New Delhi: Nothing delights a politician’s heart more than watching their arch rival eating a hot potato before the polls. For Arvind Kejriwal, this moment of fortune came at the heels of his Delhi election campaign last month. The trigger? A controversial eleven-second clip from Amit Shah’s speech on the occasion celebrating 75 years of the constitution went viral.
Employing his aggressive oratory, Shah had said in Hindi, “It has become a fashion these days to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If they had mentioned God’s name so many times, they would get a place in heaven for the next seven lives.”
For the Dalits, who have perpetually been at the bottom of the social ladder in India and were historically ostracised as untouchables, indeed Bhimrao Ambedkar is no less than God.
Ambedkar statues and photos being sold along with idols of Hindu Gods, Mary, and Jesus. Photos: Alishan Jafri (L) and Aquilur Rahman (R)
Ambedkar – or their Babasaheb, as they endearingly call him – is the man who liberated them from the shackles of caste slavery. They regard him as their hero who fought tooth and nail for their emancipation. Many Dalit families proudly put up his portrait in their homes. There are temples dedicated to Ambedkar and his statues occupy prominent public spaces in most cities across the country.
Ambedkar is also regarded as the chief architect of the Indian constitution and had served as India’s first law minister. Commenting on the relevance of Ambedkar in Indian politics currently, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor wrote in his column, “Every political party — from the Congress he opposed, to the Hindutva warriors who denounced him — feels obliged to express their admiration for him… Ambedkar today is larger than life, and nearly seven decades after his death, he keeps on growing.” It was but natural for Shah’s clip to spread like wildfire and the BJP to face the heat for it.
A swift wave of fury ensued. “For the oppressed and Dalits,” wrote the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, “worshipping Ambedkar is akin to worshipping God,” adding, “Amit Shah has hurt their hearts.”
Ambedkar statue at the Hyderabad secretariat. Photo: Alishan Jafri
The leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi changed to a solid blue – the hue that shines on the flag of Dalit politics – from his trademark white t-shirt, and protested Shah’s comments. Confrontation between the two parties turned physical with the BJP accusing Gandhi of assaulting their MPs and the Congress accusing the BJP of pushing their president, Mallikarjun Kharge. Meanwhile, angry Dalit-Bahujan activists and student groups burned Shah’s effigies across India.
As the outrage gained steam, the BJP had to hastily issue a strong clarification, since this was not a stray remark from one of their MPs, or a “fringe” spokesperson who they could argue had gone rogue. Shah had to bite the bullet himself and quickly pursue damage control at a press conference. Prime Minister Modi also wrote a long thread on X to defend his right-hand man. “If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think,” Modi wrote, “their malicious lies can hide… their insult towards Dr. Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken.” Although the prime minister’s retaliation was focused on the Congress, the party that actually caused him more trouble this time was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
AAP’s AI ad of Ambedkar blessing Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: AAP social media
While the Congress and the BJP wrestled to lay their claim over Ambedkar and prove each other as anti-constitution and thereby anti-Dalit, the AAP stole the spotlight with an AI generated viral video of Ambedkar offering Kejriwal his blessings and support. “Give me power Babasaheb,” says Kejriwal requesting Ambedkar’s avatar in the AI video, “to fight those who disrespect your constitution.”
Then, Kejriwal demanded Shah’s resignation and an apology from the BJP. He also wrote to the Bihar and Andhra Pradesh chief ministers, Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu, respectively – two of the BJP’s biggest allies – to withdraw support from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The next day, Kejriwal visited the Valmiki temple at Delhi’s Mandir Marg and gave a message to the local Dalit community to reject the BJP: “Jinhe Babasaheb se hai pyaar, wo kare BJP ko inkaar (Those who love Dr Ambedkar should reject the BJP).”
On December 21 2024, AAP launched Ambedkar Samman Scholarship promising to bear the cost of stay and travel for Delhi’s Dalit students pursuing a foreign education at top international universities. “You abuse Babasaheb, we will honour him,” he said.
But beyond the immediate electoral bluster, does such political grandstanding help the Dalits? A similar scholarship scheme was announced and widely advertised by the AAP government in 2019. Headlines claimed that Kejriwal’s AAP government would send 100 Dalit students to study abroad. The scheme failed terribly with just four students reportedly receiving limited financial aid from the Delhi government.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, a prominent Dalit leader formerly with the AAP, was overseeing this scheme. He told this author that the budget for the scheme was abysmally low and despite his insistence it was never revised. “The announcement of the old scheme with a new name,” he said, “is just an election gimmick.”
As per a report in the The Indian Express, in the last 15 years, over 75 people in Delhi have died due to manual scavenging, an illegal practice of sewage cleaning that predominantly exploits Dalit cleaners, resulting in just one conviction. The compensation has been equally bad. In one such case, when a Delhi court ordered the AAP-run state government to pay Rs 30 lakh to the victim’s family, the government had argued that it would set a bad precedent and may open up a pandora’s box.
In 2019, the AAP government introduced mobile cleaning machines for cleaning sewage. Though it was a noble idea yet there were some fundamental flaws. The act of cleaning is often associated with caste in India. Here, the policy gave priority to the kin of the deceased sanitation workers and people from the Dalit community to procure these machines, which only adds insult to the injury.
Additionally, a report in Caravan magazine pointed out that the scheme doesn’t give these machines for free but rather through bidding and offering Rs 40-lakh loan to the beneficiaries. At the time when the scheme was announced, it was advertised as a revolutionary move.
Similarly, in 2019, Modi had washed the feet of Dalit cleaners and termed them as Karmyogis (selfless seers who work to serve the society). Terms like the Karmyogis or Mahatma Gandhi’s Harijan (children of God) have been condemned by Dalit intellectuals as condescending. But at the time, Modi’s gesture was praised by many.
Fast forward five years, there has been little change in the lives of those cleaners whose feet Modi had washed. According to a report in The Print, they have been running from pillar to post to get a house under the prime minister’s housing scheme. However, this is a systemic problem that affects Dalits in most cities in India.
The idea that urbanisation can undo communal segregation doesn’t seem to apply to most Indian cities. Various academic studies have pointed out the housing discrimination and ghettoisation of marginalised communities in Indian cities.
A 2015 study by S.K. Thorat showed that Delhi NCR is still very segregated on religious and caste lines. It highlighted that the chances of Muslims and Dalit tenants being denied accommodation were much higher than the upper caste Hindus.
Despite the AAP’s broad welfare agenda, the situation for Dalits hasn’t changed much on the ground in the capital city of Delhi. Dalits in Delhi are forced to live in the most underdeveloped neighbourhoods with little access to even basic material resources.
What do the voters say?
At the Khanpur Harijan camp in Delhi where mostly people from the Dalit community live, sewage carelessly flows in uncovered drains. The dirty water from these drains, residents complain, often collects upto the knee on the worn-out streets and enters their homes in the monsoons.
Pooran Lal. Photo: Alishan Jafri
Ninty-year-old Pooran Lal had migrated to Delhi from Mathura in 1990. He has lived in the camp for over three decades. He barely makes it past the bricks put up on the roads for crossing the sewage strewn narrow lane. “Nothing has changed here,” he said, quickly recalling the different political eras he has lived through. In the face of municipal apathy, residents have raised small walls outside their homes to stop the entry of dirty water. There are, however, other basic civic issues that they can’t solve by themselves.
A Dalit neighbourhood in Delhi. Photo: Alishan Jafri
Decent supply of clean piped water, amongst other things, still remains a luxury. For every 15 to 20 houses, there’s just one tap which is functional for two to three hours but is often submerged in sewage. “We boil this water and filter it with a cloth. But, when the pipe gets damaged, this is what we drink,” said Lal. There are just 20 washrooms for the entire colony with hundreds of shoebox-sized homes – many with unplastered walls. “This is still the cleanest one in Asia,” 24-year-old Bobby told this author, as he pointed to the other side of the road where lies a more dilapidated Dalit basti. “In other places [jhuggis]”, he claimed, “you won’t be able to step inside if you take a peek.”
Though Pooran Lal was quite visibly unhappy with the situation, he’s still wary of the BJP and Modi, who, he has allegedly heard will end the various welfare schemes of the AAP government. The rumour on the ground is that if Kejriwal doesn’t get reelected, all these welfare schemes – free electricity and water –will cease.
In a post on X, BJP president, J.P. Nadda, had clarified that “the welfare schemes will go on.” But these clarifications haven’t reached Lal who also has some other issues with the BJP. “Under Modi,” he said, “the price rise is extreme.” “40 for a kg of substandard wheat flour. 180 for cooking oil…onions… tomatoes…,” he went on with his elaborate list of now unaffordable daily essentials.
Also read: In Northeast Delhi, Will Scars of 2020 Riots and Civic Neglect Decide Poll Results?
Once a loyal Congress voter, Lal recalled voting for the oxen, cow and calf, and the more familiar palm (the different Congress symbol over the decades). He now supports the AAP and is willing to overlook the glaring civic inconveniences. “Kejriwal has reduced electricity prices and given benefits to the poor,” he said.
For 31-year-old Manoj Meena, Kejriwal is the man who thinks about his people. These days, politicians frequently visit the area. On the road at the backside of the camp, e-rickshaws with banners of different parties whizz pass every half an hour reminding the people to go out and vote for them on February 5. “This broad road on the opposite side of the camp,” Meena told this author, “has been recently repaired because of the elections,” adding that at least something has been done.
But the young Bobby, who works as a cleaner, was less charitable. He is unhappy with getting the bare minimum and is determined to vote for a change this time. Like many others in the camp, he had little issue with Kejriwal but disliked the local representatives of the party. As he began to talk about change, his friend Amit interrupted and began to root for Kejriwal.
Amit and Bobby share their views on the AAP and the BJP. Photo: Alishan Jafri
A similar debate ensued at the intersection of the lane outside Lal’s home, which is one of the few spots in the neighbourhood with a decent supply of sunshine and space to lay a charpai. A group of women had occupied the spot for the afternoon. They were furiously debating who to vote for this time. While many had sympathetic words for Kejriwal, the moods are mixed this time.
Twenty-nine-year-old Kavita is going to vote against the AAP. Others told her how much Kejriwal has given them – free electricity and free bus rides for women. One woman commented that the local AAP representative, who they have voted for a decade is unreachable. Another replied, “But what about the ward councillor”. The ward councillor in the area belonged to the BJP.
Surprisingly, an old woman, a self-decleared Modi supporter, sitting next to them stopped her knitting and mentioned how the free 200 units electricity and the free bus rides for women have helped them. The free bus rides have also been helpful for 54 year-old Urmila who lives in a rented home in Sangam Vihar. Urmila, who until recently worked as a house help but had to quit because of growing list of health issues told this author that because of the free bus rides for women she could “travel to the posh colonies of Saket for work and make more money”.
The scenes at the nearby Sanjay camp were no different. Many houses use water pumps and long white personal pipes to draw water. The thicker black pipe installed by the government, they say, is often blocked. It’s very difficult even for a single person to pass through some of these dark lanes which they say often get clogged with sewage. “You cannot bring a fridge or any furniture here…what goes inside stays there,” said Moolchand Dhobi, pointing towards the absolute narrowness of the streets on either side. For such a neglected neighbourhood, the lanes were relatively quite clean.
Sonwati, almost of the same age, stood next to Moolchand and was initially worried to find this author outside her home. She mentioned how the residents of the colony have received many demolition threats over the years. One reason why the residents of these slums are wary of outsiders – media and political surveyors – is the rise of bulldozer threats.
In the case of Delhi, many slums have a snake-mongoose relationship with the BJP-run Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The Jahan Jhuggi wahin makaan slogan – a vow to redevelop slums and rehabilitate people in the same place – gathers little confidence.
The AAP, Congress, and the Left parties have opposed such bulldozer demolitions for years. Leaders of the other parties have accused the BJP with the charges of targeted bulldozer demolitions in recent times. While the mainstream media has often celebrated these actions when directed towards the Muslims as a solid response to Land Jihad (a far-right conspiracy theory that Muslims are capturing land), these arbitrary actions disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised from all communities, especially Muslims and Dalit.
Houses cramped together in Khanpur Harijan camp. Photo: Alishan Jafri
Sometimes, these fears are exploited by different political parties. Before elections, this kind of messaging skyrockets. “If you vote for X party or not vote for Y candidate then your jhuggi will be taken away,” is the warning that goes around. But elections don’t just bring threats. These days Sanjay camp is receiving regular water supply and the street is being cleaned more often.
Suddenly, the situation seems to have improved and apathetic officials have turned kind. “The interest in this place would last as long as the elections. After that, even one-eyed birds won’t land here,” Moolchand said.
In the next lane near Moolchand’s home, there was a beeline of over a dozen pairs of tiny shoes and flip-flops outside a 80-square-feet home. The two-story house belongs to 25-year-old Manju who runs Maths, Science, Hindi, and English tuition class for around Rs 240 per month. Most of her students are either Dalits or Muslims.
Students attending a tuition class. Photo: Alishan Jafri
“Why would people with resources live here?” Manju pointed out. She aspires to be a teacher one day and has cracked the required government test to go forward with her dream. She is now pursuing her Bachelor’s in Education. She supports Kejriwal and thinks that he has worked for the people. But when asked about the work that needs to be done to improve the condition of the camp, “cleaning the trash and improving safety” she said would be a good start.
A couple of hundred metres from the two ramshackle camps is a public park with a giant statue of Ambedkar. It has been fenced and is cleaned on a regular basis.
On the use of Ambedkar’s iconography by different political parties, sociologist Vivek Kumar pointed out that Ambedkar was strongly opposed to such tokenism. “Iconography is fine, but you are trying to create a false consciousness, which goes against the very philosophy of Ambedkar and his guru, Buddha,” he said. He stressed that political parties run from the most important question of representation – the real development for Dalits would come only through effective representation.
“How many Dalits has the AAP sent to the Rajya Sabha?” he questioned. From the judiciary to the media, and parliament – if right people from the marginalisaed communities occupy these spaces of power, they would automatically become more developed.
“The rise of populist schemes, especially in Delhi,” Kumar argued, “is reducing people to dependent subjects.”
“It’s a new form of feudalism, especially for Dalits and minority communities, who remain at the mercy of political parties – the new landlords. They are being reduced to a state where they cannot think beyond bijli-paani (electricity and water) or the basic question of securing two meals a day. This is killing creativity.”
He argues that mobilisation through fear mongering about opposing sides creates a symbiotic relationship that benefits both the saviours and the creators of fear. This forces people to engage without addressing the fundamental issue of representation.
The duel for Dalit votes in Delhi
Kejriwal, who’s gunning for his fourth term as the chief minister of Delhi, is up against an existential challenge. Many senior AAP leaders, including Kejriwal and his trusted deputy, Manish Sisodia, face charges of corruption in a liquor scam, and had to spend months in prison. While the AAP has described these arrests as witch hunts, it has taken a hit on their image as anti-corruption crusaders.
To fight the corruption charges, Kejriwal resigned after being released from prison and handed over the chief minister’s seat to Atishi.
“This is Kejriwal’s drama to get sympathy before elections,” said Ashok Kumar who may press a new symbol on the EVM this time. Would it be Chandrashekhar Azad’s kettle or the Paswan’s helicopter, he’s not sure yet.
This is why the AAP is fighting hard to not let the Dalit support slip away. Due to unwavering support from the poor, the middle class, and marginalised groups like Dalits and the Muslims, Kejriwal has run Delhi for the past decade with little electoral challenge from his Opposition.
AAP gave tickets to Dalits only on the reserved seats in Delhi this time. Photo: Alishan Jafri
In the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls, the AAP won all the 12 seats reserved for the SCs. Even in its debut in 2013, it had managed to win nine of these 12 reserved seats. Apart from these 12 seats there are at least 18 other seats with over 17% Dalit population. Before the AAP’s rise, Dalits predominantly voted for the Congress. Kejriwal is banking his hope on his populist welfare schemes and his new found love for Ambedkar to maintain his grip on the Dalit votes. He has also demanded OBC (other backward classes) reservations for the Jaat community. He has announced a Dhobi (a Dalit community) welfare board if he’s voted to power.
On many occasions, however, the AAP’s critics say, that the party has engaged in both politics of appeasement and fear.
For instance, AAP leaders have advocated for putting up pictures of Laxmi (the Hindu goddess of wealth) on currency notes, engaged in anti-Rohingya dog-whistling, and demonisation of the Jamaat during COVID 19.
In Delhi government offices they have installed portraits of Ambedkar, while in Gujarat, where the BJP’s Hindu nationalism dominates every political ideology, they quickly distanced themselves from their own Dalit leader for literally quoting Ambedkar. In 2022, AAP leader Rajendra Gautam had to quit the party after he reiterated the 22 vows of Ambedkar. Gautam was present at a Buddhist conversion event with Ambedkar’s great grandson when these vows were reiterated.
The BJP and its supporters had called it hate speech and attacked Kejriwal in the same way he’s attacking them right now for Shah’s comments on Ambedkar. “After the event, Kejriwal approached me through Sisodia,” Gautam told this author. “I was given two options by Kejriwal – to pursue my Ambedkarite mission or to continue with the AAP.” Gautam resigned. He is now with the Congress and has turned into a critic of Kejriwal.
Ironically, this time around the BJP has also fielded a former AAP leader from the Dalit community who had supported the burning of the Manusmriti. This move incensed many pro-BJP influencers who’ve been increasingly uncomfortable with the Hindu nationalist party’s appropriation of Ambedkar.
Despite its best efforts to appropriate Ambedkar in their fold, the BJP has struggled with some of his ideas, especially his strong criticism of Hindu nationalism and his scathing writings about texts like the Manusmriti. Many in the BJP, including some of their top leaders, have also quite openly advocated for turning India into a Hindu nation. Ambedkar had openly rejected this idea while he was alive. “If Hindu Raj does become a fact,” he wrote, “it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country.”
But it’s not just the AAP that’s trying to prove the BJP as anti-Dalit. Last week, a statue of Ambedkar was vandalised in the AAP-ruled Punjab prompting the BJP to label Kejriwal as “anti-Dalit.”
Ambedkar statue near the Golden temple in Amritsar, Punjab. Photo: Alishan Jafri
Old video clips of Kejriwal speaking against cast-based reservation quotas have been made viral too. Old anti-caste based reservation tweets of his close aides like chief minister Atishi have also been pulled out from the unforgiving vaults of the internet and are being widely shared. These are views that the AAP leaders wouldn’t express on any public platform today. At this point, all parties want to prove their opponent as anti-constitution but that is relatively harder for the BJP.
Historically, the Dalits of Delhi have never been close to the BJP electorally and the consciousness of Ambedkarite politics and culture is strong in Delhi.
On its part, the BJP has increased its outreach programmes in the Dalit community. They have fielded 14 Dalit candidates, two more than the AAP, which gave tickets to Dalits only on the reserved seats. Learning from its upset in the 2024 general elections, the BJP has been somewhat successful in toning down the impact of the Samvidhan Bachao campaign in the subsequent state assembly polls, and winning back some Dalit support.
The BJP is eager to reach out to the Dalit voters in Delhi. Photo: Alishan Jafri
The BJP is eager to reach out to Dalits and tell them about the various works they have done to honour Ambedkar, and promote schemes like their Vishwas policy that offer easy loans to the community entrepreneurs. In Delhi, they have promised Rs 1000 monthly stipend for Dalit students pursuing technical courses.
It remains to be seen how many of these promises turn out to be true and if there is actually a meaningful change in terms of effective representation or development for the community. But what both sides may continue to offer to the Dalits regardless of their fate on February 8 when the results will be announced, is respect and reverence to their icons, especially Ambedkar.
Alishan Jafri is an independent journalist.
