Editor-in-Chief: Prem Kumar Chumber Contact: 001-916-947-8920 Fax: 916-238-1393 E-mail: chumbermedia@yahoo.com Editors: Takshila & Kabir Chumber

VOL- 6 ISSUE- 10-11 August 16-31, 2014 www.ambedkartimes.com www.ambedkartimes.org

Dr. Babasa-heb Ambed-kar has beenaccused ofsiding withthe British

and keeping distance from India’sfreedom movement which re-sulted in the alienation of theDalits from the movement. Whileit is true that Dr. Ambedkar par-ticipated in none of the move-ments againstthe British rulethat were ledby MahatmaGandhi and theCongress, itwould be en-lightening inthis regard toview the Indianpolitical sce-nario from1930s till Inde-pendence fromthe perspectiveof Dr. Ambed-kar and the De-p r e s s e dClasses ofIndia. In this re-gard attentionmay be drawnto a moot guid-ing principle in his thinking hehappened to reveal in a veryforceful speech he gave whileparticipating in a Bombay Legisla-tive Assembly debate on 26 Oc-tober 1939. The point has beenbrought out very lucidly in thisaddress and it would not there-fore be out of place to quote anexcerpt from it. Dr. Ambedkarsays:

“I know my position hasnot been understood properly inthe country. It has often beenmisunderstood. Let me, therefore,take this opportunity to clarifymy position...Whenever therehas been a conflict between mypersonal interests and the inter-ests of the country as a whole, Ihave always placed the claim ofthe country above my own per-sonal claims... But I will alsoleave no doubt in the minds ofthe people of this country that Ihave another loyalty to which Iam bound and which I can neverforsake. That loyalty is the com-munity of untouchables, in whichI am born, to which I belong, andwhich I hope I shall never desert.

And I say this to this House asstrongly as I possibly can, thatwhenever there is any conflict ofinterest between the country andthe untouchables, so far as I amconcerned, the untouchables' in-terests will take precedence overthe interests of the country. I amnot going to support a tyrannis-ing majority simply because ithappens to speak in the name ofthe country. I am not going to

support a party because it hap-pens to speak in the name of thecountry. I shall not do that. Leteverybody here and everywhereunderstand that that is my posi-tion. As between the countryand myself, the country will haveprecedence; as between thecountry and the DepressedClasses, the Depressed Classeswill have precedence—the coun-try will not have precedence.”

It is very plain from theabove that Dr Ambedkar wasfiercely loyal to the interests ofthe untouchables and in fact ofthe whole community of the De-pressed Classes. It therefore fol-lowed naturally that he remainedsteadfastly opposed to any indi-vidual, idea, organisation ormovement that he felt was not inthe interest of the DepressedClasses.Thus, since in his viewthe idea of the freedom from theBritish rule as it existed then didnot in any way incorporate fur-therence of interests of the De-pressed Classes, he distancedhimself from any of the freedommovements, particularly those

undertaken by the Indian NationalCongress under the leadership ofMahatma Gandhi.These includethe Non-Cooperation Movementof 1920-21, Civil DisobedienceMovement of 1030-31 and theQuit India Movement of 1942.

In other words, had Dr.Ambedkar felt convinced of thesincerity of the leaders of thefreedom movement with regardto the interests of the Depressed

Classes, he might have extendedthem cooperation. And in thatcase, the fight for the freedomfrom the British rule and the onefor the freedom from the socialinjustice could have been concur-rent and simultaneous.

Unfortunately this did nothappen since Dr. Ambedkar neverfelt that the interests of the De-pressed Classes would ever beattended to appropriately by ei-ther the Indian National Congressor by the Mahatma who was thesupreme leader of the movementunder its auspices. A few broadreasons as below may be identi-fied for the total absence of anymeeting ground for Dr. Ambedkarand the leaders of the FreedomMovement:

1. The Freedom Move-ment, Dr. Ambedkar felt, wasoverwhelmed by the single goalof attainment of freedom fromthe British and had therefore littlespace for the interests of the De-pressed Classes. This exclusivefocus on the political gain had itsroots in the well-known

(Cont.d on page no 4)

Dr Ambedkar’s life should be viewed as a part of a larger and ‘a

correlated but different freedom struggle, one for the liberation of

the most oppressed sections of Indian society.This was a liberation

movement wider and deeper than that of fighting colonialism’

DR. AMBEDKAR: NO LESS A PATRIOT THAN ANYONE ELSEDr Hemant Devasthali

Formerly Principal, Ness Wadia College of Commerce, University of Pune, Pune

Dr. Ambedkar presenting the draft of India's constitution to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Presidentof the Indian Constituent Assembly (21 February 1948). Only a man who had a vision offree and independent India could have accomplished the task of drafting her constitution.

BABASAHEB DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR AND HIS COMMITMENT TO HIS PEOPLE

Prem K. Chumber, Editor-in-Chief:www.ambedkartimes.com & www.deshdoaba.com

On the eve of the occasion for a farewell functionorganized in honor of Dr. B.R Ambedkar’s depar-ture for London on 15th August 1931 to attendthe second session at Round Table Conference asa representative of Untouchable class at SirCawasji Jahangir Hall on 14th August 1931, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said “In a conference of one hundredand twenty-five members we are two; but rest as-sured that we will move heaven and earth for thesake of your welfare. I had a talk with Gandhi thisafternoon. At present he cannot do anything topromote your interests. We must stand on our ownfeet and fight as best as we can for our rights. Socarry on your agitation and organize your forces.Power and prestige will come to you through strug-

gle”. Theway thatBabasahebpreferred toadopt for theuplift of hispeople wasdemocrat icone. Afterg r a p p l i n gwith the ob-durate tor-mentors atMahad, hesuccessfullyfought thelegal battleto the advan-tage of hispeople andproved the

oppressive social structures that the so-called un-touchables were powerful enough to melt themthoroughly. For Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, thebattle is not for material and political gains; it wasfor self-respect, dignity and spiritual elegance.

Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar fulfilled hispromise to leave his mortal frame not as a Hinduprecisely for this very purpose while embracingBuddhism. He exhorted his people to leave Hin-duism if they wanted to live with dignity. And theonly religion that gives them the same was/is Bud-dhism. He became Buddhist not to renounce theworld but to retrieve his and for his people theirdue place in Indian society.

At the time of his Diksha (adoption of Bud-dhism) at Nagpur in 1956, he told his people thathe was offered on many occasions prestigious of-fices of profit but he declined simply for the reasonthat he wanted to serve his fellow beings. He usedto say that the difference between a great manand an eminent man is that the former prefers toserve his people.

Anyone who defies social tyranny is morecourageous than the one who defies politicaltyranny. Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar proved tobe a great rather a greatest of all great men whofought valiantly all the might of social tyranny sin-glehandedly throughout his life.

We are proud of our Babasaheb who gaveus all what we enjoy today. It is all due to his life-long struggle that we are what we are and wesalute our Babasaheb on the day of Independenceof India which coincides with his march towardssecond session of Round Table Conference at London.

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Dr. Ambedkar: No less a patriot than anyone else

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conroversy at the time of LokmanyaTilak, G. G. Agarkar and later Justice M.G. Ranade as to whether political re-forms should precede social reforms orthe other way. In a speech that he gaveunder the auspices of the Deccan Sabhaof Pune in 1940, titled ‘Ranade, Gandhi& Jinnah’, Dr Ambedkar sided with Jus-tice Ranade and maintained that the the-sis that political reforms should precedethe social reforms was untenable. Theopponents of Justice Ranade maintainedthat the attainment of political powerfirst was a precondition for protection ofrights of the people or conferment ofthese rights on them, if they did notexist. Dr. Ambedkar however felt that asthings stood then, the rights existed onlyfor the minority of people and the vastmajority of population stood deprived ofthese rights. Thus for this vast majority,the rights did not exist in the first placeand therefore the question of their pro-tection on attainment of political powerdid not arise. Secondly, he maintainedthat even if the rights were conferred onthe majority after the political reformswere achieved, these would not be effec-tive since ‘the rights are protected not bylaw but by the social and moral con-science of society.’ Dr. Ambedkar feltthat the Indian society lacked this con-science and in its absence the confer-ment of political rights on people wouldbe infructuous. He also further main-tained that a self-government was notnecessarily a good government since ademocratic self-government would be ef-fective only in an atmosphere of socialdemocracy which was absent in the In-dian society.

2. The Freedom Movement wasdominated by the caste Hindus who, DrAmbedkar felt, had been by and largeruthlessly indifferent to the fate of theDepressed Classes and were unlikely tochange in an independent India. In thespeech in the Bombay Legislative Assem-bly referred to above, Dr. Ambedkarquotes numerous instances to show thecontinued social injustice by the casteHindus on the Depressed Classes. Thiswas despite the Herculean efforts by theleaders of the Depressed Classes sincethe later part of the 19th century to ame-liorate their conditions and combat injus-tice. Dr. Ambedkar thus knew well thatonly a miracle would work a suddenchange of attitude of the caste Hinduson attainment of freedom and self-ruleand therefore averred attainment of so-cial democracy prior to political democracy.

3. Even if Dr. Ambedkar hadwaited for social reforms for removal ofuntouchability to follow the political free-dom, there was a marked difference ofapproach toward the problem betweenhim and Gandhi. While Gandhi felt therewas no place for untouchability in thecaste system and disapproved of casteinequality, he did approve of the castesystem in the form of varnashram andfelt that untouchability should be re-moved within the framework of the var-nashram. He therefore relied largely onthe change of heart of the caste Hindus.

Dr. Ambedkar’s programme forthe removal of untouchability on theother hand focused on uplifting the stan-dard of education of the untouchablesand integrating them into the Indian so-

ciety as modern politically strong citizenswith aspirations to rise to the level of thehighest Hindu.That is why the motto ‘Ed-ucate, Agitate and Organise’ became themotto of the whole Dalit movement notonly before Independence but also afterwards.

In view of these fundamentaldifferences in approach toward and per-ception of the problem of untouchabilitybetween Dr. Ambedkar and MahatmaGandhi, it was little wonder that the twomen, great souls as they were both,could never find an amicable meetingground on the Indian political firmamenttill the end of their life. This is probablythe most unfortunate political fact of themodern Indian history.

It would be sinful however todub Dr. Ambedkar anti-national or astooge of British government for havingkept from the freedom struggle. Thereare numerous instances when prominentIndian public men including Justice M. G.Ranade, G. K. Gokhale, DadabhaiNowroji, Pherojshah Mehta and otherspreferred redressal of peoples’ grievancesthrough legislative and constitutionalmethods.

In a speech in 1917, ShahuChhatrapati, the ruler of Kolhapur, statedthat political independence in the face ofa rigid and exploitative caste systemwould only mean the power in the handsof a few bent on exploitation of the lowerclasses. He went further and underlinedthe need for British support and counseltill the evil of caste system had disappeared.

While these men of prominencedid face criticism at the hands of their

contemporaries, their views today areperceived with reference to their context.None of them is regarded as havingworked against the interest of the coun-try. Dr. Ambedkar should be no exception.

In the independent India, as theChairman of the Drafting Committee ofthe Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar made alasting contribution to India’s stature inthe comity of nations as the world’slargest democracy.

Beyond this Dr Ambedkar’s lifeshould be viewed as a part of a largerand ‘a correlated but different freedomstruggle, one for the liberation of themost oppressed sections of Indian soci-ety. This was a liberation movementwider and deeper than that of fightingcolonialism, focusing on the kind of newnation that was to be built’ (Gail Omvedtin 'Ambedkar: Towards an EnlightenedIndia').

The freedom struggle that Dr.Ambedkar waged was no less dignifiedthan the the fight against the British rulein that it was an attempt of the weakestof the weak to allow them a rightfulplace in the society and a life of a humanbeing, respectful and honourable. In thelong term perspective, the movementbenefitted the caste Hindus as well forno society can thrive for long at the costof development of one of its own seg-ments. The individual who led this greatliberation movement was a true friend ofhuman freedom. The greatness of hismission transcends the boundaries ofany kind and shines as the lodestar forthe movements of the oppressed everywhere.