As we observe 130 years of the birth of Doctor Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, his legacy continues to be undermined, appropriated and narrowed down by Indians to suit their conveniences and agendas. Well known as the chief architect of the Indian constitution, Ambedkar’s contributions far surpasses his reputation as a constitution writer and a Dalit leader. The major sphere of Ambedkar’s views and contributions are neglected and this has left the average Indian lacking in his understanding of the depth and range of Ambedkar’s legacy. But is this neglect deliberate?
We celebrate and appreciate him for his crucial role in the making of our constitution and ignore everything else about him. We reduce him to something that doesn’t unsettle us. We choose to be selectively blind because he asks difficult questions, he put forwards difficult ideas, he stands for principles we don’t want to associate with. He questions things dear to us, our prejudices, our inhibitions, he questions the very traditions that we live by every day. As caste continues to be a cruel reality right in front our eyes, we revere him as our constitution maker under our cosy umbrella of privileged patriotism.
In 1931, when Ambedkar met Gandhi for the first time, Gandhi questioned him about his sharp criticism of the Congress (which, it was assumed, was tantamount to criticising the struggle for the homeland). “Gandhiji, I have no Homeland,” was Ambedkar’s famous reply. “No Untouchable worth the name will be proud of this land.”
― B R Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
85 years since The Annihilation of Caste, an undelivered speech which put forward “radical” ideas of equality and liberty, we are yet to be equal. The same deadly broth of casteism that Ambedkar fought tooth and nail to exterminate still lives on in the Indian society. While privileged ignoramuses continue to deny the reality of India’s caste conundrum, it continues to kill, to humiliate, to discriminate. The poison of caste still finds its place, in various forms, some subtle. Those who have the privilege to say they don’t believe in caste continue to deny their privilege, hang on to their caste names and question the need for reservation while a large section of the population still struggles to be heard, to be represented, to be treated with respect.
An excerpt from The Annihilation of Caste-
“It is a pity that caste even today has its defenders. The defences are many. It is defended on the ground that the Caste System is but another name for division of labour and if division of labour is a necessary feature of every civilized society, then it is argued that there is nothing wrong in the Caste System. Now the first thing is to be urged against this view is that Caste System is not merely division of labour. It is also a division of labourers. Civilized society undoubtedly needs division of labour. But in no civilized society is division of labour accompanied by this unnatural division of labourers"
Dr. Ambedkar was a social scientist and reformer with an intricate understanding of how the Indian society was structured and devoted all his energies into advocating for a radical re-structuring of the society into a system that treats every individual with dignity. Ambedkar’s work was one that transcended religion, caste and gender. While he is someone who is often side-lined in discussions about women empowerment, he was among the first to talk about equal rights and female representation in education and positions of powers. Ambedkar was directly responsible for several laws that gave women the right to property, maternity benefits and the women’s welfare labour fund. He also recognized that patriarchy and caste goes hand in hand and wrote extensively on the oppression of women within social groups. He advocated for the Hindu Code Bill which was an attempt at reforming the Hindu Personal law, this included inheritance rights for women among several other reforms.
He was also an impassioned crusader of workers rights. He argued for living wages, decent working conditions and freedom of peasants from their tyrannical landlords in Round Table conferences held in the 1930s. He introduced the Indian Trade Union (Amendment) Bill on November 8th 1943 which was critical in strengthening trade unions and improving the working conditions of labourers.
A vehement critic of Hinduism (and its Varna system), Ambedkar publicly converted to Buddhism along with thousands of followers in 1956. He radically re-interpreted the Buddhist religion to create a new school of Buddhism built on the values of equality and self respect. He emphasized the importance of religious reform along with social reform.
“Religion, social status and property are all sources of power and authority, which one man has, to control the liberty of another. One is predominant at one stage; the other is predominant at another stage. That is the only difference. If liberty is the ideal, if liberty means the destruction of the dominion which one man holds over another then obviously it cannot be insisted upon that economic reform must be the one kind of reform worthy of pursuit. If the source of power and dominion is at any given time or in any given society social and religious then social reform and religious reform must be accepted as the necessary sort of reform”
Ambedkar was passionate in his advocacy of a uniform civil code across the country as a means of social reform even though it was met with stiff opposition from representatives of different religions and he had to agree to its place in Directive Principles of State Policy.
"I personally do not understand why religion should be given this vast, expansive jurisdiction, so as to cover the whole of life and to prevent the legislature from encroaching upon that field. After all, what are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system, which is so full of inequities, discriminations and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights."
Babasaheb Ambedkar was an intellectual giant and a true revolutionary in a country where caste and religion continue to act as tools of oppression. The social reform that Ambedkar envisaged lies unfulfilled as politicians from both ends of political spectrum continue to appropriate his legacy while the we remain as neutral spectators in a disturbingly unequal society- a far cry from where we have to be.
-Kiran Palathingal
(originally written and published in April 2021 at therestlessreformist.blogspot.in)
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