• Dr. Udit Raj (Former MP

Dr. Ambedkar is the only great man whose birthday is celebrated weeks and months before his birthday. Who does not know about Dr. Ambedkar’s role in the making of the Constitution? There are many provisions in the Constitution, but they are yet to be implemented. There is a provision for reservation in the Constitution, but there is no limit to the quota in government jobs or education. If the government did not have the will and honesty, other provisions like reservation would also not have been implemented. There are provisions in the Constitution, but they are not enough if the ruling governments do not want it. According to Article 16(2) of the Constitution, no citizen shall be ineligible for or discriminated against in respect of any employment or office under the State only on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them.

Even now the Constitution is the same, but a huge difference can be seen. During the Congress rule, Dalits and Adivasis got free education, scholarship, hostel facilities and they could study. Government departments were formed and expanded where they got jobs. Public institutions were set up and lakhs and crores of jobs were created and employment was provided. Nationalization of Air India, LIC, banks, coal, oil companies etc. provided employment to lakhs of people. Dalits and Adivasis could study because they not only got free education but also scholarship and hostel facilities. In this way, the middle class was formed and it started understanding social justice. Due to reservation in quota-permits, lakhs of beneficiaries were created which increased their economic and social power. They rose the most during the emergency and got many benefits under the 20-point program and the landless were able to get land. Due to reservation in government jobs and education, a middle class emerged and then its aspirations started increasing. It was they who spread the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar and from the 1980s his name and ideas started reaching the villages. This did not happen due to the role of writing and media, rather his followers did the work of propagating it. When the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar started spreading, naturally the ideas of Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Shahuji Maharaj, Periyar, Narayan Guru, Sant Gadge, Ayyankali etc. were bound to spread automatically. As soon as the pace of participation increased, there was a hindrance. The so-called Bahujan Movement showed them the dream of ruling and they stopped fighting and demanding even for whatever they were getting. They also left the Congress which was giving them. If the pace of development had remained the same, by now there would have been a share in industry, media and other sectors as well.

Before the middle class of the Dalit society could mature, the so-called Bahujan Movement made it emotional through insincere praise. Be it the end of reservation, the question of land, the issue of privatization, oppression, privatization and high cost of education, raising questions in the parliament, personal problems or violation of rights in any way, the only answer to all this was that you have to become the ruler and forget these small issues. Our population is 85 percent. We will be the givers. They talked in such a way that now they are going to come to power and as if the tribals and backward classes have made some treaty or agreement with them. They said loudly that now the Bahujans are going to unite. If something is said repeatedly, people start believing it to be true. On the other hand, about 50 percent of OBCs who were supposed to stand with Mandal Commission, joined ‘Kamandal’. It was the backwards who were behind the massive support to ‘Kamandal’ against Mandal. In such a situation, how did they ignore issues like reservation, education, land and put all their strength into the dream of gaining power! The backwards who were proud of standing with their opponents, by showing false trust in them, fooled the middle class of the Dalit class and gathered a lot of support. What should have happened was that the fight for gaining power should have continued but the issues that were being received should have been raised from the streets to the Parliament.

They adopted Dr. Ambedkar’s ideas as per their convenience, started setting up caste organisations and asked everyone to organise their castes. Dr. Ambedkar had talked about a casteless society and they kept on strengthening the wall of ‘caste’. The increasing participation stopped and it would be more appropriate to say that they themselves became an obstacle in the path of their development. Welfare schemes kept dying and instead of putting in efforts to save them, they kept on gaining political power. Especially in North India, they considered Congress as the main opponent and started putting all their strength, resources and thinking for a dream which was not practical. If the backward classes were not with them, the tribal society was asleep, the Muslims were busy in defeating BJP and there was no voice and struggle for rights from Parliament to the streets, then how would the rights be saved? The Congress which gave rights was itself accused of creating sycophants and was anti-Ambedkar. They even stopped voting, so in such a situation, what remaining power could have struggled for rights?

The reason behind pitting Congress and Dr. Ambedkar against each other was fact less and thoughtless. Saddened by the non-passing of the Hindu Code Bill, Dr. Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet. It should be noted that could the bill have been presented without the cabinet’s consent? This bill was for the equality of all Hindu women and Nehru ji was as keen to get it passed as Baba Saheb Dr. Ambedkar had been. RSS and Hindu Mahasabha had continued to protest against this bill across the country and there was opposition to it from within the Congress as well. Nehru ji himself got it passed later. So how far is it right to blame Congress in this way? An emotional allegation is also made that Congress did not give Bharat Ratna. So how can this be called anti-Dalit, because people like Sachin Tendulkar have also received Bharat Ratna. Congress made him the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly and the Law Minister, only then Baba Saheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar could do all this. Another baseless allegation is that Baba Saheb was defeated in the elections by Congress, whereas this is wrong. The reason for losing the elections in 1952 was communist leaders S.A. Dange and Savarkar. No one in the world fights elections to lose. After independence, Dr. Ambedkar was not a member of the Constituent Assembly, it was Congress that elected him and brought him back.

Followers should look within and see if they have become free from the bondage of caste? Are they fighting unitedly? Have the Dalit castes started establishing ‘roti-beti’ relations among themselves? Aren’t they thinking beyond logic and facts with a caste mindset? Have they been able to free themselves from the mindset of male power? Rahul Gandhi is fighting the battle to save the Constitution from the Parliament to the streets. How sincerely is he being supported? The followers don’t have much time left to think and understand. What is the use of coming to their senses after everything is over?

(The author is the National Chairman of Unorganised Workers and Employees Congress (KKC) and the Confederation of Dalit, OBC, Minorities and Adivasi (DOMA) Organisations)