Do we really respect Dr Ambedkar or is it mere lip service?

It was the 100th day celebration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in power and everyone was trying to analyse his performance. My friends and I were also debating the social impact of the new government. While proving my argument, I quoted Dr BR Ambedkar on certain social issues. Without waiting for me to complete my point, a friend who supports the BJP, jumped into the debate and asked if I belonged to the Scheduled Caste community. I was not surprised or shocked by his question, but saddened by his castiest and biased approach towards Ambedkar. When I replied that I idolised Ambedkar for many reasons, his response was, "If you want to idolise someone, then Baba Amte or Mother Terresa would be a better option. Why Ambedkar?"

This is a common thinking pattern in India and I was well aware of it. But with the media saying that the caste factor was losing its hold on Indian politics and the way Modi had been emphasising on Ambedkar's legacy, had me under the impression that social equations were rapidly changing in India. But my friend's response proved how the media is often in a hurry to draw conclusions.

It’s a fact that people from the middle class and all the four varnas (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra) know too little about Ambedkar. They only seem to know that Ambedkar had critiqued Hinduism throughout his life and that he was responsible for the policy of reservation. Not everyone knows he was the architect of the Constitution of India, that he had a PhD in economics from Columbia University, that the Reserve Bank of India is based on his idea, that he fought for the empowerment of women and that he wrote many books on various topics. Ambedkar had also insisted on the formation of small states, opposed the idea of a Hindu or any religion-based nation, insisted on the word ‘scientific temperament’ in the Constitution and many such things. More importantly, despite all this, we can still criticise him or anyone of his stature because democracy, is one of the biggest gifts he has given to every Indian.

The BJP’s stand on Ambedkar has always been dubious. On one hand, the BJP's parent organisation RSS and its wings act contrary to the ideology of Ambedkar and on the other hand they keep praising him. It was the Jan Sangh’s strong opposition to the Hindu Code Bill which led to the resignation of Ambedkar from the Law ministry. It was Guru Golwalkar, the second sarasanghachalak of the RSS who pitched for the continuation of ‘Chaturvarnya Vyavastha’ and it is the same RSS family that still dreams about the formation of a ‘Hindu Nation’. Despite all these differences, the RSS seem to have one strong reason to praise Ambedkar in its morning prayers - that he with his followers converted to Buddhism and not Islam.

In fact, some members of the group ‘Bhagava Brigade’ dare to say that Gautam Buddha was an avatar of Vishnu, which has gone down very well in comic literature. Hence, the BJP’s love and respect for Ambedkar is nothing but political opportunism and the inefficiency to create a leader of his stature. The BJP’s strategy is clear, let’s not discuss Ambedkar's ideology but keep praising him. And they have succeeded in this in many ways, which is one kind of defeat for the legacy of Ambedkar.

The BJP and Congress are two sides of the same coin. If the BJP is dubious, then the Congress is shameless. The Congress’ policy towards Ambedkar was different at the Centre and the state level. Their Central leadership had always been so busy in the glorification of one family, that they did not get time to understand the legacy and contribution of other leaders. So Ambedkar always remained neglected by the Congress government. In fact, he was awarded with the Bharat Ratna only after the Congress lost power and VP Singh became prime minister. At the state level, in contrast, no Congress leader completes a speech without mentioning the legacy of ‘Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar’. On the other hand, incidents of atrocities against Dalits have been increasing every year and the Maratha leadership unites to ensure that persons from the Dalit community do not become the chief minister. This, again, is a different kind of defeat of Ambedkar.

Janardan Waghmare, a well-known writer in Marathi had said, 'Great leaders are not defeated by their opponents, but by their supporters.' Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening with Ambedkar. It's not the BJP and Congress, but leaders from his own Republican Party of India who are trying their best to insult him and his ideology in every possible way. Ambedkar had named his party ‘Scheduled Castes Federation’, but at one point he wanted to change the name to make it inclusive and reach out to every caste and religion. He dreamt of a day when the caste system and inequality would be eradicated from our society. As per his wish, after his sad demise, his followers changed the name of the party to the Republican Party of India. But they failed drastically to fulfill his dream. Their internal confrontations and political opportunism led to the destruction of the ‘Ambedkari movement’ and his values.

Expressing his anger and frustration, the late Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal says in one of his famous poems,
“Innumerable suns, ignited in blood,
Now, let’s burn every city”

Fortunately, despite all kinds of injustice, his true followers hardly turned violent. They stuck to the message and principles of Ambedkar. Even Dhasal didn't really want them to turn violent. As long as true followers of Ambedkar and ‘ignited suns with knowledge’ exist, there is hope for change and till that day, no one can defeat Ambedkar.