How Vishy called back Bob Tailor to bat again

Remembering a gentleman crickter

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

It was the Golden Jubilee year of India’s entry into the test cricket. Mumbai’s Wanakhade stadium was to host the Golden Jubilee test match between India and England. Unlike today, those days, the BCCI never bothered about the players who were sober and silent. Cricketers like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble could not have made to the top slot in those days as there was no media scrutiny and there was more politics inside the board- room.

One great cricketer, who grew up as a parallel to Sunil Gavaskar, who battling was an art to be watched and enjoyed, who remained a gentleman through his career was Gundappa Vishwanath. He hailed from Karnataka and is brother in law of Sunil Gavaskar. Vishy as he is affectionately called by his colleagues, was made the captain of the Golden Jubilee test in 1982 against England.

The English team had some of the greats like Bob Tailer, Bob Wilis, Ian Botham, John Lever while Indians had Sunil Gavaskar, G.R.Vishwanath, Kapil Dev and Madan Lal. The English batted well with might while the Indian faltered to the pace battery of England. England finally won the match. Everybody knew that one incident changed the outcome of the match. It was Bob Tailor, the English wicket keeper batsman, who was given out by the umpire, caught behind. Tailor got angry and went towards the Pavilion in great anger. Vishy saw him going, saw for some time, ran towards the boundary and asked Bob Tailor that he was not out and he should play. Bob came back, restarted his innings and scored a hundred that became the cause of their victory.

But it was not that Vishwnath was too naïve. The man is still respected for his simplicity and seriousness. When the Indian cricket team was touring Australia one year later under Sunil Gavaskar’s captaincy, the incident of Melbourne is a crude reminder of how bad umpiring can affect the relationship between the two teams. Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan opened to bat. Gavaskar did not have a good series that time. India was already legging behind in the series. When Gavaskar became to concentrate, the umpire gave him out LBW. Gavaskar was so annoyed with this, that he asked his colleague Chetan Chauhan to leave the crease. Fortunately, Indian manager Durrani persuaded both of them not to force it, otherwise the match would have been awarded to Australia. India was tracing the first Innings total of Australia. When the hope to save the test was lost, it was Vishwanath, whose bat did the talking. He scored a wonderful 114, a classic to watch even today, and India scored some reasonable total. And the rest is history. How, Kapil Dev who was injured and taking painkillers was forced to bowl and the Australian for the first time saw the ferocity of Indian bowling attack and were out for 82. India won the match.

It is not that sledging is not a part of the game. Great players like Kapil Dev rarely showed their anger in immature way as we see today’s player. While aggression is good yet it has to be with great maturity. If a number of youngsters are unable to perform and keep themselves fit, they must understand how a medium fast bowler like Kapil Dev could stay on playing nearly 130 test matches. It was determination and control.

And players like Bishan Singh Bedi, the legendary spinner of the past, were outspoken. Once Bedi exposed that fast bowler John Lever used to rub Vaseline to shine the bowl. Bedi made this charge and was expelled from the county.

Point is that sledging is one thing and racial comment the other. The cricketers should not only talk with bat but also learn some of their history. It is rather unfortunate that when Virendra Sehwag broke record of the first wicket partnership of over 400 odd runs so far held by Pankaj Roy, he showed total ignorance of who the man was? It is not shocking as commercialization, advertisement and media has glamorized every player and made them ‘great’. Some time even the undeserving get these epithets resulting in false sense of greatness and underperformance by these players. It is time to remember these great performers and our players should learn something from history for their own benefit and for the benefit of the game. Don't erase from memories those moments of history which are honestly our achievements even if one is defeated. Vishy, Kapil, Bedi, Chandra remained some of the greatest players known for thier unique qualities and service to the nation. It is not that they did not know things and how to retailiate. Let us save the game of the cricket and not blame 'poor' umpiring for our 'poor' performance.

Inheritance of Discrimination

Why is Civil Society mute to threat of communalism in India?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


Steve Bucknor is out. The umpire with impeccable credentials became victim of a slander, which the exploiters often use for their own purposes. All of sudden, we found the upper caste Indians crying about racism and discrimination. That Harbhajan Singh is no saint has been well elaborated by former legend Bishan Singh Bedi. It is a well-known fact that he abused Andrew Symonds. But what was the abuse is not verified. The Australians, who are known for their own brand of racism and sucked the blood of the indigenous population, are clamoring for it. Paradoxically, fight is between the two exploiters of colors and the umpire was the one who played cricket during the heydays of
racial discrimination in Africa.

This event highlighted one fact that we are afraid of admitting our own disabilities and feel that offense is the best defense. Mr Sharad Pawar, the BCCI head hails from Maharastra, a land of great social rebels like Jyoti Ba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Chatripati Shahuji Mahraj and others and how they waged war against caste system and untouchability. Perhaps, Sharad Pawar know it well how the caste discrimination is still part and parcel of our life. Defending Harbhajan’s innocence was Navjot Singh Siddhu, who is famous for his loud mouth on television channels. We laugh at his quotes and jokes but that reflect our mental make up as most of the jokes, wits and humors that we have in our country is based on somebody’s physical appearance, color, castes and disability. Mr. Siddhu often uses such terminology to emphasise his viewpoint. It is not long back that we had famous song from a Bollywood which suggests “ Mochi bhee khud ko sunar samjhe’, that the cobbler thinks himself of a goldsmith. This is nothing short of racial abuse that certain people deserve success and others do not have right to compare themselves with the ‘big’ people.

The social cultural conditions in South Asia are alarming. They are reflecting of our tainted cultural practices. It is important that before we come to any conclusion, we must introspect what is happening around us.

The events at end of 2007 do not reflect the entire subcontinent in good light. First, the election results from Gujarat gave a chance to the saffron brigade to feel happy about their presence, a victory, which was followed by them in Himachal Pradesh. Modi’s victory became a toast for all those right wing nationalists who enjoy this cocktail of capital and Hindutva in India. When Modi was celebrating in Gujarat, the Hindutva foot soldiers were busy in experimenting the same things in another state, which is one of India’s poorest states yet naturally very rich. Here this richness of nature does not help the protector of nature, the Adivasis, but the exploiters of nature, the big corporate houses, who are on a purchasing spree. Yes, I talk of Orissa, a state, which has a government whose chief minister did not know how to speak Orriya in the beginning. Yes, the legacy of the family made this corporatised man, chief minister. The Sangh Parivar worked without any administrative control and is now the horrific tales of violence against Christian community in Kandhamala district of Orissa are out. A white paper issued by some of the civil society activists led by Dr John Dayal reveal the hidden danger of communalization process in Orissa and how the state administration became a silent spectator allowing the houses of the people be torched. While the white paper does speak about violence against non-Christians or Hindus but the fact is that communalization process in Orissa has hit below the belt. Why is the Hindutva so eager to make Orissa its Gujarat replica? One needs not to be an ideologue to understand the philosophy of Hindutva or religious rights in general. They work closely with the business houses. While in the west the capitalist might have social concern and secular ideals, in India Hindutva enamors them. Not a single industrialist could stand up and be counted to condemn the isolation and exclusion of Muslims in Gujarat. Every time, the demand for their safety and natural justice was raised, Modi and his gangs made them an issue of MUSLIMS. And the resounding victory that Gujarat gave to Modi is a reflection of how the community has grown. It is a victory not of diversity but homogenization of thought and deeds. Yes, Gujarat became a perfect Hindu Rastra and Gujaratis world over, unfortunately, have remained an isolated community, rarely meeting and mixing with the locals. Yes, they remain caged in their temples and money.

A few days later after Modi’s victory we found Gujarati’s being amidst a storm in Kenya. Reports appeared in newspapers here that they were targeted but independent sources said that the violence was general and not particular against Gujarati community but Narendra Modi was ready to give them shelter in Gujarat, bypassing the foreign ministry’s domain. He wanted government to act immediately. Of late, the Indians are becoming target of attacks but not due to any racial prejudices but because of their own isolation in those societies. In April 2007 when I traveled to Uganda, a country which witnessed violence just before I reached there, between the ethnic Ugandans who targeted Indians. It is no doubt that the Indian’s worked hard to reach to top slot but it is also a fact that a large number of them have reached to such a position with not much hard work but by sheer manipulations too. I was alarmed to hear from my African friends as why the Indian community is unable to mix up with the local communities even when the Europeans come and marry there, mix up with the local populace and share their feelings, the Indians have a deep sense of color prejudice and a superiority complex. While some of the Indians wrote me back from Uganda that they have contributed a lot but the fact is that the Gujarat’s exclusivism will ultimately hurt their own communities. Today, Modi want Gujarat exclusively for the upper castes and there is no voice of the tribals who have faced the brunt of the industrial Gujarat as their voice is not heard, the Dalits who plight is not heard. Such things do not make stronger India. Gujaratis enjoyed fruits of diversity world over and they do not want the same thing in their own province. In Uganda, Kenya elsewhere they are using Gandhi but in Gujarat, they have thrown away the old man.

Spending the last 10 days of the year 2007 in a remote town of Andhra Pradesh, I got opportunity to understand and meet many people from different parts of the country. A humanist friends from Gujarat made his presentation on the issue of communalization in Gujarat for which he openly blamed the killings and ostracisation of the Kashmiri Pandits. How can the Gujarati’s keep quiet if the Hindus are being killed and ethnic cleansing happening there on large scale, he retorted. Then he went on to explain, how the Gujarati people got annoyed after the Muslims had burnt the train in Godhara. When I asked him as why he feels that the Muslims burnt the train at Godhara and Hindus retaliated elsewhere? That is where we make mistake, I told him. How can you say that the Muslims burnt the train? They were criminals who might or might not be Muslims as their identities have not been established, I said. It is the duty of the state to nab the culprits and get them punishment. Who are you to punish the people of Gujarat, I questioned. ‘Oh, but tell me why are the terrorists only from the Muslim community’, he responded to my observations. My answer is simple. ‘Not a single Hindu has been implicated in the communal riots in India. Not a single one has been punished. You can catch a Dawood Ibrahim or Chhota Shakil but the culprits of the Mumbai Riots, Gujarat Violence, Delhi’s anti Sikh violence are roaming. They got rewarded by getting elected to parliament and became ministers’, I said. In a diverse society, the communalism of the majority is soon turned into a ‘national’ ethos while the demand of the minorities become communal, hence the votaries of the Ram mandir have become ‘national’ while those who demand justice for Babari Masjid become anti national. I am shocked not because people say such things. I have no doubt about death of civil society in India but it pains when those proclaiming humanists and human rights defender behave in such a way to justify one brand of communalism. One has to understand the dilemmas of the Muslim community in India to understand the ground reality. The more the community is marginalized the better the space for the fundamentalists to take over. That political leadership failed Muslim community in India, which depended on the Hindu leaders to prove their secularism, is another tragedy of the post independence India. A dalit can shout on the rooftop saying Bahujan Samaj Party is my part but for a Muslim to say Muslim League is my party would mean a tag of communal mindset.

It is easier to blame the Muslims for everything. Often such questions greet us. Why are they terrorists? Why no Muslim country is secular? Why Muslim breeds so many children? Why do they have so many wives? These things are true about every one. These things depend on your socio-economic status. One can also say that the population growth in the North India is tremendous comparatively to South. Secondly, the North Indian population is not just confined to Muslims; the increase in the population of Dalits and OBCs is enormous. The fact is that the population grows because of poverty and has nothing to do with religion.

Now, the important aspect is the false hood of the Hindutva campaign If they are against the Muslims for all those reasons, I mentioned above, then the important question, I am asking is, why are they hitting the Christian community? Are they terrorists? Do they have more children? Do they have more wives? the Hindutva does not want to understand that despite 9/11 incidents, Europe and American showed exemplary resilience. There were violence but those incidents were stray and isolated. Even when technically many of the European countries are still Christian, the individual freedom and human rights are highly respected and are well in place and the society by and large is secular. If the Hindutva want to compare India’s own record of discrimination, it must come out of a better alternative rather than blaming the Christians and Muslims for its own problem.

The problem is clear. The issue of Dalits and tribals are getting not only politicized but also internationalized. The great tolerant society now is exposed to the world. And we feel that this expose of our society can be countered by a false aggression that we have shown in Australia. In the age of information technology, we still want to hide our evils and not fight against them. Conversion was a potential tool once upon a time, a sense of revolt against the unequal system. One can differ with its perceptions and outcomes but definitely for the Hindutva propagandists, they were the first one to hit upon the rights of the Dalits and marginalized in India. Arun Shourie, the former editor of Indian Express is today the propagandist of the Hindutva in India. Shourie who once upon a time epitomized the probity in Public life, fought for the victims of the 1984 riots in Delhi when every news paper forgot about them, is today, ironically, speak against not only human rights but want to speak in terms of an eye for an eye. His writings against Dalits, Muslims, Christians are well known to be documented here. The only thing he changed in these years was that his love for Ambanis has increased. A company against whom he wrote passionately like a Gulshan Nanda’s fiction. These are the people who came out from some of the best-known Christian Institutions and later grew up in the shadow of the veterans of the human rights movement in India.

The justification of happening in Gujarat and now in Orissa underline two things. That the Sangh Parivar have Hinduised the entire political system. Second, despite a secular constitution, we still have not won battle against fundamentalism and religious intolerance. It is a challenge for all of us. The gain comes from the Political Islam in our surroundings but comparisons are rarely made with the Europeans where a large number of those who supply hate to India, live. Now, whether it is civil society or the political parties, the basic framework is the ideas, I mentioned earlier. Justification to violence under the garb of something else. You kill Hindus in Pakistan hence we have a right to retaliate in Gujarat. The Pakistani fundamentalists will do the same thing.. You kill Muslims in Gujarat and we will avenge it in Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere? When will this politics of prejudice end?

One needs to understand the threat perception in Orissa. The violence that killed Graham Stains and his two children was preceded with violence against the church and Christians in Gujarat. Prior to killings of Muslims in Gujarat, we had seen attacks on the churches and Christian Institutions in Gujarat and other parts of India, predominantly the tribal areas. So while Muslims are ‘terrorists’, produce more ‘children’, keep more ‘wives’, the Christians convert to our children. Why are Mr Adwani and his team leaving the prestigious Christian Institutions in the cities? why they target in the villages? Is it because these Christian Educational Institutions have more RSS wallahs than the Christians there? Is it because the Adivasis might also learn English language and understand their rights. Some body has to work. Let the Sangh also work there. Let the government work in the tribal areas. Displacing them from their habitat, killing them culturally and then imposing some religion on them, which has never been their own, is against their fundamental right. Another question comes in my mind is Christian contribution in India to civil society, health sector and education system. Can the Sangh Parivar and their different offshoots give us some counter argument on these issues?

Hatred in Orissa is long-term idea. The National Commission for Minorities has already said it in its note. Why is civil society so submissive, is a matter of grave concern. The fact of the matter is that barring a few exceptions; it has remained so every time. It is systematic intrusion in our civil society through the right wing forces, like media where even the most secular character has saffron rob underneath; the face of civil society is more tainted. It compromised on these issues because of various reasons. India’s health will only be good if it has a pluralistic heritage and a will to live together. Any imposition of ideas, identities, cultural and society on any other non willing partner will make it a nation, more dangerous than any of our neighbors. If lessons could be drawn from our immediate neighbors like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri lanka then, diversity, human rights, new ideas should be hallmark of a democratic system. Any deviation from these will turn India into an Afghanistan, which is still battling for unification and where different tribes are up in arms against each other. An India, where the women are not safe and where the discrimination on the basis of your caste, identity, colors and physical appearance are still rampant. The Sangh and its different Avatars should focus more on these issues so that life of the common person is changed. At least, this is what they can learn from the Christians.

At the end, we all pay our taxes. A government is there to protect the people and not become mute witness to violence against one community. If we do not find answers to our inherent discriminations as well as false nationalism, which is disturbingly turning into an upper caste cricket match that we witnessed in Sydney, then, I am afraid, the situation would go out of hand. This is the biggest hour of crisis in our social life and we have to respond it with responsibility and courage and not to let down the founding fathers of our nation, who gave us a secular and liberal constitution which is still our proud possession and a guarantee for social justice and equality for all.

Land, Dignity and Freedom : A Padyatra

Documentry

Land, Dignity and Freedom : A Padyatra
Duration : One hour and 2 minutes,
Concept : Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Commentry : Hindi with English Subtitles


In the month of June, I and about 20 of my friends in the differents parts of Poorvanchal went on a pilgrimage to understand the issue of Land and its linkages with the issue of dignity and freedom. We covered nearly 400 kilometers in 22 days, over 140 villages, several major towns and four districts of Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushingar and Gorakhpur.

The report of the Padyatra had been made available to many of you and is very much available on my blog www.manukhsi.blogspot.com and on various other websites. Therefore, I am not going to repeat those things. I would stick to the film.

The film is divided into four parts. The first part is on Padyatra. The villages, the slogans, the public meetings and our halts and interactions with the people. The second part deals with the issue of Hunger and Starvation. We met many people who were suffering from hunger. The dying communities eating rats and snails. The futureless communities who feel betrayed even after 60 years of independence. Our attempt was to understand what exactly cause hunger and where is the governance. Deserving people do not have ration cards. No widow pensions, no houses for Dalits and most marginalised including women. Why people resort to eating rats and snails. What is the condition of the communities like Rajbhars, Chamars, Pasis, Bansfors, Swachchakars, Nonias and Mushahars. What is the status of land and access to forest and water ?


The third part deals with the issue of environmenal degradation and its impact on the marginalised communities particular the fishermen and marginalised farmers. Most of the rivers in Poorvanchal are rottening with the industrial wastes from these factories spills into rivers and agricultural areas. Today thousands of hectares of fertile land in Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Kaptanganj, Ramkola, and Chaurichaura is turned baren. The drinking water is a threat as it is thoroghly polluted. The suger mills and distillaries have played havoc with public life in these areas. During our Padyatra we tried to explore this issue of direct threat on livelihood through environmenal degradation.

And the fourth part of the film is the culmination of the Padyatra in Chaurichara where hundreds of people participated on June 22nd, 2007. They marched over 5 kilometer before reaching the historical monument of the sacrifice of Dalits and other communities in the Non Cooperation movement. A Chauri Chaura declaration was passed related to the growing discontent among various marginalised communities and suggested various measures to improve their conditions.

The Padyatra was an attempt to educate the masses about their human rights and constitutional safe guards meant for them. The Padyatra reiterated our faith in the ideals of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Jyoti Ba Phule, E.V.Ramaswami Naicar ( Periyar), Sri Narayan Guru, Shahuji Maharaj etc. That fight against poverty must be inked with fight for land right ( dignity) and against the brahmanical value system which has sujbugated people for years.

The film is not funded from any source hence we would ask for contribution.
The cost of the VCD is Rs 250/- or USD 15/- and the cost of DVD is Rs 500/- or USD 25. Postal-courier charges etc.


With regards,

Vidya Bhushan Rawat
vbrawat@gmail.com,

Ambedkar as a Human Rights Defender

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed on December 10th, 1948 and a majority of nations including the so-called imperial power, newly independent states, every one, agreed to certain principals of human life which would be guiding principals for the 20th century. But to say that human rights and struggle for human rights came into effect after Universal Declaration of Human Rights were signed, would be a negation of historical struggle for social reform and human rights right from Buddha to Thomas Paine to Jyoti Ba Phule, to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The struggle for human dignity and human rights are as old as the exploitation of human beings who some of ancient people termed as ‘lesser fortunate’. That clearly reflected a mindset, which justified everything in the name of religion, and customs hence exploited communities were termed as ‘unfortunate’.

Ambedkar was not only the son of a down trodden but a son of modernity and globlisation. I mean, had he not been educated at Columbia and then in the London School of Economics, he might have accepted the same ‘term’ of being ‘lesser fortunate’ or being ‘unfortunate’. Yet, education in United States and England showed him what exactly freedom was as he could mix with students of other countries and races. The feeling of humanness that he developed after facing torturous days of humiliation in India. came only after his stay in Europe and America. He did not confined to Indian social system but broaden his philosophy and ideas. Therefore Ambedkar is child of internationalism where scholarship is respected and acknowledged. While there is no need for me to explain Ambedkar’s understanding of human rights and international law.

Having faced the discrimination on the basis of his birth and understanding fully well that varna system of caste is not merely the issue untouchability but much beyond that Ambedkar clearly suggested that if Hindu Society has to improve it must be formed on the basis of equality, fraternity and liberty.

It is the greatness of the man and quintessentially humanist attitude that Ambedkar wanted not only challenge the Vedas and other holy texts but also change them according to modernity. It is here that he was thoroughly disgusted with Gandhi who mentioned that any one who does not believe in Shastras can not be a Hindu and that Shastras can not be changed. For Ambedkar human dignity and humanity was much bigger issue than any religion.

‘ We do not value Hinduism, we value human dignity.’ [Gore 1993: 97]. We want equal rights in the society. We will achieve them as far as possible while remaining within the Hindu fold or if necessary by kicking away this worthless Hindu identity.’[Ibid. 91] (Debrahmanising history pg.357

Ambedkar was a proponent of modernity and human right. Unlike Gandhi, he was a man of reason and good senses who was not prepared to submit to a tradition that defy human dignity and self respect. When Gandhi ask the Scavenger community to continue with their profession since it was based on their caste and that they would be serving it according to tradition, Ambedkar decried Gandhi.

“
If Gandhiism preached the rule of poverty for all and not merely for the shudra, the worst that could be said about it is that it is a mistaken idea. But why preach it as good for one class only? Why appeal to the worst of human failings, namely pride and vanity in order to make him voluntarily accept what on a rational basis he would resent as a cruel discrimination against him. What is the use of telling the scavenger that even a Brahmin is prepared to do the scavenging when it is clear that according to the Hindu Shastras and Hindu notions, even if a Brahmin did scavenging, he would never be subject to the disabilities of one who is born a scavenger? For, in India, a man is not a scavenger because of his work. He is a scavenger because of his birth, irrespective of the question whether he does scavenging or not. If Gandhisim preached that scavenging is a noble Profession, with the objective of inducing those who refuse to engage in it, one could understand it. But why appeal to scavengers pride and vanity in order to induce him and him only to keep on to scavenging by telling him that scavenging is a noble profession and that he need not be ashamed of it. To preach that poverty is good for Shudra and for none else, to preach that scavenging is good for the untouchables and for none else and to make them accept these onerous impositions as voluntary proposes of life, by appeal to their failings is an outrage and a cruel joke on the helpless classes which none but Mr Gandhi can perpetrate with equanimity and impunity.
(BAWS-9-292-3)


Then came the historical occasion for Ambedkar to enter into a debate on the issue of caste and Varna with Gandhi on his writings in ‘ Harijan’. Gandhi as usual considered himself an expert on every subject, from theology to spirituality. Unfortunately, his ridiculous religious beliefs that any one who did not believe in Varna or caste cannot be a true Hindu were stronger enough to compel Ambedkar think for alternative to Hinduism. None of the Gandhian questioned his fanciful ideas. In fact some of them went on to support Gandhi and chided others. Indian media is full of such jokers who have nothing to do with Gandhi and yet they are ready to exploit Gandhi and his upper caste Indian dream. Gandhi’s retrogressive views on caste were well exposed in his debate on the issue with Ambedkar.

“If caste and Varna are convertible (interchangeable) terms and if Varna is an integral part of shastras which define Hinduism. I do not know how a person who rejects caste i.e. Varna, can call himself a Hindu”. 59. (Annihilation of caste by Dr B.R. Ambedkar)

For Ambedkar such orthodox views by a leader who considered him not only awaking the political people of India but soul of India, came as a shock. His famous remark followed this: “ Though I am born as a Hindu, I shall not die as a Hindu’. Ambedkar therefore considered emancipation of Dalits as more important to freedom of India, which he felt was a mere transfer of power to the upper caste Hindus which could be detrimental to the interest of Dalits in India.


Rights of Women

Ambedkar was a great votary of women’s emancipation. He believed that the Varna system has not only subjugated Untouchables but also women.

It would however be a mistake to suppose that only the wrongs of men are a religion to him. For the Brahmin has given his support to the worst wrongs that women have suffered from in any part of the world. Widows were burnt alive as suttees. Widows were never allowed to remarry. The record of Brahmins as law givers for the Shudras, for the untouchables and for the women is blackest as compared with the record of the intellectual classes in other parts of the world. For, no intellectual class has prostituted its intelligence to invent a philosophy to keep his uneducated countrymen in a perpetual state of ignorance and poverty as the Brahmins have done in India.

(Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s Writings and Speeches: Volume-9 page 215-216


There can be no doubt that there has been an utter down fall in position of women in India from what it was once was. One cannot say much about the part they played in ancient time in the state craft. But there is no doubt they did occupy a very high position in the intellectual and social life of the country.

He questioned Manu and Manu Smriti and felt it was solely responsible for the down and fall of Hindu woman.

‘ It is the nature of women to seduce man in this world. For that reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females.


In fact Ambedkar resigned from Nehru’s cabinet after the Hindu Code Bill could not be passed as visualized. His fight for the right of the women for divorce was opposed fiercely in the Parliament by not only the right wing Hindus like Shyama Prasad Mukharje but also like Dr Rajendra Prasad and K D Malviya. He was thoroughly dejected because of Nehru’s failure to get the bill passed.


Campaign for Civil Rights


In November 1932 Ambedkar wrote to A.V.Thakkar, known as Thakkar Bappa, General Secretary of anti untouchability League. Ambedkar and Thakkar Bapa did not go together. Even when Thakkar Bapa asked for the opinion of Dr Ambedkar on various matters yet the following advise given by Dr Ambedkar was not even acknowledged. I am quoting this important letter of Ambedkar and Thakkar Bapa to give you a direct understanding of how Ambedkar was a true champion of human rights and he took the battle of Dalits and untouchability from the perspective of human rights.

‘ I think the first thing that the league should undertake is a campaign all over India to secure the depressed classes the enjoyment of their civic rights such as taking water from the village wells, entry in the village schools, admission to village chawdi, use of public conveyance etc. Such programmes if carried into the villages will bring about the necessary social revolution in the Hindu society, without which it will not be possible for the depressed classes to get equal social status.’

The salvation of the depressed classes will come only when the caste Hindu is made to think and is forced to feel that he must alter his ways. For that you must create a crisis by direct action against his customary code of conduct. The crisis will compel him to think and once he begins to think he will be more ready to change than he is otherwise likely to be. The great defect in the policy of the least resistance and silent infiltration of rational ideas lies in this that they do not compel thought, for they do not produce crisis. The direct action in respect of Chawdar Tank in Mahad, the Kalaram temple in Nasik and the Gurwayur temple in Malawar have done in a few days what million days of preaching by reformers would never have done.

Equality of Opportunity

Much of the misery and poverty of the depressed classes is due to the absence of equality of opportunity, which in its turn is due to untouchability.

Much can be done by the private firms, and companies managed by the Hindus by extending their patronage to the depressed classes and by employing them in their offices in various grades and occupations suited to the capacities of the applicants.

Social Intercourse

The best way of achieving it is to establish closer contact between the two. Only a common cycle of participation can help people to overcome the strangeness of feeling which one has, when brought into contact with the other. Nothing can do this more effectively in my opinion than the admission of the depressed classes to the houses of the caste Hindus as guests or servants. The live contact thus established will familiarize both to a common and associated life and will pave the way for that unity which we all are striving after. (78-83)

He was very forthright and was never prejudiced and hence when Savarkar wanted to discuss the issue of removal of untouchability he wrote to him (Letter to V D Savarkar on 18.2.1933)

‘ If the untouchables are to be a part and parcel of the Hindu society, then it is not enough to remove untouchability, for that purpose you must destroy the Chaturvarna.

In a letter to Laxmi Kabir on Gandhi’s death Feburary 8th, 1948

‘ Great men are of great service to their country but they are also at certain times a great hinderance to the progress of their country.

Mr Gandhi had become a positive danger to this country. He had choked all free thought. He was holding together the congress, which is a combination of all the bad and self seeking elements in the society who agreed on no social or moral principals governing the life of the society except the one of praising and flattering of Mr. Gandhi. The death of Gandhi he said ‘, will release people from bondage to a superman, it will make them think for themselves and it will compel them to stand on their own merits.
( page 205)

Political, Economic Social Rights indivisible

On the social plane we have in India a society based on the principal of graded inequality which means elevation for some and degradation for others. On the economic plane we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth as against many who live in abject poverty. On the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In Politics we will have equality ‘ one man one vote and one vote one value, and in social and economic life we will have inequality. We must remove this contradictions at the earliest possible moment or else who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built.

‘If there is any cause of freedom in this Indian turmoil for independence, it is the cause of the untouchables. The cause of Hindus and the cause of Musalman is not the cause of freedom. Theirs is a struggle for power as distinguished from freedom. Consequently, it has always been a matter of surprise to me, that no party, no organisation devoted to the freedom has so far interested itself in the untouchables.’
( From Emancipation of Dalits by Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar).61.

Right to Self Determination : Ambedkar talked of self determination in the form of separate electorate. That is why when Ambedkar pressed for the separate electorate demand for Dalits, Gandhi opposed it tooth and nail. It was the same Gandhi who had nothing against Muslim demand for a separate electorate. When the Poona pact was awarded in 1932, Gandhi could not tolerate his defeat at the hands of an articulate Dalit leader. As soon as he came back to India, Gandhi decided to fast unto death against such an award that would have brought a lot of changes in the quality of Dalit leadership in India. For Dalits would not have depended on the upper caste Hindus to get elected. Ambedkar succumbed to the blackmailing tactics of Gandhi and commented ‘ Mahatmas have come, Mahatmas have gone but the lot of Dalits remain the same’. Ambedkar feared that death of Gandhi would spark backlash against Dalits in the villages where the upper caste tyranny was still prevalent. He entered into a deal with Gandhi and signed Poona Pact, which allowed reservation of seats for Dalits in Parliament and state assemblies. Gandhi saved his upper caste interest and made Dalit leadership dependent on upper castes votes. Ambedkar himself became a victim of this and could not win Lok Sabha election from the state of Maharastra as all the upper castes joined hand against him.


Right to choose your faith

Ambedkar redefined history and linked the Dalits with Buddha. His efforts to reform Varna religion failed and he embarked on rational path of Buddhism. In fact, he mentioned very clearly that “, Unfortunately, I was born a Hindu. It was beyond my power to prevent that, I solemnly assure you that I will not die a Hindu.”

Justifying his viewpoint on Conversion, Dr Ambedkar said,’ There are two aspect of conversion as well as religious, material as well as spiritual. Whatever, may be the aspect or line of thinking it is necessary to understand the beginning, the nature of untouchability and how it is practiced. Without, this understanding, you will not be able to realise the real meaning underlying my declaration of conversion. In order to have a clear understanding of Untouchability and its practices in real life, I want you to recall the stories of the atrocities perpetrated against you. But very few of you might have realised as to why this happened.. This is the root of their tyranny. To me it is very necessary, that we understand it. This is not a feud between two rival men. The problem of untouchability is a matter of class struggle. It is a struggle between caste Hindus and untouchables. It is not a matter of doing injustice against one man. This is matter of injustice being done by one class against other. This struggle starts as soon as you start claiming equal treatment with others…

Dr Ambedkar said that there is no place for individual’s identity in so-called Hindu dharma as it does not appeal to my self respect and self conscience..” I tell you very specifically, religion is for men and not Man for religion. To get human treatment get converted. convert for getting organised. Convert for becoming strong. Convert for securing equality. Convert for getting liberty. Convert so that your domestic life may be happy.”

He told the people from his experiences “, Three factors are required for the upliftment of an individual. They are: Sympathy, equality and liberty. Can you say by experience that any of these factors exists in Hinduism?”

Conclusion : Ambedkar championed the cause of the down trodden. But to confine him to mere as a leader of Dalits will do him great injustice. He was the most accompalished political leader and philosopher among his contemporaries. He was much ahead of his time which is reflected when he was drafting the Hindu Code Bill. It was a bill which gave Indian woman a right which they never imagined. Unlike other political leaders including some of the Dalits who could not challenge the religion and text books, for Ambedkar human dignity was bigger than any religion and religious text book. The famous Satyagraha for the rights of the dalits to fetch water in Mahad is well known to be mentioned here. No human rights discourse in India could be complete with out detailed discussion on the outstanding work of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

( excerpts of paper presented at a seminar at Tirpuati Women's University on Ambedkar's Ideologies, in Tirupati, March 2007)

The Paradox of Taslima Nasreen

Is Taslima treading a dangerous path in India by courting the Hindu fundamentalists?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


In an interview to the Indian Express, Delhi on November 24th, noted Bengali author Taslima Nasreen said, “Nothing happens to MF Hussain, who has done so many things, while everybody is after my life’. It is ironical that the statement comes from a person who has been ‘wronged’ by the Muslim clergy in Bangladesh and whose issue rocked Indian parliament as well as has exposed the hypocrisy of our society and so-called ‘liberal’ values.

It is more than shocking that the issue cropped up at a time when the self style custodian of the secular values in India were exposed to the outside world on the issue of the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in West Bengal. Their own intellectuals, artists started questioning the take over of Nandigram and communalization of West Bengal. The seer hypocrisy of the Government of West Bengal was visible as the CPI(M)’s cadre went back to ‘annex’ Nandigram and the victory day celebrations took place there. The red flags were hoisted as if Nandigram was an alien territory and great nationalist forces of the left have won.

A fortnight ago when some of the intellectuals and political activists from Kolkata came to Delhi for a meeting, the issue of emergence of some outstanding Muslim leaders also came into focus. It was said that the Muslim Dalit combination is set to win over West Bengal and future of the West Bengal politics would always be in the secular hands and not to a Bhadralok politician. I thought it was rare that Muslim political leadership would raise the issue of the concern of Muslim Samaj, which is mainly socio-economical and not religious. The literacy rate is very low; there are no health centers in Muslim localities, no government jobs for them and virtually no benefit of land reforms for them. West Bengal’s government was already targeting many of them in the name of Bangladeshi’s infiltrators. Yet, what happened in the streets of Kolkata November 21st was not only shameful deviation from the real issues of Muslims in West Bengal but it gave the CPM’s government as much waited relief to hide in the shade of Taslima Nasreen. How come Taslima become the main issue of the community which is fighting for its survival in Nandigram ? It is another matter that many of the Muslim leaders from Bengal are blaming the CPM for the current crisis. They charge that these riots were engineered by the CPM to save themselves from further charges of anti Muslim rhetoric. Not to be left behind in this exercise, West Bengal’s ruling party’s spokesperson Biman Bose retorted that Taslima was unwelcome in Kolkata, a city which prided itself in giving shelter to a hapless Muslim tailor of Ahmedabad in Gujarat who became face of terrorized Muslim community in Gujarat.

It is unfortunate that Muslim leadership everywhere joined hand and started protesting against Taslima ignoring the vital fact that the more they would protest against her, the bigger would be the damage done to the community. A community which is living in marginalization in India, where the brahmanical supremacy is working over time to marginalized communities, Muslim political leadership has completely failed and betrayed their community. The west takes it a chance to target Islam in further isolating the Muslims. It is not the Islam but the Mullahs who are in danger. Taslima is no Salman Rushdie. She has projected the face of fundamentalist Muslims in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the Babari demolition. It might have been the genuine grievances of the minority community in Bangladesh and the same is true about the Muslims in India who are living on the margins. And more importantly same is true about both the communities and their treatment to Dalits in all our South Asian societies including Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and India. Poor Nasreen perhaps does not know the plight except the plight of a bhadralok Bengali upper caste Hindu in Bangladesh.

While any one is free to ignore Taslima’s writings which many of the scholars term as blasphemous. That she has no right to live in India is the case point that every one of them has been making. She has hurt the sentiments of Islam, they said. Nobody has a right to hurt religious sentiments, said Pranab Mukherjee, Indian foreign minister, in Parliament. One does not know how sentiments are hurt. If ask for a ban on Kumbha fair, it hurts the sentiments of Hindus. If we say that the roads which are closed for nearly a fortnight between Delhi and Hardwar for ensuring that Hindu pilgrims walks on the road freely despite all other problems for commuters and travelers, during Savan, its appeasement. Again when we speak against susidy provided to Haz pilgrims, it is appeasement says, Hindu right wing while seculars keep quiet and Muslims are happy. That makes things easier for the Hindu right wing and they make it point to explain it their constituency and others through media. Therefore when M.F.Hussain paints something and the Hindu right wing are up in arms against him for hurting their sentiments. Actually the Hindu fundamentalists also want to have a ‘right to take life’ or threat to issue ‘fatwa’ like their Islamic friends in India and elsewhere. And that way, the Jamayate Islami in Bangldesh has been of great help to Sangh Parivar here for threatening Taslima Nasreen. Now she is more than welcome in India by them. And unfortunately, Ms Nasreen seems to have played in their hand when she said that nothing happens to M F Hussain. What do you want to be done to Hussain, Ms Nasreen? Should we hang him, beat him to equate ourselves with the Bangladeshi Mullahs or Talibani thugs?

Taslima should not let down all those who stood for her. All those who stood for her are fighting the case against the Hindu fundamentalists in India. These fundamentalists who do not want any dissent in this country. Who want brahmanical hegemony at all cost? Narendra Modi invited her to Gujarat, the other day saying that a woman and that too an ‘intellectual’ of Taslima’s stature should be welcomed. He used the same Bangladeshi refugee card in his speeches. Modi, who tells us that ‘scavenging’ is a spiritual experience, and that every time the questions about his sincerity towards the Muslim population of Gujarat are raised, he comes back to his pet old thesis. In the last election it was Mia Musharraf and this time, it seems, he want Taslima to be in Gujarat. Modi’s Gujarat shines at the cost of Dalits and tribals and Muslims and Christians are the hunting ground for him. Many leaders of the Hindutva brigade have already given Taslima the status which she never had. Her victimization story might be true but there is nothing new what she says. The fact of the matter is that the oppression of women and marginalized is not an Islam Centric thing. It is everywhere in religion which have become our daily routine. They are also part of cultural values and have mixed up with religion in different parts of the world. Many people try to explain religion in a different way to make it more inclusive while others go in to every word written there. There is another stream which feel every word written in these texts need to be challenged and questioned.

It is equally baffling that the secular voices remained mute in this entire exercise and the support to Taslima came from the right wing Hindu fundamentalists. And to the discomfiture of secularists as well as humanists, as Taslima claims herself to be, she has linked her problems with that of M.F.Hussain. There are two different issues involved here and one commonality between them. First the common point is that attack on both of them is an assault on freedom of artistic expression and freedom of conscience. Hussain is facing many charges against him in the courts filed by various Sangh Parivar outfits. The officially he is not debarred from India but at this age of 90 he is running here and there. Secondly, Hussain actually has not defamed the Hindu Gods and Goddesses but celebrate them. A large number of his paintings are bought by the Hindus themselves. He celebrates Madhuri Dixit and her ‘Naritva’, an ideal Indian womanhood. I am sure Taslima would agree that any such concept is not only derogatory in nature but stereotype
the women in general.

Taslima’s main problem emanates from her one sided writings. Surely, she is not an activist hence can take liberty to so-called freedom of conscience even if there are riots and mayhem caused by them. Her writings are one way passage to demonize Islam. It is no doubt that she faced victimization in Bangladesh. That such feudal outlook is not confined to Islam and Bangladesh only. Such situation exists in our part of the world also and elsewhere too. Women were always used in religion and considered subservient to man. Taslima can speak to a Shankaracharya and a Christian clergy who would never say that they are equal. Ofcouse, an enlightened and politically mature religious leader would always say that they are equal. Unfortunately, like many others, she also feels that her best security in Indian would come from the Hindu fundamentalist. That approach is dangerous and self defeating. Taslima should understand that Muslims in India live in utter fear and are even more marginalized than the Dalits as far as participation in the governance is concerned. All those who support here from the Hindu rightwing organizations target M.F.Hussain for denigrating the Hindu Gods. What happens when these rituals and practices denigrates the 170 million Dalits in India. Yes, as I mentioned and hopefully Taslima would also be reading that, Narendra Modi, the chief Minister of Gujarat, who presided over a regime that butchered innocent Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and further isolated them till this date, consider scavenging as a ‘spiritual’ experience. Yes, one can only hope that Modi and his generations would leave politics and adopt this ‘noble’ profession of cleaning shit of others so that their sins are washed.

I would also like to remind Taslima that she seems to be ignorant of the vast anti caste movement in India. One is not sure whether she ever read the work of Ambedkar, Phule and Periyar, she would not have uttered the word against M.F.Hussain and his creative work. Much before Taslima and Salman Rushdie could think of challenging the religious orthodoxy, I am not sure whether they ever challenged it or just narrated to us their own ‘experiences’. Ambedkar wrote ‘Riddles of Hinduism’ and Periyar wrote his own explanation of ‘Ramayana’. Phule condemned Brahmanical values and many others fought against the brahmanical social order and hegemonistic concept of the brahmanical values. When Ambedkar’s riddles were published, the government banned it buckling under the pressure of the Hindu right wing elements. Thanks to the strong Dalit protest against this proscription that government had to lift ban over it. If Taslima think that Ambedkar and Periyar would not have allowed to live after all they wrote much more against brahmanical values than Taslima could think of writing against Islam. Yes, it was the power of the people. Ambedkar, Periyar, Phule were not just philosophers and writers but responsible social revolutionaries. When they were targeting against rituals and religious values, they were enlightening another group of people who were denied basic human rights by the same religion. And Taslima, I hope would remember how Dalits have been living in India, and how their untouchability had got religious sanction. Yet, these great revolutionaries changed the mindset of the people and their power was understood. Today, Dalits are a powerful political force in India despite all disabilities attached to their birth and caste. A majority of Muslims and Christians got converted overtly or covertly to escape from the tyranny of the brahmanical system in India.

Taslima love Bengal. It is natural. She says Kolkata was a secular place. Yes, in that secular space there was no space for Muslim voices, no space for dissent. During the partition days, Kolkata saw the worst ever communal riots. In the 1990s, the bhadralok public did not allow a new comer ‘ Srilankan’ to win against India in the world cup semi finals. Yes, in this entire jargon of secularism in India only powerful upper elite of every religion participated, others were votary of secularism but not leaders of it. The secular debate came from those whose ancestors created this caste divide. Taslima is a proud member of this elite club today. She is a welcome guest and must speak out openly against all forms of oppression. I am sure the day she will open her mouth against the Hindu fundamentalism, the same voices of ‘sanity’ will ask for her head.

Voices of dissent have to be careful in their criticism. After all for whom are they working? As I mentioned earlier, India had the history of voices of dissent right from Carvaka to Buddha and in this age in the form of Ambedkar, Phule and Periyar. They dissented and lived a life for their people and today they are loved and respected. Not only that, Ambedkar is supremely respected and worshipped by the millions of Dalits all over the world for his unrelenting and uncompromising struggle against brahmanical supremacy. The problem of Islamic fundamentalism in the subcontinent lies in the same. They need an enemy to retain their upper elite hegemony. In India, already, there are voices of the down trodden Muslims asking for their share in power structure and for the socio-economic benefit of the community. Lot of work is being done at the grassroots and people are protesting. Ofcourse, not every one will leave the religion. Ambedkar and Phule were working for the communities and hence they fought and had the courage to tell the Dalits to reject the brahmanical Hinduism and embrace radical Buddhism. Taslima is an individual hence perhaps can not even tell any one to do what Ambedkar and Periyar could ask for?

As far as the Islamic zealots are concerned, the least said about them is better. They have no work except the religious issues. It is strange how they use democracy for their own purposes. They need liberal voices from other religions, from secularists, from atheists when the community faces music from the right wing Hindus but they are not ready to change. They are unable to understand that in the 21st century a lot of things have to be changed. The socio-economic-cultural paradigms are changing. Muslim women will come out and work in the offices, do PhDs, and join films and sports. As the economic independence knock at their doors, women’s can not be expected to remain mute on violence against them. They will speak and they will have to speak. There is no other alternative against violence and hegemony. Religions have been a male hegemony and modernity demand equal rights for all. The power of religion would not allow this power equation to change. But as their time is coming closure so will be the targets. They would attack all those who challenge them because it is the threat from with in that seems powerful and not from outside. Both the Hindu Fundamentalists and the Muslim fundamentalists know it well. For a Narendra Modi, Taslima is the best to demonize Islam and deviate from the assertive OBCs, Dalits and tribals who are asking him where is Gujarat shining, for the Muslim fanatic groups, since they have done very little work to gain the faith of the Muslim masses, Taslima gives them hope to revive their dirty agenda. As usual the Muslim intelligentsia is submissive and does not have the courage to stand on its own.

The only answer to both these fundamentalist groups could be the forces of change with in the communities. Yes, the Dalit Muslims are now asking their share in power and will not succumb to these tactics and a broader alliance with the Dalits, tribals and OBCs will not only throw away their own middlemen leaders but ultimately pave the way for a humanist society where every one can live in harmony and where criticism is constructive and aimed at resolving the crisis and not to further it. One sincerely hopes that good sense will prevail to Kolkata’s Muslims and they will ally with other secular Dalit groups in opposing the socio-economic marginalization of their community people in Nandigram. Taslima is not an issue. Let her live in peace otherwise she will become fodder for those who have demonize Muslims in India. For Taslima, it would be good if she continue her writing without any prejudice and should not become another Francis Goutier, who has today become the soldier of Sangh Parivar. One hopes that all those opposing Taslima will understand that her withdrawal from Kolkata and West Bengal does not solve the crisis of the people of Nandigram. In fact, it will unnecessarily divide forces who stand with the displaced people of Nandigram and salute their heroic struggle against the land acquisition in the name of Developing an SEZ in Nandigram.

Left is equal to Right in West Bengal

Lesson from Nandigram’s heroic land struggle


By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Nandigram is burning and the Neros of the left front governments are watching it with great patience. Those who are up in arms against any displacement elsewhere remain mute spectators at the butchering of people in this ‘war zone’, as the governor of the state Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi mentioned in his statement. CPM and its leadership were prompt in condemning the governor for his remark as unconstitutional. If governor’s remark is out of the touch of Bengal’s reality then how can one justify the ‘call’ for ‘recapture’ of land by the top leadership of CPM?

The fact is that this unprecedented crisis needed a strong response. It is rare for a governor or that too of the stature of Gopal Krishna Gandhi to speak out openly against the state government. It clearly reflects his mind and pain on what the state is witnessing in Nandigram. A governor should not keep quiet if the state government that operates under him violates basic principals of governance. Whether it is Gujarat or Bengal, state can not withdraw itself from the governance asking people to take the law in their own hands, as CPM and its chief minister continue to chant. It is not only shocking for a party to defend the illegal act of their cadre to recapture the land. Why was government silent on this for such a long and why were the central forces being kept at the mercy of the party cadre. A party can not be asked to take over the role of the governance. Bengal’s government is using the same language which very unfortunately Rajiv Gandhi spoke in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination and later on Narendra Modi, in Gujarat after the Godhara fire. A chief minister is expected to act and provide protection to the people and not to teach lesson to those who faulted or disagreed.

West Bengal is passing through a big crisis. It is the test of its patience with a government which actually is the symbol of brahmanical supremacy and tyranny in the name of Marxism. Now, that supremacy is also being challenged by another woman Mamata Bannerjee, who herself has no clean record despite claiming to lead all the people’s movement. In fact, any one supporting her should first ask her the question what her stand is on land reform and secondly how long would she flirt with the Hindutva forces in Delhi. But it looks as if all the opposition forces are uniting in their battle against the CPM. However, ground realities are different and mere media attention might not change
The situation except that the hallo of good governance and Panchayati Raj and much-touted land reforms the left stand exposed in front of the world.

Whether the government go or not, is not the answer. Nandigram has silver lining on the one side and duplicity of Bengal’s Bhadralok politics on the other. Let us discuss about the silver lining. Despite all our condemnation, one thing that needed to be expressed here is the spirit of the people of Nandigram, which defies all convention so far. The governments of the day, whether in Bengal or elsewhere are shamelessly pursuing the agenda of acquiring people’s land for the SEZ, big dams and big companies, without rehabilitating them. Those in power know that the people’s struggle start for a few months and fizzles out. And that has given them the reason to pursue with their dangerous policies of land acquisition. Hence the question is really not about the face of CPM or not. The question is that there is a broader agreement in the mainstream ‘national’ parties and regional parties for ‘reform’. They have gone far beyond people’s aspirations and the result is that these movement will shake the nation and find space somewhere else which might not be democratic.

Unfortunately, many of their friends thought the Marxists as the only party committed to ‘land reform’. But Buddha dev had other ideas. He had to attract the middle class Bengalies who felt betrayed of 30 years of left rule without any industrialization. Disturbed over the ‘loss’ of ‘face’ of Kolkata and Bengal as an ‘industrial hub’, Buddha government went over board to attract ‘investment’. The selection of the company from Indonesia was equally important to understand. Despite its track record, the Marxist would want us to believe that contract given to this ‘Indonesian’ firm is according to secular and anti-imperialist belief of the left front. This, at a time when the Muslims and Dalits are regularly at the receiving end in West Bengal. The disturbing question is why particular area of Nandigram or Singur or why 19000 hectare of land was required. Many report charge Party MP Laxman Seth, a man who is heading Haldia Petrochemicals, as allegedly instigating the land grabbing in the area. All this was done to promote ‘industrialisation’ of Bengal. And in this battle to dislocate people and invite industries to suck the blood of the people, the government got wholehearted support from the ‘national’ media. Like Gujarat where Narender Modi’s corrupt practices and criminal past as a chief minister is easily ignored by the equally corrupt corporatised media where corporate interest are bigger than the people’s interest, all in the name of development, Buddha Dev Bhattacharya also became a star of the media even when a large number of his party persons were not in demand there.

CPM and its allies have been opposing Congress party’s new economic policies. They have participated in numerous programmes, condemned Narendra Modi and rightly so, they organized massive demonstration against WTO and yet when their own state is concern, they remain mute. They do not even want a discussion leave along allowing people to visit Nandigram.

It is clear that the proposed SEZ would displace thousands of people particularly the rural poor. In the case of Nandigram and Singur, these would automatically the poor Muslims and Dalits, who unfortunately are not the vote bank of the CPM. A party like CPM whose chief minister spoke the language of Lal Krishna Advani when he was home minister of India, on the issue of Madrasas and his stand on so-called Bangla Refugees, Buddh Dev and his party thought it is good to create an SEZ some where else which does not affect the Bangla upper caste or CPM’s supporter’s zone. After all, why should they annoy their own supporter who would get the benefit of Tata’s promised Rs One lakh car and jobs in Salim’s company? It would not be the Muslims and Dalits who would get job in these companies. This opinion maker Bhadralok had charged the CPM in the past with insensitivity towards its own issues and condition of stagnation in West Bengal in past three decade’s left front rule. Left front has to come clean on the issue of Dalits and Muslims in Bengal. Where are their land reforms? Where is Dalit and Muslim representation in their government jobs, police and elsewhere? Well, the bhadralok make us believe that they don’t believe in caste system and therefore there is no need for reservation. Of course, it can not deny the fact that the scavenging community in Bengal is worst hit by its manipulations apart from the Muslims. The condition of Dalits in Bengal is a matter of grave concern. Scavenging is still prevalent though CPM dominated cadre and intellectuals would not allow outsiders to expose this bitter truth of Bengal. Even loyalists like N Ram and his ‘ The Hindu’ did not think twice before giving Bengal clean chit on issues of scavenging and now on Nandigram, the most ‘secular’ newspaper in India has turned brahmanical. Of course, those reading ‘The Hindu’ in the South know it well that it serves the brahmanical interest under the guise of secularism. The other loyalist for Buddha Dev at the moment is Goenka’s Indian Express, voice of India’s corrupt middle classes supporting an irresponsible privatization. Express has been supporting every effort of the government that displaces people and support Industries.

But suddenly with huge turn around, the other dominating media houses could not ignore the public pressure and started condemning CPM. Their own friends started deserting them. This resulted in media scrutiny and blame game. Embarrassed, the party banned media and activists from going to Nandigram. And look who was the first visitor after CRPF reached Nandigram. It was Lal Krishna Advani and his Hindutva team, that visited Nandigram.

It is rare for a communist chief minister to be complimented by the Hindutva Hridaya Samrat. When Lal Krishna Advani was home minister, he lauded Buddha’s effort to fight against ‘Bangla’ ‘infiltration. Buddha was also complimented for his remarks against Madrasas. Therefore, Bengal CPM reflects a domination of the Bhadralok and their political view point. The Bengali middle class has already been communalized long back and one can find these reflections in Durga Puja celebrations also.

The problem of Nandigram is wider. Why was such a place chosen. Is it because the area has a sizeable Dalit and Muslim presence? In Bengal so far the issue of Dalits have not got any support from any political outfits. As far as Muslims are concern, Bengal is the only state where we find starvation deaths among the Muslim community in Midnapur and Jalangir. The Bhadralok dominated CPM’s leadership might have thought this would go unresisted. Yet, they proved wrong. The brave people of Nandigram and Singur have actually rendered a great service to strengthen movement for land rights all over the country. Governments, corporations who are working to suck the blood of the people must also understand that their theory that after initial reactions people forget things, have proved absolutely wrong in Nandigram. The way way the people have fought their right to dignity and land will go in the history of India as one of the most sustained response to an effort of the government to occupy their land.

Question is not whether the government is shifting SEZ elsewhere or not. The question is how come the forces of the left are silent on growing discontent in their home territory. Why should the government allow a political party to have a field day, to kill the opponent and ‘capture’ the land? Prakash Karat says that there is nothing wrong for the supporter of the CPM to ‘recapture’ their land, which was hijacked by Trinmul Congress workers. These political statements should not be taken on a serious note except for the fact that they are not meant to introspect. Prakash Karath’s biggest blunder was to say that Maoists have joined the movement. It seems he realized it late that there are radical left groups who are uniting in Singur and Nandigram. But Karat’s worry is not Mamata Banerjee but these left groups who can teach CPM and their goon a lesson in their own language. CPM has never bothered about the opposition in Bengal which is mute and Bhadrlok dominated like the CPM. It is worried about the reorganization of the radical left forces in the state. Therefore, it does not surprise us when Karat in his press conference in Delhi, charge the ‘Maoists’ from Jharkhand for spreading violence in Bengal. Mr Karat knows well that the National Security Advisor has already stated this that the red corridors are increasing.

But more than that, the question again comes to the forefront of those in power. Nandigram has shown that people will resist any attempt to dislocate them in the name of development. Whether it is Khammam in Andhra Pradesh or Kalinganagar in Orissa, the war cries of the people should not be termed as ‘revivalism’ of Naxal movement in India. It is not therefore co-incidence that Naxalbari movement in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal was butchered in the same way as we have been witnessing in Nandigram. The only difference was that time it was state police which caused enormous death in the village of Naxalbari while today it seems the police remain mute when the CPM’s cadre started their ‘gharwapasi’, very similar like the offensive return of the tribals and Dalits by the Hindutva brigade in Chhatishgarh and Gujarat.

Secretary General Prakash Karat also asked people not to equate the Nandigram incident with that of Godhara. But comparison will always be made as long as those who kills come from the same class and communities and those who suffer too hails from the same. In Gujarat the Muslims were butchered by a powerful state dominated by the Hindu upper caste, in Delhi it was the Sikhs who were killed by the same state and in Nandigram, it is again the Muslims and Dalits who are at the receiving end. I can understand the problem of those writing about ‘poor’ being killed in Bengal because none of them really want that Buddha Dev be declared new avatar of Hindutva. But so far all indications suggest CPM’s common agenda seems to be soft Hindutva in Bengal by targeting the poor through its land mafia and Muslims in the name of Bangla refugees and growing Madrasas. CPM has lost an opportunity to lead people’s movement in India which is now uniting to fight against privatization of public resources and highly tainted liberlisation and globalisation where corporations would call the shot and people would get the shot if they oppose the diktat of the status quoists. Nandigram has shown that people will not wait for a Messiahs to come to rescue them, they will unite and fight endlessly against oppression and exploitation. The battle for honor and dignity has just begun now.

Land Reforms in India

Janadesh for a National Land Policy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


Thousands of tribal and Dalits who started their march under the banner of Ekta Parishad, from Gwalior on October 2nd, 2007, were not allowed to step out of the Ramlila grounds in Delhi. It was unfortunate that the government did not allow them to vent their voice at the parliament house, the Panchayat of our democracy. Minister for Rural Development, who has been well respected for some of his ministry’s project came to the meeting to announce that the prime minister has agreed to a number of the demands raised by Ekta Parishad and has decided to form a committee under his chairmanship. Those of us who have been observing this government’s policies know well that to get rid of a people politicians easily promise something for instant release which they later on forget. Ekta Parishad had demanded special courts for land settlement, which is actually very important given the fact that most of the land related cases in India have ended up in court cases. The second demand was implementation of the forest act, which is on the process and will definitely be challenged by the environmental lobby in the Supreme Court. Land is a state subject and hence it is difficult for the government at the center to promise anything. At the moment when the central government look meek while the state government and its bosses there are becoming more powerful, one will have to see the real agenda of the government and its promises. How will the central government convince the state government on the land redistribution agenda?

One need not to be an expert here to explain that the current phase of instability and violence in India is land related. The government of India knows well that deaths, by the Naxal violence in India is much higher than the so-called terrorist violence. Over 130 districts in India, mainly Chhatishgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Uttar-Pradesh, and Maharastra are under the Naxal influence. Naxal violence in two tribal states of India, Chhatishgarh and Jharkhand is unabated and growing day by day. Now, they are targeting the police and paramilitary forces. Just two days back, the son of former chief minister was shot dead in Jharkhand. Such violence will not stop unless the government introspect what is wrong with its policies.

The alienation of tribal and Dalits from their land is the biggest challenge that India face today and the government should understand it in right spirit. Not only the new economic regime where Special Economic Zones ( SEZ) have been created all over India has been exploitative of the nature but also our own indigenous caste system, which considered the Dalits and tribals racially inferior. So the battle of land in India is two fold. One external where you have the powerful corporations, multinational companies, big private companies in India and the internal forces of the upper caste elite which has hijacked every sector including the civil society and intellectual space. It is here the trouble start with the land movement. Some time, the issue of local exploitation of Dalits and tribal is relegated to backstage as the upper caste leadership in the movement only presents the politically correct external aggression. Hence SEZ and other colonization is an easy trap for all those who ignore the caste prejudices and violence on the Dalits and tribal.

For the government, both things come handy. At the moment they continue to invite big corporations to enter Indian forest and have no rehabilitation policy. In the mad rush for investment we have killed tribal habitat without really providing any alternative for their livelihood. The central government is expecting more than 300000 crore’s investments from SEZ. It says that it will create nearly 3-4 million new jobs. So far the government has notified about 133 SEZ and it expect 229 more soon. So far more than 48,000 hectares of land has been acquired for the SEZ. The government claim that about Rs 43,133 crore’s investment has already come been received and over 35,000 people have got jobs. One does not know how many people lost their livelihood and how many of these jobs went to the Dalits, tribal and other marginalized communities. Government’s SEZ policy has openly been criticized by IMF an institutions which all our neo-liberal governments look for guidance. Now, the violence is still a part of life in Nandigram (west Bengal) and Kalinganagar tribal have not forgotten the sacrifice of their fellow brothers and sisters when they opposed the Tata plant in the area. Struggle of the Narmada displaced tribal is still going. One must not feel amused at the government’s response to form another commission given the nature of our political parties to announce louder things before the elections. Madhya Pradesh government has on record said in the Supreme Court that there is no land available, which could be given to the displaced people. Now, if Madhya Pradesh, which is one of the biggest states of India and where a fairly large number of land is vacant, says that it has no land to be given to tribal, what would be the condition of other states. How will states of Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Orrissa and Rajsathan going to act on this where thousands of acres of land has been occupied by the powerful caste forces.

Two years back, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed a committee headed by noted economist Arjun Sen Gupta to look into condition of work and promotion of livelihoods in unorganized sector. The committee submitted it’s finding on July 7th, 2007. Some of the findings of the commission are actually a stricture against the government’s own neo liberal policies. It says ‘, as on January 2005, the total employment in the Indian economy was 457 millions, of which the unorganized sector accounted for 395 million, or 86% of the total workers. Of the 395 million unorganized sector workers, agriculture accounted for 253 million and the rest 142 million are in non-agricultural sector. The commission has estimated the total number of unorganized/informal workers at 423 million, of which 395 millions are in unorganized sector and 28 millions in the organized sector.’

Shockingly, the more bare factors of India shining comes in point number 7 of the report which says,’ over the decades while the percentage of the population below the poverty line has come down, in 2004-2005, 77% people, totaling 836 million, had an income less than twice the official poverty line or below Rs 20 per day per capita. These are the poor and vulnerable segment of the Indian population. About 79% of the unorganized workers, 88% of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes, 80% of the OBCs and 84% of the Muslims belong to this category of the poor and vulnerable. Contrary to the trend in the number of people below the official poverty line, the number of people in this segment has steadily increased over the years.’

Recently, I had an opportunity to see a document of European Union-India bilateral trade. I was shocked to see one of the findings that National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme ( NREGS) which ensures 100 days employment to rural poor, as an alternative to land redistribution. That would be a great mistake, if such anti poverty programmes were considered as a replacement to land reforms, which have historic roots world over. Just Six months back when I walked through several district of Uttar-Pradesh, nearly 400 kilometer for Land, Dignity and Freedom, the issue of special courts for land was one major issue demanded by the people. Other point came was the NREGS is not an alternative to land reform as it has failed to reach the people and also does not ensure employment to them. Thirdly, it was also pointed out that most of the communities who are dying of hunger are actually landless and fourth important point was that root cause of atrocities on the Dalits was their struggle for land rights. But today the Minister Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s answer in the Ramlila ground reflected this mindset in the government, which want to convince us that if there is NREGS, we should not demand for the land rights of the people. The argument the government make is that land holding is now reducing, family growing and we must not press it further to a condition of impossibility. That is a dangerous argument and can not bring peace in the country.

The activists for land rights are the victims of state oppression. Last month, two women land right activists were arrested by the Uttar-Pradesh police for ‘inciting’ the tribal under the charges of NSA, though these charges were later withdrawn. Increasingly, the governments have failed to respond to the question of land alienation of the Dalits and tribal and the voices of dissent are being scuttled through various means, by cooption or coercion. Nandigram, Kalinganagar, Khammam etc reminds us that people will not sit silently and will not even wait for NGOs to guide them. They will pick up their own issues and fight with the state if land issue is not resolved. Ironically, Chhatishgarh government arrested Dr Binayak Sen, a very respected human rights activists on the charges of helping the Naxal. Dr Binayak Sen’s problem was that he was raising the issue of human rights violation of tribal who were victims of police atrocities. So, we can understand how the governments in different states of India are treating the activists fighting for land rights and how are protest for land rights are being seen. This attitude needs change.

Often the government has maintained that land is state subject and their hands are tied. However, it reflects the mindset of those in power. Land Ceiling act has never been implemented properly. The Zamindari Abolition Acts have so many loopholes that it became virtually redundant in state like Uttar-Pradesh. There has been no land reform in Bihar. The situation in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh is alarming. Karnataka, Andhra, Tamilnadu, Kerala are already opening up themselves for the big companies. States like Orrisa, Chattishgarh and Jharkhand have gone ahead with wooing the investment without taking care of the vast tribal population. The result is now growing resentment against the government policies duly exploited by the Maoists and Naxalites.

The Arjun Sen Gupta committee clearly mentioned that the current economic policies of liberlisation and globalisation have not helped the poor. It has specifically mentioned government’s policy on SEZ, rehabilitation due to dams, urban planning by displacing millions of urban slum dwellers as some of the areas of concern.

Over 1.31 crore people are landless as per the government owns figures from the Ministry of Rural Development. These families as per the information, do not have even land for their own habitation. Most of the people who construct their houses or clusters are basically living on either the communal land or at the mercy of the other. The Uttar-Pradesh’s government recently passed a notification that all the Dalits who have possession of any communal land till May 13 2007, will be given legal entitlement for that land. The problem is how many Dalits have possession of the village communal land? Hence such announcement from the government look nice on papers but do very little to alter the situation at the grassroots.

Apart from the impact of displacement and land acquisition, which are policies, based issues,
One of the major hindrance in the land distribution of the land is the non existence of the
implementation of Land Ceiling Laws. We all know most of the biggest farmers politicians of
India has huge land, which they cannot acquire but which is benami. Those of us who have
been in the land rights movement for last 15-20 years have seen how even the Supreme
Court’s order are mis-interpreted and misused by the governments and it’s implementing
authorities with close association of the rural power elite. Hence the Dalits and tribals who
are victim of India’s racist caste structure have no chance of getting land unless land ceiling
act is implemented. This is because many states are now stating that there is no land
remained for redistribution. Most of the access land is in the hands of powerful farmers
Communities, which are politically very mobile and physically violent. It would be difficult to
seize land from Jaats, Gujjars, Rajputs, Bhoomihars, Bramins, Kurmis, Reddy’s, Thewars,
Marathas and Yadavas. These are the powerful communities in different parts of India. We have seen these racial prejudices of Indian political class in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar district where 1164 hectare of the ceiling land was not redistributed to Dalits but wrongly went to immigrants Sikhs from Punjab who paid hefty sum of bribe to local powerful bureaucrats and political leaders. Nobody has power and courage to take on the powerful people who have huge farmhouses in Tarai region and who have kept the tribal as bonded in their own land. The governments definitely have no spine to seize that land.

Since the major drive to redistribute land under ceiling legislation; from about 1972-73 government estimates indicate that about 26 lakh hectares has been appropriated for redistribution from their erstwhile owners. Of this 8 lakh hectares is still undistributed due to on-going litigation and has not been given to landless beneficiaries. The government has signalled its intention to establish fast-track courts to deal with such cases and has indicated that it will specifically expedite the distribution of these 8 lakh hectares. These data are also doubtful. One more important factor is the Bhudan land. Most of the land acquired under Bhudan never reached the rural poor. We found that people have taken back their land after several years. A large number of lands were acquired by NGOs, big CBOs as well as for Ashrams, Gowshalas (cowherd). One need to remind the government that India would be the only country where land can be had in the name of religious book. There is no ceiling on farmland, land for temples, mosques or Gurudwaras; therefore people have used this strategy to evade land-ceiling laws. The NGOs, social movements do not speak on these politically incorrect things as it exposes their own deeds. There is need to take a hard stand on these issues as we continue to hear from government and authorities that there is little land. There is lot pretence as where is land? One does not understand why the government is unable to establish fast track courts for the land disputes particularly where the land ceiling act has been evaded and challenged.

Interestingly, according to government’s own figures; there is more than 50 laky hectares of
Public owned land that can be redistributed. This land can be delivered to landless
households; with an aim to distribute at least 0.5 hectares to each landless household. While
the government recognises that this may not be enough to turn landless households into
Surplus producers of food grains or other crops, it does believe that it will deliver some
Security and improve the social position and bargaining power of the landless in the
countryside. With the government already promised to give the tribal 5-hectare of land from
the forest, there is an increasing pressure to give the land to Dalits also. Problem with the
current regime is that it want to promise even moon to every one even when that might not be
possible. It is unable to offend the local ruling elites in the villages. It does not want to
capture land from the power elite. It does not want to offend the business, as it want to see its
sensex zooming. It wants to clean the Delhi streets for the common wealth games. It wants to
enjoy everything and therefore when the issue of Dalits and tribal are concern, it just
promises more so that people go home satisfactorily. It also want to tell the people before the
next election that the land redistribution is on its agenda.

If this government can not impose ceiling laws, how is it going to seize land from the
Possession of the powerful rural elite? What will it do? Good, Prime minister has decided to
head the commission for Land Reform, which India persistently sidetracked. Every time,
there was demand for land redistribution, the government would always say, it is a state
Subject. However whenever issue of land acquisition came, government did not hesitate in
doing so on an urgent basis. Land Ceiling has virtually been abolished. Central government
was keen to amend Land Acquisition Act to help the big companies acquire huge track of
land. In state like Andhra Pradesh, government both the current regime and previous one of
Chandra Babu Naidu went overboard to side track the historic Samata Judgment of the
Supreme Court, which clearly stated that the forestland in the agency areas of the tribal could
not be given for mining to multinational corporations without the permission of the local
tribal Panchayats. The government’s have always handled the issue with out any sensitivity.

Today, India is at war with its own people. Thousands of people have died in the land related
Violence and the government want to inform us that this is a law and order issue. Sorry, Mr
Prime Minister, if the onslaught on the livelihood of the dalits, tribal and other marginalized
continues, I am afraid, the forces of the war will win. Hope the prime minister and his
cabinet will keep their promise to millions of people of the country that there government
is serious on the issue of land redistribution and most important of these would be implement ceiling laws effectively without any prejudices and biases and disallow land in the name of religious trusts, Gaushalas. Let them also face-ceiling laws.

Land Rights in India are broader issue, not only region and community wise but also perception wise. Earlier it was mainly an issue raised by the left groups, later the Dalit and tribal organizations had it on their agenda. It is important to understand that no one organization can claim to represent India and its vast masses. It would be suicidal for the government to develop a coterie in the name of land rights. It need to open the debate on a broader level and run this debate throughout the country, otherwise, the issues would remain the same and nothing concrete could be achieved. At the moment, thanks to Ekta Parishad’s March the land agenda seems to have hit the media headline. Hopefully, they will not forget it later. One is sure that government too will be willing to broaden its debate and involve multiple players working on the land rights in different parts of the country so that diverse views could be debated before arriving at any decision.

In Conversation with Mr Bhagwan Das

‘It is good to break and bad to continue with a tradition that has subjugated the Dalits’

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


Mr Bhagwan Das is one of the most reputed scholar on Ambedkarism and the issue of Human Rights of Scheduled Castes. Widely traveled, Mr Bhagwan Das has spoken at various national & international platforms on the conditions of Dalits in India and what is the best way of their emancipation. In freewheeling conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat, he speak of the state of Dalit movement as well as political parties in India.

Please tell us about your childhood? Being son of a sweeper, what hurdles and obstacles you faced with and how did your father react to them.

My childhood was different. My father came from well off family. After the death of his father, differences occurred in the family and he came to live near Simla. He was not educated, as he could not go to school. My father worked as a sweeper in the post office. He had a house of his own and saved money regularly. He loved reading and had deep interest in Ayurveda. He took special care to educate my sister and me. A Maulvi was kept to teach us. So it was different unlike other untouchable families of time where education was not considered important. He was financially well off and spend most of the time with his books.

In my native village untouchability was practiced in turning on the taps. The barbar did not cut my hair; we could not enter a temple. We had to ask Hindu boys to give us water whenever we had to drink it but since my family was well off, we did not face any difficulty in this regard.

How did you come in touch with Dr Ambedkar?

Dr Ambedkar, then a labor minister visited Simla. I had read about Ambedkar particularly reading Urdu newspapers. He was our harbinger of Hope. We did not anything about him except all anti Ambedkar campaign in Congress papers was the same as in Hindu papers. The only exception I found Ambedkar in Hindi newspapers was Kranti by Sant Ram BA.of Jaat Paat Todak Mandal.

I went to meet him for the first time as I waited for him for three hours because I was first a boy, all the people holding important position came and went away, At 7 pm I was taken inside his house. He looked at my face. I did not go to ask for anything from him but he said ‘ What do you want?’ “ I do not want anything, as I was already employed, I said. I told him about my family and about my applications. In 15 days, I got a letter of appointment. This time my boss was a Muslim. It was surprising that I found that most of the Muslims were terribly against me. Some of the Hindus were very helpful and progressive. Some of them were South Indian Brahmins and I found them quite progressive but Matlab Hussain, my immediate boss, had some complaint against me as I was overburdened with my work. I used to work till 7.30 pm. Everybody tried to exploit me. I left that job and joined Indian Air Force. I did not want to join army but navy appealed to me.

I was again selected for further training to UK but I had to deposit Rs 5000/- which I could not do that and left Air Force in 1946 and went back to my family in Simla. There I was working with Scheduled Caste Federation and I came across very progressive people belonging to the communist parties, and one very progressive in the party was Kameshwar pandit. There we read a lot of Marxist literature and also learnt about Chinese experiment. I read about Mao Se Tung but who appealed to me was Le Su Tse.

We used to hold study circle meeting. I was staying at Seva Nagar, in Delhi. It was a peon’s house where I stayed for two years, as I could not afford a better one. Then I shifted to Lodi Colony with a friend who was an ex communist. He was thrown out of the party. He had been a whole timer. He was very fond of reading, not just Marxist literature but general reading. Later, I was allotted house in Sarojini Nagar.

Here, I came in touch with Mr Shiv Dayal Singh Chaursia, a backward caste person and a few others who were working with him in the movement. I used to spend out time in Gandhi Peace Library. Chaurasia wrote a note of dissent in the backward classes commission. He took me to show the note of dissent, which was actually drafted by me to Dr Ambedkar. Dr Ambedkar did not have a high opinion about that note. He asked to keep the note for his comment but started putting questions about me. He had forgotten that he had met me earlier. I spoke most of the time in English and offered to work for him. It was three days in a week to which he agreed. Some times, he wanted to information/abstract about certain books for which I used to go to Library. But after the work was over, I used to sit with Dr Ambedkar for 10 minutes and put my questions.

What would you discuss with Dr Ambedkar? What would he say to the issue of such as conversion as he was promoting a particular idea of embracing Buddhism? What actually was your position on it? Why should not we convert to any other faith of our choice? Unfortunately, caste system goes along with you even after conversion? What choices do we have to save us from the oppression and exploitation of caste system?

One of the questions was on Buddhism as he was always asking us to embrace Buddhism. I asked that I could not enter a Buddha Vihar. How do you say Buddhism is better than any other religion? I have been to Burma, seen Tibetan Buddhism but have not come anything worthwhile. Study is different but as long as social practice is concern, I do not find anything different in it.” Ambedkar replied, ‘all you said might be right whether I studied Buddhism or not. Now onwards it would not happen again. Since I studied a lot books on Buddhism and since I studied books on religion particularly Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikkhism, Kadianis etc, but Marxism and Buddhism attracted me the most. About Sikhism, I have a very poor opinion. I came close to them because I was teaching two children belonging to them. One of the students father was a doctor, who used to invite me to Gurudwara. I used to go there. Then there was one festival on which they had a langer (community meal) in the Gurudwara. One man asked the doctor; ‘you are making us eat with the Churas and Chamars.’ It was a shocking experience for me in the Gurudwara. After it I studied Sikhism and found that they had 10 Gurus, all belonging to the Khatri caste, none married outside their own parental castes and the fourth guru included teaching of Ravidas, Kabir and others in the Guru Granth Sahib but in practice Sikhism is no different from Hinduism. If a convert comes from Carpenter community, he is a Ramgarhia, if is he a convert from scavenger then he is a Majhabi, if he is a convert from liquor seller then is an Ahaluwalia. Where is the caste system gone? If goes from the front door and comes back from windows. They never started a movement to condemn caste system. After that incident, I never went to a Gurudwara.

I was still critical of Buddhism but felt that if untouchable continue to follow the religion they have been following then there was no chance of their ever unifying. If Hinduism is preaching untouchability against their castes, these castes themselves practice untouchabiliity among themselves. Now for instance, if you go to a Chamar, he looks down upon sweeper and if you go to a sweeper, especially in north India to those who calls themselves as Balmikis, they will never do anything with Helas, doms and Mehtar. Because Valmiki movement started in 1930s and mainly started by Arya Samajis because they were converting to Christianity. One person Tetar was asking the Christians to convert them but the upper caste priests were not ready to convert them for the fear of losing the other people from the church.

Upper castes converted to Christianity after 1857. There were Muslims, Hindus who became Christians when the missionaries started converting the untouchables. They too had started going to church but the Holy Communion was a problem. The upper castes started their prayer meeting in the morning and the untouchables were told to conduct their church meetings in the afternoon. So Kashmir gate church had two services, one in the morning and other in the evening for untouchables.

I also found that people who were converting to Buddhism was just for the namesake. It is unique to India that even after leaving your religion and embracing the other religion they stick to their castes. You cannot get rid of your caste. Unfortunately, a majority of those converted to embrace Buddhism were Mahars hence Mangs were looked down upon by the Mahars as they did not bothered about Chambhars.

What were your impressions about Baba Saheb Ambedkar when you first met him.

My father used to talk proudly about him. The thing which impressed me very much when I first met him was his love for learning and second his character which was immaculately clean, his worst enemies could not charge him on this front and third his commitment to the cause of untouchables. But when I was working with him in the labor ministry, I found his involvement in developing this country. He sent six Scheduled Castes to UK who later held important positions in the central ministry. Besides the SCs, he was interested in the industrialization of the country after the British left.


A lot has been written about Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. Many Dalit intellectuals interpreted it as his anti Marx philosophy. Where does Ambedkar Stand on Marx?

He was not anti Marxist but against dogmatic people because the books written by Dange and other upper caste elite Marxists did not appeal to him. But he studied Marxism seriously and also the labor movement of UK. He was much interested in modernizing India and that is why he introduced this thing when he was labor minister. If you go to his writings in parliament, it has inclination for progressive and modern thinking and that is a common link between Nehru and Ambedkar and which writers have not highlighted, as they have not done independent research. They had much respect for each other. Ambedkar was not a great admirer of Nehru when he joined the government but when he had opportunity to interact with Nehru he opinion was very much different.

What is your reaction to the state of Dalit Movement today? There are so many republican parties as well as different caste based organizations. Then there is political philosophy of BAMSEF and BSP. What do you think is the future?

When Ambedkar entered the field he started Independent Labor Party and in that he not only had untouchable leaders but leaders from other communities such as upper castes who joined the movement and the party. In 1940 he felt that it was not enough so he formed Scheduled Castes Federation and it was exclusively for the untouchables of India. After India’s independence he felt that SCF was meaningless hence he started Republican Party of India and it was not a party exclusively for the SC people. He wanted to broaden the base and take up the economic cause for advancement of India but people who took over the leadership of RPI did not understand him and did not want to follow him. They wanted RPI for caste mobilization and hence it split on caste lines. Today there are so many wings of RPI that you do not even know.

You have been critical of BAMSEF? What were the basic differences that you found with them?

BAMSEF is not a political party. It says it is backward, SC and minority employees’ federation. If it is an employee federation than it is not a political party. BAMSEF was actually started by some people in Poona. They say we are trying to raise the consciousness of the people but how can a party, which has no political ideology and progrmme do that. But even today, strictly speaking it is not a political party. It is still utter confusion and now it has got spilt into three. And each speaking its own language and frankly speaking dominated by Chamar community in certain areas. In some areas of Vidarbha, it is dominated by the Mahars. It does not have an all India appeal because to organize SCs is not an easy job because they are divided into more than 800 castes. And there are castes and sub castes. Cast rivalry in there. Chamars are divided into more than 60 castes while Sweepers are divided into 12 castes. Valmikis are dominating the sweeper community but they cannot carry Dhanuks, Hellas, Doms and others with them.

So Dalit movement became a movement of a few enlightened castes. When I started Ambedkar Mission movement, I asked in writing that one member of the family must marry outside his/her parental caste. That is the only way to show that you work against casteism. In my case, I have relationship with 67 communities including Malas, Dhanuks etc. If you do not do it and then what is the use of saying that you want to break it?

What has conversion changed for the Dalits? One great Dalit cultural icon blamed conversion for taking away the revolutionary spirit from the community.

It is good to break and bad to continue in the tradition that has subjugated you. It is also important to understand whether it take away the revolutionary spirit or not. It is lack of understanding. Look at this way, if you continue to divide on caste lines you can never become a strong force. All Shudra castes are divided. And atishudras are hopelessly divided because of reservation as it gave opportunities only those which one enlightened made use of reservation and not others. In western UP, it was Jatavs who were the business and lay out number of educated people actually monopolized the jobs. What about others? In case they continue to remain in their communities/cast and not broaden their base, there is no hope. Second, here you are strengthening Hinduism, a religion which has exploited you because in ceremonies such as marriages, cremations, festivals, Mundans, you are following them and strengthening it. You are not strengthening yourself. In case the Dalit embrace other religion what will happen? They embraced Christianity but maintain caste. They embrace Islam and maintain caste because Islamic society is divided into three main castes Ashraf, Ajlaf and Afjals. Ashrafs are Shaikhs, Syed, Mughals and Pathans who came with invaders and they looked down upon people who converted here who were Ajlaf. And the third category people were the working class people; the lower castes and untouchables who converted to Islam were termed as Afjals. Today Butchers ( Khatiq) converted and claim that he is a Quraishi because they came from outside. Julaha is an untouchable caste but after conversion he claims himself as Ansari who came from Ansar. This fact remains despite all claims that Muslim society remains divided into three castes and there is no inter marriages. Christianity, Islam and Sikhism have failed because they were sticking to the originality of religion, presence of God and a book, which was allegedly created by God.

If people continue to be divided on caste line then what is the future? Religion is nominal or little value for the people. They stick to it mostly for political reasons, not because it gives them identity and history but majority of people who are forced into different religions, they only use it for marriages and burial. Nothing wrong with it. Dr Ambedkar thought, we need a revolutionary change and for that religion has to be changed. It needs to be on reason, compassion and brotherhood. He studied Buddhism and as Lord Buddha said towards the end of his life that there is no place for God. He wanted happiness of the people too. Unfortunately, the leaders of Buddhism were not able to carry that message. They maintained caste and at the same time call themselves as Buddhist.

What is the status of Dalit movement today?

Unfortunately, the movement never reached the agrarian communities. Dr Ambedkar chalked out a programme to reach 70% of our population, which lives in villages and was treated by the dominant communities very badly. If it is Marathas, Kunbis in Maharastra, it is Jaats and Gujjars in UP. He thought that Bengal is different. IN Bengal land went to Dalits because of reforms. Unfortunately, the leadership of the movement came from the urban areas. Educated, semi educated people took over the leadership of the movement. The movement did not go beyond that. Some people tried to educate people in the villages but working in the villages is very different, because society there is horizontally and vertically divided and land holding community is the worst enemy. What Ambedkar did was that he gave a call to the people to migrate to the cities. So the people who could not face situation in the rural areas migrated to urban areas but then the situation differs in every state.

In southern states the situation is slightly better in the sense because land was owned by the Brahmins and they have been thrown out in South but in the North India the land was not owned by the Brahmins but by the other people. They are the middle communities and became Hinduised. The village movement of landless people has not been initiated by RPI. They had it in their programme but it was never promoted because most of the leaders came from cities who were interested in winning reserve seats and used poor people for winning elections only.

Scavenger remains the lowest among the Dalits. How do you describe their condition today? What are the impediments in their development?

It is not a community itself. It is divided into 12-14 castes. But in South the division is not that bad. In Andhra Madigas who are basically Chamars but 7 castes among them work as scavengers hence the division is not that strict and harsh as in North India. Most of them are employed under the municipality, cantonment boar, and station staff offices. They have long traditions of people exploiting them and promoted as Jamadars in their department. Inspite of the fact that it is a lowly paid occupation, people pay bribe to get jobs even in Delhi you have to pay bribe to get job under MCD.

Unfortunately, efforts have not been made to unite the sweepers. Why? Because you took up the cause of one particular area and you choose a leader from these quarters. Others are working as private quarters in Mohallas under the bridge system. In this system you work under several masters, get left over food, old cloths, food on marriage or any other festivals so it is not but several local masters.

If they unite for economical weakness, they do not remain so for long. That is why the sweepers and scavengers even today remains to be one of the poorest and backward communities. One reason is leadership, second is economic and third is your locality. And this job does not need hard work. It is definitely a dirty work and looked down upon by every body. These factors resulted in many problems, like drinking and wasteful expenditure. Hindusiation has weakened them as they imitate. Efforts have not been made by different people and leaders to unite different castes and make them acquainted with the programmes of the government. Even the commissions have not been able to do that. Educationally, they are backwards because drop out rate is very high. Efforts have not been made to spread education in these classes.

I have been associated with the movement from the age of 16. I have also been associated with labor movement. Unfortunately ambitious political people take benefit of ignorance and backwardness of these people. Right kind of people are now training the Dalits and giving leadership but unfortunately ‘illterate’ people with little knowledge are long in the way and I think there is hardly any organization free from these accusations- Congress, BJP and others.

I am happy with the new youngs writing about the movements. When I meet them in conferences and seminars, I feel there is hope, though it is not easy. The population of right thinking people is taking an upward trend. Could you ever imagine that the sweeper of Punjab would hold mass conversion for Buddhism. New trends are coming up. New kind of leadership is coming. Unfortunately they do not have the mean to support them.


Political Power is the Master Key

Well, there was time when Baba Saheb Ambedkar said that. When you speak to different kind of audience’s particularly political leaders, it makes sense. But you will also have to get rid of the weakness with in the society. He also said promotion of education. What is being done on that side? It is wrong to say that he laid emphasis on political power. Political power with out right kind of ideology means nothing. I think people are misquoting Ambedkar that political power is the master key. He might have been speaking at Scheduled Caste Federation and with political leaders. But why we not talk about his other work. It is not enough.


Globalization has banged on our door. There are movements against it in various parts of India. Many of our friends have written positively on it suggesting that it would benefit the Dalits. Your take on it.

This government would have different complexion, if we had the 10% people in the civil services. Now with the judgment of the Supreme Courts they are going to suffer more. in the years to come. This globalization does not get attraction by the weaker section, at the moment. But then if in the globalization, the international movement on the issue of Dalits is properly handled, then even here in globalization they can have a share, if it is correctly done. Globalization has a political model and an economic model and it leads to empowerment but behind these ideas are people who want to solve their problems, find the market, create new market and create new classes. In western countries people are trying to create consciousness and awareness in the down trodden communities to develop leadership.


Dr Ambedkar was a truly humanist leader of our time but it look different castes have made him look like as if he was a caste leader. How do you describe Ambedkar?

He was a rationalist in thinking with the interest of SCs in mind. He never considered British to be the friend. But he got an opportunity because British wanted to expand the elected council but they elected other progressive people also. I think he was the most capable and learned person among his contemporaries. He had economic programmes which he could implement through Ministry of labor which was considered as orphan Ministry and through that he tried to promote industrialization of India and tried to create a class of the technically trained people. No body had done that earlier.