Celebrating Messiah of Mhow Way to Revive Those Forgotten by Nehruvian Plutocracy
Social reincarnation is often the opportunistic face of politics.
Hence, it is no surprise that a leader, born 125 years ago, in a family
of ‘untouchables’ in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, is being reborn as a 21st
century prophet of competitive politics for 125 crore Indians. Last
week, hardly any leader worth his salt failed to remind ‘We, the People
of India’ about Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s overwhelming contribution in
restoring social equilibrium in a caste-infected nation. PM Narendra
Modi flew down to Mhow last Thursday. Sonia Gandhi addressed a massive
rally there a few days earlier. Needless to say, the media was
predictable beneficiary of the government’s largesse unlike the target
audience that represented an unsung Indian class revolution.
Undoubtedly,
Dr Ambedkar was of a different league. He was an elitist in attire but a
sanguine social reformist in words and wisdom. Ideologically, he wasn’t
a Congressman. After participating in the freedom struggle, he floated
the Independent Labour Party and contested the Lok Sabha elections in
1952. But he lost to the Congress candidate Narayan Kajrolkar. PM
Jawaharlal Nehru had included the Dalit firebrand in independent India’s
first Cabinet. In the pecking order, however, Ambedkar wasn’t perceived
as the cardinal leader of Dalit interests. Babu Jagjivan Ram, a low
caste Congressman from Bihar, was placed three notches above him. For
the next quarter century, the Congress went on to project ‘Babuji’ as
the messiah of the socially discriminated until 1977, when he broke away
to float his party, Congress for Democracy, which later merged with the
Janata Party.
Today, the political panorama, including the
Congress and BJP, has appropriated Ambedkar as its ideological deity.
For more than 50 years, none of them thought of him as a personage who
deserved the Bharat Ratna—21 awardees came before him until he was
conferred with the award in 1990, when VP Singh was the Prime Minister.
Ironically, both the national parties have today scored ahead of the
smaller parties, including the BSP, which thrive and survive in his name
in the National Ambedkar Worship Exhibition.
Ever since Modi
became the PM in 2014, he has made Ambedkar the fulcrum of his strategy
of political expansionism and vote acquisition. Since the BJP was
perceived as a party dominated by Brahmanical moorings, Modi conceived
an idea to transform the untouchables as India’s most touchable of
identities. He directed all ministries to plan special events throughout
the year to celebrate Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary, forcing other
parties to become also-rans. He led his ministers, chief ministers and
party cadres on the social media to project Baba Saheb as India’s most
revered statesman.
The revival of the Ambedkar cult reflects the
growing realisation among all political parties that the Messiah from
Mhow continues to be the most powerful figure in winning electoral
battles. None of the political parties in the west or north of the
country can complete its electoral manifesto without dropping Ambedkar’s
name. Even the RSS is competing with parties in promoting Ambedkar as a
reformer, forgetting the fact that he was against Hinduism and also
favoured Muslims. Sadly, the Ambedkar legacy is being exploited only in
the name of reservation. If one devotes the time to scan through his
speeches and books, Ambedkar was much more than a mere promoter of caste
quotas in Parliament, state Assemblies and government jobs. His
admirers are only minimising his stature as the person who believed in
the modernisation of Indian culture and reducing large land holdings so
that poor farmers could prosper. He argued for a larger role for big
industry. He also warned the Congress leadership and Nehru against
supporting China’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
Instead, he wanted India to fight for herself—a battle which India is
now fighting to lose.
Ambedkar’s idea of reservation was aimed at
making Dalits stakeholders in the national narrative rather than
existing as ornamental glyphs of socialist symbology. Though India has
just about 15 per cent Dalits among its legislators and babus in its
ranks of governance today, they are hardly equal partners in running the
affairs of the state. Even 66 years after the establishment of the
Constitution drafted by Baba Saheb, Dalits are treated as outsiders even
if they have become, in name, insiders through reservation. The vested
interests in the current political system dangle the reservation policy
as a carrot to Dalits, thus denying them the right to become part of the
real establishment. For example, no Dalit has ever become the PM,
finance minister, external affairs minister or education minister of
India. Jagjivan Ram almost became the PM in 1977, when Morarji Desai had
to resign.
But a combination of Brahmanical forces within the Janata Party, along with the Communists, opposed his elevation.
Not
more than a dozen Dalit leaders have risen to the post of chief
minister in the past six decades. Though Dalits in the Indian Civil
Services form just 15 per cent, very few of them have became chief
secretaries or Director Generals of Police. Not a single Dalit has made
it to the post of Union Cabinet Secretary. Above all, Dalits are
unwanted companions or guests at social and private functions hosted by
upper caste liberals and eidolons. Rarely is a Mayawati, Ram Vilas
Paswan or Jitan Ram Manjhi invited to cosy dinners organised by the
chatterati and corporate caliphs.Inexplicably, while the deification of
Baba Saheb is becoming a glamorous hobby, his idea of egalitarian India
is being lacerated. As the Father of the Constitution, Ambedkar has
acquired a much bigger stature than the Father of the Nation, Mahatma
Gandhi, who is remembered less and less as a Dalit champion. Ambedkar’s
excessive dominance in the political credo, however, has eclipsed Nehru
more than Gandhi. Hence, most Nehruvians have refrained from hailing him
as the reformer who influenced the course of modern India. The Festival
of Ambedkar, being celebrated by Modi and his party, is definitely
meant to revive luminaries, who have been forgotten or dumped by the
Nehruvian plutocracy.
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
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