The oath taking procedure of the 17th Lok Sabha has been in the news for various reasons. First it was the uncultured hounding of Sadhvi Pragya by Congress MP’s for taking her complete Sanyasa name which includes the name of her Guru, then the absence of Congress prince for most of the day except for appearing for the duration of his oath where he seemed uninterested and forced. Latest is the way Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi arrogantly and openly displayed his religious and partisan agenda while taking his oath.
As Owaisi rose to take his customary oath, several MP’s in the house raised the slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. A visibly perturbed Owaisi gestured them to continue and put up a fake smile. After he finished his oath in a move to counter ‘Jai Shri Ram’, Owaisi tried to pull a fast one by ending his oath with Jai Bhim, Jai MIM and Allah o’ Akbar. Little did he know that while trying to spite Jai Shri Ram and, he exposed his and his party MIM’s fake solidarity with the SC and ST’s which was foreseen long ago by Dr. BR Ambedkar.
On November 27th, 1947 DR BR Ambedkar who was the then Minister for Law addressed the media and gave an open invitation to all the people who belonged to the Scheduled Castes in Pakistan to migrate to India. He reasoned his call in a statement thus:
“The Nizam deserves no sympathy in opposing union with India. I am anxious that no person from the Scheduled Castes brings disgrace upon the community by siding with one who is an enemy of India,” This statment of Dr. Ambedkar has been recorded in the book ‘DR BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR WRITINGS AND SPEECHES’ Published by Education Department of the Govt. of Maharashtra in October, 2003.
Most importantly to the current scenario and as a lesson to the MIM and Owaisi, Dr. BR Ambedkar said “The Scheduled Castes of Hyderabad should under no circumstances side with the Nizam and the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen. Whatever the tyranny and oppression which the Hindus practise on us, it must not warp our vision and swerve us from our duty. The Nizam deserves no sympathy in opposing Union with India. In doing this he is acting against his own interest. He does not realize that his own dynastic rights would be much safer if they were guaranteed by the Union Constitution which would have the sanction of 90 per cent of the Hindus of India than they would be if he relied on the Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen. I am anxious that no person from the Scheduled Castes bring disgrace upon the community by siding with one who is an enemy of India.”
Dr. BR Ambedkar was critical of the so-called Dalit-Muslim unity being fostered in politics today. If it is the likes of Owaisi today, it was Jinnah then. In his address in Nov, 1947 he had said, “It would be fatal for the Scheduled Castes, whether in Pakistan or in Hyderabad, to put their faith in the Muslims or the Muslim League. It has become a habit with the Scheduled Castes to look upon the Muslims as their friends simply because they dislike the Hindus. This is a mistaken view. The Muslims wanted the support of the Scheduled Castes but they never gave their support to the Scheduled Castes. Mr. Jinnah was all the time playing a double game. He was very insistent that the Scheduled Castes were a separate entity when it suited him but, when it did not suit him he insisted with equal emphasis that they were Hindus.” This is as though Babasaheb not just saw through Jinnah’s double game but also warned us of any such machinations in the future.
Dr. Ambedkar’s statement holds good even today when the most affected by the Islamic hegemony anywhere in the country are the SCs and STs but the likes of Owaisi try to pull a fast one through gimmicks showcased yesterday in the parliament. Instances of Dalit exploitation by Muslims in the past have provided us sufficient warning so that we do not fall for such political chicanery of those who have no credibility whatsoever in welfare of SCs, STs or the downtrodden in any community.
While it is prudent to question Asaduddin Owaisi as to why he gets disturbed by ‘Jai Shri Ram’, it is pertinent to showcase the hollow sympathy that he and his party have for the SCs and STs. Raising Jai Bhim will not absolve him and his party of the horrible fate that Hindus including, the SCs and STs of Hyderabad faced under Nimaz and the Razakars (forerunners of MIM). The Dalit-Muslim unity that Owaisi tries to foster has been torn down by Dr. Ambedkar and many scholars in the past and innumerable instances over the last 7 decades. Owaisi would do well to stop trying to fool people who have already seen through such bogus concerns and instead try to safeguard his own turf that seems to be slipping away under his feet.
