A few lessons from the history of Dr Ambedkarr’s fight

Now, we need to understand that the Constitution making process was the biggest effort of reconciliation in Indian society. Baba Saheb Ambedkar understood it very well and at that time, Congress leadership particularly Nehru too understood it well.

We need to understand that Dr Ambedkar and the Congress Party had different pathways, opinion but to rebuild India they joined hands. Interestingly Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the leader of Bhartiya Jan Sangh too was part of this. They had serious differences but none called each other anti national or inferior. They debated in Parliament and agreed to frame the constitution which could be termed as one of the finest documents that strengthen our unity. Unfortunately, selective quoting and references of events has harmed our polity today. It is important for all of us to not use the events and differences of that time for our political purposes. Congress was an umbrella organisation for all those who fought for our freedom. After independence, many of these organisations actually formed their own parties and groups and naturally, they were political rivals too. So it does not matter as India was a free nation and we needed different checks and balances and political parties and leaders. Both Dr Ambedkar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee were part of Jawahar Lal Nehru’s cabinet. Even when Gandhiji was murdered on January 30th, 1948, Syama Prasad Mookerjee dissociated with Hindu Maha Sabha and remained in the Cabinet. None asked him to resign. His resignation came in 1951 after he became President of Bhartiya Jan Sangh. The resignation was based on the Nehru Liaquat Pact. Nehru, Ambedkar, Mookerjee were members of the same constituent assembly and cabinet and I am sure, despite their political differences they must have been good friends and had respect for each other. That was a different time.

There are a whole lot of issues which need comprehensive analysis and not selective usage. Baba Saheb was unhappy on the issue of Nehru’s inability to get through the Hindu Code Bill in the Parliament but he knew well that it was not easy for him as big leaders of Congress as well as Jan Sangh were opposed to Hindu Code Bill. The prominent among those who were deadly opposed to the Hindu code bill were Dr Rajendra Prasad, Pattabhi Sitarammaiya, K M Munshi, Purushottam Das Tondon, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and various leaders of Jan Sangh, Hindu Mahasabha etc. Sardar Patel was in the middle though leaned towards those who opposed it. So in terms of ideological unity, it was only Nehru and Ambedkar who wanted this progressive legislation to be passed.

As I said, all these leaders were highly knowledgeable and were respectful to each other. None questioned the integrity of others but they put forth their political points very powerfully. While Nehru’s credentials as a secular modern progress nationalists were neve questioned, Ambedkar and Mookerjee actually were raising the issues of safety of Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan which was not out of the box and was real.

Dr Baba Saheh Ambedkar fought his Lok Sabha elections from North Bombay and Bhandara on two different occasions and lost. Congress ensured his defeat is no doubt. As I said, they were political rivals. Who was responsible for making Baba Saheb secretary to fight against him ? Nehru ? Perhaps, Praful Patel can provide an answer as his father was a powerful leader of the Congress and perhaps many ambedkarite can provide details about his work. Secondly, in the North Bombay seat, it was not merely Congress but both Communist Party of India as well as Jan Sangh or Hindu Mahasabha actually had fielded as their candidates.

Now, the question is not who loves Dr Ambedkar and who does not. Who gave him Bharat Ratna? Certainly not BJP. The man who gave Bharat Ratna to Dr Ambedkar was V P Singh, another hero who has been vilified by the Congress and Sanghis both together. It is VP Singh who provided the reservation to Neo Buddhists too and got installed the big portrait of Baba Saheb in parliament, got his book published through Ambedkar Foundation, declared Baba Saheb Jayanti as national holiday and many more things. Unfortunately, for both the Congress and the BJP which was supporting the National Front government headed by VP Singh from outside, decried. Recently, an arrogant brahmin spokesperson of BJP actually abused VP Singh, terming him Samanti or feudal. Frankly, the only other person who was active those days and did his work on spreading Baba Saheb’s thought was one of VP’s most trusted colleagues late Ram Vilas Paswan.

Let us not debate how big a memorial you are making for Dr Ambedkar or how much you worship him. My simple question for political leadership today. If you really believe in Dr Ambedkar’s ideology then please implement the constitution in true spirit. Please do land reforms, redistribute land to the most marginalised, ensure free health services, right to education for all, stop the privatisation of our natural resources, implement reservations in true spirit and everywhere.

In true sense, if we really care for Dr Ambedkar’s view, then please stop telling us how you respect Samvidhan or how much land you have allocated to make his statue rather than redistribute land to landless people which has now been forgotten. Ensure free quality education for all and equally free qualitative health care for all.

We need an inclusive governance structure which reflects our diversity where each one of us can express our opinion without any fear or intimidation. Dr Ambedkar’s India will not be the model where the regressive religious pontiffs lead us to the path of destruction but progressive humanist leaders take us to the path of enlightenment. It is time the state ensured welfare measures for the millions of oppressed Dalits, Adivasis Backward classes, from all ethnicities and religious identities into our decision making process.