Today, April 14, is Ambedkar Jayanti.
Dalit politics emerged as a response to the discrimination and oppression faced by subordinate social groups in modern India. Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s leadership of these social groups in the first half of the 20th century significantly paved the way for creating an alternative political voice for Dalits.
Ambedkar employed various strategies at different times to forcefully foreground the grievances of people then known as ‘untouchables’ and marginalised groups in the political sphere.
This journey started in 1924. With the establishment of Bahishkrut Hitkarni Sabha in 1924, his political movement began to shape the public sphere phenomenally, ultimately leading to the foundation of autonomously organised Dalit politics in India.
Through Bahishkrut Hitkarni Sabha, Ambedkar employed the famous slogan of ‘educate, agitate and organise,’ borrowed from the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation founded in 1884 in England. The Sabha crucially provided organisational support and a framework to Dalit protest movements in the early years of Ambedkar’s politics. It consequently gave organisational voice and autonomous character to Dalit movements that changed anti-caste politics forever.
Since we are in the 100th year of the formation of Bahishkrut Hitkarni Sabha, we have one more reason to assess the legacy and relevance of Ambedkarite politics in contemporary times.
For the last three decades, intelligentsia across India have witnessed an evident scramble to absorb and understand the life, ideas and politics of this iconic public figure who was determinedly ignored from the national public memory for a long time. The revival of Ambedkarite ideas in the post-Mandal era was not coincidental – it had something to do with the changed socio-political milieu that brought the caste question to the centre of social and political discussions.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar with the women candidates of the Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942. Photo: Wikimedia Commons – CC0 1.
Ambedkar has undoubtedly become a formidable pan-India icon, particularly for those who seek to refurbish and re-establish democratic politics in contemporary times. Ambedkar’s views on Hinduism, Islam, Marx, Gandhi, Hindutva and nationalism are already known to the intelligentsia and the reading public interested in understanding past and present politics. Although much still needs further exploration, the point is that scholars, public intellectuals, and political figures have already exhaustively discussed many of these ideas at length in the last few years.
Therefore, a question should be asked over and over again about how to engage with Ambedkar in contemporary times. Although this question has been posed repeatedly, a continuous discussion assessing his relevance remains a significant vantage point to contemplate social and political transformation in present times.
Most discussions on this topic have become too repetitive, ideological and polemical.
Also read: While Celebrating Ambedkar as a ‘National Hero’, We Must Not Forget His Central Thesis
Ambedkar’s contribution to the constitution or the discourse of political representation, and reinterpreting religion and society has been undoubtedly phenomenal. Two contending streams of political thought have tried to appropriate Ambedkar differently and antagonistically in the mainstream public discourse.
On the one hand, the ideology of Hindutva, seeks to reframe Ambedkar in a certain way which would help align him with the more significant cause of Hindu nationalist politics.
On the other, the liberals (including the Left), have primarily tried to engage with Ambedkar’s ideas by invoking his vehement political position against religious fundamentalism, Hindutva and social oppression. A resolution to address the current political turmoil has been continuously sought in Ambedkar’s philosophy and politics. Yet most discussions have witnessed a significant stagnancy, which doesn’t go beyond political correctness, indicating usual tokenism and the status quo. Although it has popularised Ambedkar more among educated non-Dalits, these discussions have not been immensely beneficial in creating a favourable and inclusive milieu for Dalits and the marginalised groups, particularly in institutions across India.
Whatsoever mobility Dalits have recently gained in the public sphere is due to other factors.
Members of Dalit community display a portrait of BR Ambedkar during a ‘Bharat Bandh’ over the ‘dilution’ of SC/ ST act. Photo: PTI
Therefore, the legacy of Ambedkar’s ideas cannot be singularly measured by invoking it selectively without addressing the central problem of caste. Else, it would turn into unworkable rhetoric of social transformation.
One of the long lasting and well known legacies of Ambedkar’s politics in modern India is the establishment of an independent political voice for Dalit people. While continuously urging for the representation of marginalised groups in the socio-political power structure, Ambedkar understood the significance of caste beyond ‘untouchability’. He shared with Jotiba Phule, Periyar, E.V. Ramasamy and Ram Manohar Lohia his ideas on the ability of caste to draw significant fault lines in society, signifying social-material privileges and restrictions. Accordingly, caste can be constructively used to unearth deeper social divisions, cultural dominance and pretence of unity and equality in society.
Ambedkar stressed that caste needs to be invoked as a political weapon to fight against the overwhelming reticence about it. Even though these ideas have been relatively well known, what needs to be emphasised here is that Ambedkar’s relevance won’t go away until caste divisions and its ensuing discrimination and violence exist.
Despite the repetitiveness of celebrating his birth anniversary, he will not die soon from public memory.
Compared to the early 20th century, when Ambedkar was around, contemporary political and social contexts have also witnessed significant shifts. In this regard, it would be too far fetched to argue that the social position of the marginalised groups hasn’t changed in the last 70 years. On the contrary, Dalit people have been able to mobilise significant visibility in the public discourse in recent times, particularly after the arrival of social media platforms.
There is an evident presence of a vibrant middle class among Dalit people that has risen to prominence after the 1990s.
On the other hand, it would be too naïve to argue that caste has been decimated from public life. Caste still is a monster that often crosses the path wherever one moves. Against this backdrop, his legacy can be assessed through the efficacy of his approach in invoking the Dalit question vis-à-vis the discourse of cultural hegemony and structures of inequalities. Through engaging with caste, the political potential of Ambedkarite thought comes out prominently.
The recent debate on banning caste discrimination in the US has yet again testified to the relevance of Ambedkar and his ideas in dealing with the caste question in the global scenario. The proliferation of Ambedkarite organisations across the globe reflects the fast-changing environment for the caste discourse. The significant presence of the Ambedkarite Dalit middle class in India and overseas has an enormous potential to foreground and shape the discourse on caste in the national and global scenario. These developments undoubtedly reflect far-reaching changes in the socio-political discourse on caste in the coming time.
The anti-caste discourse has travelled significantly in the last hundred years. While it has immense political potential to underscore social fault lines across India. It has nevertheless shown a tendency to get itself entrapped in the vacuous politics of tokenism. Against this backdrop, Ambedkarite politics is standing at a crossroads where further exploration of the caste question is required. Still, the old frames of anti-caste politics need to be thoroughly measured before they are used in the changed contexts.
Prabodhan Pol is Assistant Professor at Manipal Centre for Humanities, MAHE, Karnataka.
