Vamsi Tilak
The life of revered Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar was indeed a journey of great sacrifices, devotion to duty and also austerity. His qualities of leadership and organisational abilities are outstanding and unfortunately he still stands a most misunderstood figure in the Bharatiya history, most debated persona and even intelligensia fail to evaluate his excellence. He was a rare combination of high intellect compassion.
The forces of socio-economic injustice was reigning supreme and by dint of his will power he faced them
courageously which otherwise an
ordinary mortal would have buckled under pressure. The flag of rebellion by Babasaheb did turn the tide of fury against those forces then, it helped downtrodden to gain foothold and to some extent live with pride and respectability .
Let me also tell you, discrimination based on Caste, race and sect is not confined to Hinduism alone. Other religions too have social inequalities. Untouchability too find a mention in Roman history, Do you know, Rome has clearly distinguished among its citizenry into following.(1) Patricians (2) Piebians (3) Clients (4) Slaves (5) Freemen. Civil rights were enjoyed by landed gentry and rich Roman is considered to be the one who employed more slaves under him. Can Christianity get away with its own distortions and blame others? Regarded by historians to be the oldest works of the New Testament (written 10 to 20 years after Jesus’ death), it mentions, “its the Jews who killed the Lord, Jesus”(thus the Jews bear primary responsibility for the death of Jesus figures more prominently in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) this has been found in Christian foundational literature from the
earliest days of the Jesus
movement, that led to innihilations of millions of Jews, so much so for their human compassion.
On Ambedkar’s Buddhism I can convince you that its nearer to Hindu faith than Christianity and Islam put together. Lord Buddha, comprehension of religion was quite different, his method was to change the mind of man so that whatever man does, he does it voluntarily without the use of force or compulsion. Ambedkar believed that Humaity does not only want economic values but also to retain the spiritual values. On closer examination of speeches of Ambedkar (October 14, 1956, Nagpur) and Swami Vivekananda both contended that man must grow materially as much as
spiritually. Ambedkar virtually negated Karl Marx, that advocated a permanent Russian dictatorship for all
backward countries. This is what he had to say, “We welcome the Russian revolution because it aims to produce equality but we need to emphasise that merely aiming equality but sacrificing fraternity and liberty is equally disastrous. Equality, Fraternity and Liberty can only co-exist if one follows the Buddha, but communism can give one and not all.
But again this had parallels too, Roman Catholics, who discriminated rich and poor so bad that the aggrieved and miserable among them became so uncomfortable they took revenge by letting their kith and kin getting baptised into Protestants. Babasaheb call to all downtrodden was to get themselves Educated, Organised and ready for Struggle. It’s like to untying a knot. As long you are ignorant you cannot organise and as long you remain disorganised the end means cannot be accomplished.
Babasaheb was intensely patriotic and his allegiance to constitution is complete. The purpose of the Fundamental Rights is to preserve individual liberty and democratic principles based on equality of all members of society. Dr Ambedkar said that the responsibility of the legislature is not just to provide fundamental rights but also and rather more importantly, to safeguard them. It is be understood that caste based reservations is not
to promote inequality but to promote equality.
It is statistically proven that Bharatiya caste system has actually created imbalance in society. They are meant to give fairer representation for aggrieved to participate in social and economic activity of the nation.
Having said this, I would like to say it’s the pseudo dalit movements that are out to capitalise on the lacunae in Hindu religion and provoke Dalits to agitate. I would like to ask my communist and Pseduo-Dalits who have converted to Christianity to ponder over whether other religions are less archaicist and Islam where gender equality and respect to women is near zero. Dalits who converted to Christianity did not escape the caste system which has strongly ingrained presence in Bharatiya society that is not limited to Hindu religious ideals. The different branches of Christianity in Bharat still engage in these societal practices with regards to the caste system, along with all its customs and norms. Recall, a major proponent of Dalit theology a Dalit Christian in the Church of North Bharat, criticised Brahminic dominance of Christian theology in Bharat, and believed that the application of liberation theology to Bharat should reflect the struggle of Dalits who make up about 70 per cent of Christians in Bharat, he also criticised the Marxist element within Dalit movement that gains more politically atleast in state like Kerala.
Mind You, Ambedkar was not against Brahmins but against Brahmanical Order and these rants and raves you find in the media is downright historical distortions and monstrous which lies to weaken a strong nation in the guise of caste and social injustice.
Possible remedies, such as be spiritual ideas could be brought out in local languages for all to understand and comprehend. Interpretations of scriptures in wrong ways has led to knowledge without understanding of culture. Propagate ideologies native to ward off vultures and practice Samjik Samasrastha whole heartedly and thrive to make it a reality. Nonetheless as he said in a constituent debate, “With all our castes and creeds, I have not the slightest hesitation that we shall be in form the united people and referring to unfortunate partition, he said a day would come and enough light would be dawned upon the Muslims that United Bharat is better even for them.
(as told to N Nagaraj Rao)
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