International Day of Equality – When will we wake up?

13/04/2023

Ramesh Chander, Retired diplomat

(Samaj Weekly)- The birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, April 14, has come again. Let me avail of the opportunity to remind the Government of India on the proposal to declare April 14 as International Day of Equality under the aegis of the UN which is resting with the Ministry of External Affairs since June, 2015. I wrote on the subject in my blog in September, 2022 under the heading – International Day of Equality – a subject close to my heart which may be accessed at: http://diplomatictitbits.blogspot.com/2022/09/international-day-of-equality-subject.html

As a matter of my considered opinion and being a true Ambedkarite, from the day one, our approach to pursue the matter has not been of agitation but of suggestion and persuasion. In the process, we have reached a stage where we find ourselves satisfied on hand and equally dejected on the other. We feel ‘Dejected’ by the indifference shown by the Government of India to the proposal consciously or otherwise and ‘Satisfied’ or gratified by the positive response by the international community to the proposal. I have decided to broach up the subject again and share my thoughts to register our firm belief that the day will come when the proposal on the International Day of Equality will see the light of the day as it is increasingly becoming difficult to ignore the legacy of Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of the greatest sons of India with a vision to establish an ‘Equitable World Order’ as envisaged in the UN Charter.

Whereas the proposal on International Day of Equality is increasingly getting support in countries like Canada, USA, UK and many more, it is surprising to note that the authorities in India, by and large, are still indifferent in their approach to consider and support the initiative. I don’t see any plausible reason but to accept the fact that ‘Ambedkar never received anything easily even in his life time and the successive leaderships in India denied him his due for too long’. With the passing time, the ‘Ambedkar Phenomena’ has increasingly over taken the known and recognized personalities like; Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela among others. It is gratifying to note that, without any organized and governmental support, Ambedkar’s statues, busts, memorials are coming up not only in India but throughout the civilized world. I write this with a sense of gratitude and thanks to the supporters, promoters and stake holders in the proposal to honour Babasaheb Ambedkar viz.; several outfits pertaining to Ambedkar in India and apex organizations namely; Chetna Association of Canada, Federation of Ambedkar and Buddhist Organisation of UK, Ambedkar International Coordination Society , the Ambedkar Times Group of papers of California in US, the Samaj Weekly of UK among other in foreign lands for their unstinted support in this regard. Since, I have nothing much to hide, I must register here my sense of regret too to put the things in perspective. Frankly, I did not get the expected response from the political class of the community
which otherwise never miss any opportunity to encash Ambedkar for their political purposes. Most of the Ambedkar organizations which fall on each other to shout from the rooftops ‘Babasaheb Teri Soch Te Pehra Diyange Thokke’ have proved themselves as rubble rousers and as such could not understand the importance and relevance of the proposal. I am all the more dismayed rather perturbed by the indifference and feigned ignorance of the intelligentsia including the highly placed bureaucrats and professionals of the community who willfully choose to be oblivious of the matter. So much so, my direct approach to important personalities and activists like Prakash Ambedkar, Raj Ratan Ambedkar, Jignesh Mewani, Chandra Shekhar Azad among others did not elicit any positive response. I don’t know why it was so. Besides this, I have tried my every best to apprise and engage political bigwigs of the community both in the ruling and opposition parties but could not succeed. We even tried to engage with our Deras and spiritual Gurus but they did not show much interest. I am purposely giving all these details not because we are deterred or tired but to inform the interested and concerned of the situation in which we are passing through. Here comes the question as to why the Governments should listen to us when we ourselves are not fully ready to go ahead and pursue matter. We are to wake up and reiterate our resolve and demonstrate our strength. The answer is very clear. I am fully convinced in my mind that the proposal on April 14 as the International Day of Equality will certainly see the light of the day, sooner than later. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the staunch opponent of Babasaheb Ambedkar, had rightly said, ‘you may criticize Ambedkar but you cannot ignore him’. This utterance is as good today as it was before. Ambedkar’s thought and legacy is potent enough to surge forward on its own steam. Anybody trying to undermine Ambedkar owing to one reason or the other will do so at ones on peril.

Let us revisit the subject and pass appropriate Resolutions at the congregations to celebrate and observe April 14, birthday of the great icon, as Day of Equality locally and send those Resolutions to the GOI, PM Narendra Modi and EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar. By doing so, we would only be paying our debt of gratitude to one of the greatest sons of India who did everything possible to bring about – Equality, Liberty, Justice and Fraternity to empower the suffering humanity not only in India but the world at large.