Call to Redeem the History and Glory of Ad-dharam Mandal
- Ramesh Chander, a retired diplomat.
(Samaj Weekly)- The Ad-dharam Mandal which later became a Movement to establish a separate and distinct identity of socially depressed and oppressed segments of the society and their empowerment was established in 1926 by Gadarite Baba, Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia and other community activists and representatives of the so called dalit communities of the time. Some of the prominent among them were; Sant Sarwan Dass of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Master Gurbanta Singh, Seth Sunder Dass and Seth Kishan Dass (both my fellow BootanMandians) among others. Ad-dharam Mandal not only did a good job in bringing about awakening but also in mobilizing the socially marginalized sections of the society in the 1920s and 1930s. It supported Babasaheb Ambedkar to represent the dalit communities at the Round Table Conferences in London which resulted in the Communal Award of PM Ramsey MacDonald providing Separate Electorates to dalits. Ad-dharam Mandal succeeded in listing dalits as Ad-dharmis in the Census of 1931. It sent successfully many MLAs to the Punjab Legislative Assembly both in 1937 and 1945 even before independence and partition of India in 1947. To cut the story short, I can safely register that Ad-daram Mandal became a political and socio-cultural outfit of dalits to reckon with not only before independence but even in the early years of independent India. These details are duly registered in the contemporary political and social history of India and needs no further elaboration. Since the thrust and focus of this piece is an important issue pertaining to Ad-dharam Mandal, I come to the issue straight away.
After its establishment in 1926, Ad-dharam opened its first office as Headquarters of the Mandal at a site in Kishanpura Mohalla near the Jalandhar Railway station sometime in 1926-27. First it was located in a rented building at a monthly rent of Rs.20/- and later 62 marla of land was purchased with facilitation of the then Thanedar (Police Officer) of the area, Pandit Ram Chand with the token money of Rs.200/- which was later finalized for final purchase at the total cost of Rs.3500/-. The registry of the land was got done in the name of “Shri Guru Ravidass Asthan Ad-dharam Mandal Jalandhar”. Money for the purpose was donated by prominent and well to do people of the community and also by the general public both in India and abroad. Subsequently, the buildings were constructed with the financial sources of the Ad-dharam Mandal and the public donations including help of the then Municipal Member of the area both by way of materials and cash. In due course of time, the site at Kishanpura became a full pledged functional and vibrant place for the socio—political activities and agenda of the Ad-dharam Mandal and the dalit communities. The first newspaper of Ad-dharam Mandal called ‘Adi Danka’ was launched and published from this historic place. As such Guru Ravidass Asthan became hub of community activities and empowerment of the oppressed and depressed sections of the society. All these details are available in the book (pages 21-26) “Babu Mangu Ram (Jiwan, Sangarsh Te Ad-dharam Dastabej) written by Megh Raj M.A. son of Babu Mangu Ram who lives in the UK. The book was published by Arshi Publishers of Chandani Chowk in Delhi in 2014 with Balbir Madhopuri of New Delhi as its publisher/editor.
In the run up to create and establish educational facilities for the dalit communities and the society at large, a school and training center for vocational courses was started at the site. In the wake of independence of India in 1947, with the help and stewardship of
Master Gurbanta Singh who was a Congress leader of standing ‘The Punjab Ravidass Educational Society Jalandhar city’ was registered on September 24, 1952 to run and manage the school at the site at Kishanpura. The rest is history; the glories history of Ad-dharam Mandal.
Now let me come to the real issue. Guru Ravidass School still exists at the site, I think in name only to be truthful. The Management and even the Government authorities, it seems, are not interested to make the school a functional and viable institution, unfortunately. The buildings have dilapidated. The school has no financial sources. The teaching faculty and number of students are dwindling slowly. Obviously, students are not interested in this non-functional entity. Frankly speaking, I don’t have more details to explain and elaborate the matter any further. But as a community activist and an Ad-dharmi myself, I have some suggestions and thoughts to redeem the history and glory of this historic site at Kishanpura which belongs to the community and the society at large.
· Guru Ravidass Asthan of Ad-dharam Mandal should either be acquired by the Punjab or Central Government and declared it as ‘Heritage Site’ in the memory of Gadrite Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia and Ad-dharam Mandal to instill a sense of empowerment among the dalit communities. It will be an appreciable gesture to integrate the dalit communities with the main stream of the society.
Alternatively, the site should be handed over to the obvious heirs of Ad-dharam Mandal – All India Ad-dharam Mission currently under the stewardship of Sant Satwinder Hira of Khuralgarh Sahib (Charan Choh Ganga) in Garhshankar (Hoshiarpur) in Punjab after discussing and settling the modalities of turning the site into a Heritage Property.
Government/All India Ad-dharam Mission should redeem the historical importance of the site and turn the existing Guru Ravidass Higher Secondary School into a model ‘Institution of Excellence’ for the benefit of the society at large and the weaker sections in particular.
These are some of the off the cuff suggestions at this stage. More details may be added, as required, once the project is considered. Now what is needed to be done, to my mind, in this regard:-
Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may consider and undertake to dig, ascertain and fix the legal title of the ownership of the site at Kishanpura in Jalandhar in consultation with the current Management of The Punjab Ravidass Educational Society.
Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may approach the Government accordingly to acquire the site and get it declared a; Heritage Site’ as explained above. Alternatively, as suggested, All India Ad-dharam Mission may request the Government to get the site transferred to them for the purpose as stated above.
Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may consider floating a separate Trust to manage and run the project.
Ø All leaders of the community particularly the intellectuals should consider and offer their suggestions to convert the Heritage Site into a grand memorial and an institution of excellence and the ways and means to do so. It will be a befitting tribute only to Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia but also our forefathers who worked and struggled to ameliorate the social sufferings of the community as front runners.
I am confident all the stake holders in this would take it seriously and do their best to retain, own and run the ‘community heritage’ for the larger interest of the community. Let us come out of the “Paihra Diyange Thok Ke’ phase and do something concrete to redeem the glorious history of the community’s struggle to find a due place in the society.
तू पहले बात; फिर बात का अंदाज़ पैदा कर
फिर दुनिया में तुझे ; कोई नज़र अंदाज़ कर नहीं सकता
