Ambedkar And Democracy

Ambedkar, Democracy and peaceful social

Revolution

Vedic Creationism that supports that men were created from different parts of the body of a cosmic being: Bramha (Purush Sukta, Mandala X)

1. Head: Brahmans/Priestly Class2. Shoulders: Warrior Class3. Thighs: Business Class4. Foot: The slaves or Shudras5. The untouchables: unknown origin, some claim

that they are degraded Buddhists

What about women?They are too inferior to be taken into account in the

‘divine creation’ and have the same status as Shudras, if they have any.

Source of discrimination?

Caste and gender: discriminations mutually re-enforcing

• Caste discrimination and gender discrimination are interwoven

• All women are slaves according to sacred scriptures of Hinduism

• Control over sexuality of women keeps the caste alive

• The Dalits (The untouchables) women face three forms of discrimination based on: caste, class and sex

The population of Dalits

They constitute upwards of 25% of India’s population, over 250 million people

Every 18 minutes:• A crime is committed against a Dalit Every day:• 3 Dalit women are raped • 2 Dalits are murdered & 2 Dalits Houses are

burnt in India • 11 Dalits are beaten Every week:• 13 Dalits are murdered • 5 Dalits home or possessions are burnt • 6 Dalits are kidnapped or abducted

Caste based Atrocities: Visible Manifestations at its worst

Crimes against Dalits: The Holocaste

26,127 crimes were committed against Dalits (SC/ST) including 1172 rape against Dalit women and 669 cases of murder reported (India's National Crime Records Bureau, 2005)

Forced apart

Dalits are the segregated humanity

Living outcastes

Legal/political Social and Economic Ideological/philosophical

Mechanisms to fight caste/discrimination:

Dr. Ambedkar’s methods

Legal/Political

Constitutional Rights (Chief architect of Indian constitution is Dr. Ambedkar)

Special provisions for ensuring equality not only between man and man, but also between man and woman

The Hindu Code BillChallenging the codes of Manu, liberating women

from the clutches of ‘sacred laws’. Prevention of Atrocities ActInitially, called Protection of Civil Rights to stop

violence

Social and Economic

Affirmative Action Special safeguards Freedom to discard religionHowever, some state government are

trying to take away this freedom• Encouraged organisations of women• Equal wages for women when he was

a Labour Minister and brought welfare schemes for women

Ideological/philosophicalIndian history is the history of conflict between

Buddhism and Brahmanism: Two contrasting worldviews about the world

Therefore, Fight wrong notions which are supported by

Bramhanism such as caste system and gender discrimination

Challenge authority of scriptures and culture that supports and sustains caste ideas.

Dr. Ambedkar burnt Manu Smriti in 1927. This day is celebrated as ‘women’s liberation day’

Efforts for democratisation, secularisation and promotion of equality

Promoting secularisation and democratisation of society

Buddhism as a method to transform self and world, Dhamma is the governing principle for the majority1. The greatest thing that the Buddha has done is to how the world that world can only be reformed by the reformation of the mind of the man and mind of the world2. Interpreted the Pali Texts to prove that Buddha supported equality between man and woman in his famous article “The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women: Who is responsible for it?”

Dr. Ambedkar: Democracy and Buddhism in India (1941)

…. India is like a sick man. When we think of India, we imagine a picture of a man whose belly is big, his hands and feet reduced to mere bones, face paled, eyes deeply buried in the socket. He is just like a skeleton. He has no power to run the Democracy but he has a great desire to run it…..

Only, the Buddha can help in establishing Democracy. Therefore it is important to remember the Buddha and take his medicine for cleansing the political and social lifeblood [of the Hindus]. Therefore we think that people should chant this greatest mantra (Mahamantra) for establishment of Democracy:

Buddham Saranam Gacchaami!Dhammam Saranam Gacchaami!! Sangham Saranam Gacchami!!!

Peaceful social revolution“Positively, my social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Let no one, however, say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.”

(October 3,1954, Dr. Ambedkar)

Liberation from the hell of caste in October 1956: beginning of era of

equality

In 1956

Celebrating 50 years of Buddhism in 2006

The peaceful social transformation is on…….