness, resulting in
the distinction between the privileged and the unprivileged”.7His
vision was more pragmatic than mere romantic. He was not ready to take the
congress’s point that social suppression is a minor issue, which could be
sorted out after independence but stressed on the importance of creating a
concurrence among all stakeholders about constitutional safeguards. Hence he
categorically ascertains “In short what
the untouchables want are safeguards in the constitution itself which will
prevent the tyranny of a Hindu communal majority from coming into being”8
Babasaheb was one of the highly
misunderstood figures of modern India. He himself knows this and hence says “I know my position has not been understood
properly in the country. It often been misunderstood…I say that whenever there
has been a conflict between my personal interests and the interests of the
country as a whole, I have never pursued the path of private gain….so far the
demands of the country are concerned, I have never lagged behind.”9
Isn’t it a true statement? Who else can claim the status of the real architect
of modern India than our Babasaheb? Pragmatically he batted for factories and not
for any romanticized farms. Apart from drafting the constitution, which
everyone know, he was the first intellect to recommend for RBI, free banking,
decentralized planning10, Government Insurance companies11,
and regulated work time in factories12 etc. He waged a lifelong
struggle for dalits, downtrodden and women. What India should always remember
is whatever right any individual enjoys in this free India today is a gift of
Babasaheb by virtue of his relentless struggle against the vested interests.
And it becomes our resolute duty to salute this great man who breathed his last
for the nation and the development of the nation.
Bibliography
1.
Quoted
in “Ambedkar life and Mission” written by Keer, Dhananjay
2.
Quoted
in “Thus Spoke Ambedkar” written by Das, Bhagawan
3.
Ibid
4.
Ibid
5.
Quoted
in “Political philosophy of Ambedkar” written by D.R.Jatava
6.
“What
Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables” by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar
7.
“Ranade,
Gandhi and Jinnah” by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar
8.
“What
Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables” by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar
9.
Quoted
in “Ambedkar life and Mission” written by Keer, Dhananjay
10.
Rouledge
handbook of history of global economic thought – by Vincent Barnett
11.
Dr.Ambedkar
and empowerment: constitutional vicissitudes- by K.I.Vibhute
12.
Ambedkar
, a critical study – by W.N.Kuber
