If we disregard the underlying issues of caste, equal social order, and social democracy, a homage to BR Ambedkar on his birthday will be useless. Renewing the focus on many concerns is necessary for Bahujan autonomy, assertion, and inclusion of the Dalit autonomous movement under the current system. It is usual to remember BR Ambedkar’s legacy via seminars, talks, and exhibitions on the anniversary of his birth. We have a history of respecting people on their birth and death anniversaries. But do we follow the path they carved?
Ambedkar was the first law minister, an advocate for Dalit rights, and the author of the Constitution. But this year, as we honour his ardent advocacy for social justice, we also need to confront the anxiety that has started to overshadow these celebrations. There is concern that the Dalit movement’s political and social platforms have strayed from the fundamental principles and the crucial interactions that influenced his life. Sixty-two years after Dr Ambedkar’s death, we must recognise the significant developments in Dalit politics and society that have resulted in the current circumstances. Ambedkar suggested two methods—politics of agitation and representation in Parliament—for Dalit groups to meet their socio-economic needs and demands. In the past, Dalit groups have battled untouchability through direct conflict and advocated an egalitarian society where minimum salaries, self-respect, dignity, and land ownership were normatively guaranteed. Dalit groups became mindful of the necessity to socially reform India as a result of fighting these struggles.
Ambedkar, the chairman of the Constitution’s Drafting Committee, declared at the Constituent Assembly in 1950 that political democracy “cannot last long without social democracy.” He claimed that such a government’s pillars would be liberty, equality, and fraternity. It might be argued that these objectives are still important today just as they were in Ambedkar’s day. The Dalit emancipation struggle is still very much ongoing. Analysing the ideological decay and electoral fall of the 1985-founded Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is crucial. (From receiving just over 22% of the vote in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election in 2017, it declined to receive just under 13% of the vote in the 2022 election.) But first, let’s look at how it contributed to the political empowerment of the Dalits.
To organise government workers from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward castes, and minority groups, Kanshi Ram and BR Khaparde founded the All India Backward and Minority Groups Employees Federation, or BAMCEF, in 1978, almost two decades after Ambedkar’s passing. BAMCEF served as a kind of think tank for marginalised social groups. It encouraged the freed members of the oppressed to “pay back to society,” attempting to put Ambedkar’s words from one of his final addresses into practice. Maharashtra was significantly impacted, particularly in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. The BSP’s first base in Uttar Pradesh was established by Kanshi Ram winning the support of BAMCEF and its members, opening the path for Mayawati’s assertion and ascent to power.
In Maharashtra, Prakash Ambedkar of the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) also became well-known, but during the past ten years, the influence of the BSP and BBM among Dalits and other backward communities—known since the 1990s as Other Backward Classes—has considerably diminished. The main causes of this slide were the decrease in support from the communities they represent and the belief that they have no agency within the BSP and BBM. And when such a circumstance emerged, elite-caste politicians entered Dalit-Bahujan politics to fill the void left by their caste in the leadership structure.
The Dalit intellectual class remained uncritical of the BSP’s leadership during all of these changes and remained passive witnesses to the misery of the Dalit masses. As a result, it has promoted the success of elite leaders and groups that advocate for elite-caste objectives. Even while the main success of Dalit social and political movements to date—access to representation in Parliament—has not been widely adopted, they are not questioning the authority of existing elites. Although reservations were seen as a barrier to caste, religious, and racial discrimination and still influence reservation politics, the demand for this representation to become decentralised is still unmet.
Examining the origins of the demand for representation is equally crucial. The Rajah-Moonje Pact, which was signed in 1932, was the first to establish reservations for low-caste Hindus and a shared electorate for them. Six months later, the Poona Pact replaced this arrangement and seats for the Depressed Classes were reserved because Ambedkar believed it to be harmful to the Depressed Classes. The need for reservations is, of course, older. The first demand for reserving seats in governmental institutions, including local governments and towns, for members of the Depressed Classes was made in 1922 by MC Rajah, a Justice Party candidate who was elected as a member of the Madras Legislative Council.
Leaders disagreed about whether the Depressed Classes desired representation or a distinct electorate, even though the demand for a separate electorate and seats reserved in legislative councils and local authorities has been growing since the 1920s. But the issue now is that, while the leadership of Dalits is emerging from a small number of centres of power, the attention is virtually entirely on the reservation of seats. Decentralisation of power and representation in this case would imply giving a large group of Dalit and backward interests, people, and communities a voice.
As it almost ritualistically praises Ambedkar, the Dalit movement should reflect on whether or not its spaces for the fight for justice are becoming places of prejudice and exclusion. The ability of leaders from the lowest strata of Dalit society to feel safe and have their thoughts heard would be one area of research. The assassination of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti convener Narasimhamurthy “Kurimurthy” in Karnataka last year served as a clear reminder that today’s hot topics go beyond representation, untouchability, and reservations. We must now ask who will fight against institutional suicides and killings of Dalit students in prestigious educational institutions, who will stop and ensure that justice is served for vicious attacks against Dalit women, and who will end the relentless frequency of deaths among septic tank workers. Too many deaths in septic tanks have been reported since 2017, according to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 400 Dalits lost their lives while maintaining tanks in that year, followed by 67 in 2017, 117 in 2018, 19 in 2019, 49 the following year, and 48 in 2022.
Even representation is currently hampered by affluent individuals’ monopolisation of Dalit voices. Higher castes or classes dominate, there is harassment, and representation is increasingly reliant on lineage or family, located in metropolitan areas, and dominated by Delhi. There is no effort made to ensure that Dalits in India are represented despite their different social, economic, political, and regional backgrounds. Can we claim that every household of manual scavengers, drain cleaners, and trash collectors is participating in Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations in the middle of all this?
Ambedkar voiced concern for the suffering of rural landless labourers in his famous address in Agra on March 18, 1956, and he accused the educated middle-class Dalits of being self-centred. “Today, my position is like a pillar supporting huge tents,” he cautioned the crowd. When this pillar no longer exists, I am concerned. The Republican Party of India’s (RPI) founder, Dadasaheb Gaikwad, took this warning to heart and started organising land struggles, becoming well-liked after establishing himself as a capable Dalit leader. However, the RPI twice experienced division and hostility from the middle class of educated Dalits. The Dalit movement was unable to concentrate on crimes against Dalits, rising unemployment, and public discontent due to its divisions. The animosity and disenfranchisement of the Dalit youth living in poverty gave rise to the Dalit Panthers. Raja Dhale and Namdeo Dhasal played a crucial role in mobilising people and interrogating leaders, both Dalit and non-Dalit. But over time, there were divisions over ideologies inside the movement. Gail Omvedt stated in “Ambedkar and After The Dalit Movement in India” that the Dalit movement “failed to show the way to transformation because of late these movements are turning themselves into pressure groups” in 2001.
This brings up the reservation issue once more. Under colonial administration, the Scheduled Castes were given reservations in government jobs in 1942. Following independence, the Constitution protected the Dalit community’s rights as well as the rights of minorities, women, and children. But according to data recently revealed by the Union Ministry for Education, 19,000 students from prestigious institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and OBC dropped out during the course of the last five years. 143 students from Scheduled Castes, 133 from OBC groups, and 90 from Scheduled Tribes have left the IIMs. 538 Scheduled Tribe students, 1,362 Scheduled Caste students, and 2,544 OBC students have left the Indian Institutes of Technology. Between 2018 and 2023, 3,596 students from Scheduled Caste, 6,901 OBC, and 3,949 students from Scheduled Tribe left other central universities. Because of this, we keep going back to the past while ignoring the mistakes we made that still affect a sizable portion of society. If we disregard the core issues of caste, an egalitarian social order, and social democracy, our tribute to Ambedkar will be meaningless. Renewing the focus on many concerns is necessary for Bahujan autonomy, assertion, and inclusion of the Dalit autonomous movement under the current system. That would support Ambedkar’s aspirations to establish a democratic republican society.
Many convert into Nav Buddha just to get privileges that the constitution provides to the backward class. This is unfortunate that the privileged do this to get more privileges. Some are affluent Dalits and do not have economic issues or social problems anymore, But they still want to continue taking privileges that are for those who need them. There is a crazy fight for privileges, irrespective of whether they are needed or not. We need to check where ideologies, provisions and privileges are taking us in the changing times and generations. All the powerful politicians, changemakers and social observers should remember what Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar said, “ They cannot make history if they forget history.”
