Talk by
Dr. RAM PUNIYANI
Chairman, CSSS and Former Professor, IITB
Date:14.04.16; Venue: IC&SR
Auditorium; Time: 4.15 p.m
“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country”
- B.R. Ambedkar
In
the forthcoming 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar, the extravagant
shows by RSS, BJP and their Sangh parivar would be to celebrate his birthday
along with the portraits of Hedgewar and Golwalkar, their Hindu Rashtravaadi
founders. They attempt to justify such antithetical actions with their twisted
statements like ‘Ambedkar believed on Sangh ideology’. These actions are yet another
step by them to digest Ambedkar under Hindutva fold. Let them celebrate his
birthday, as the people of India are indebted to Ambedkar for his vision for
the country. But the trap behind all such moves to appropriate Ambedkar should be
analysed profoundly.
What
is the need for the Hindutva fascists to colour Ambedkar with saffron? Is that
merely for vote-bank politics? No, it is to use Ambedkar as a mere symbol to convert
dalits into footmen
in Hindutva’s warfare against the working masses of this country and to pit them
against Muslims and tribals, while diverting them away from moving forward with
Ambedkar’s ideals for caste annihilation. This is what has happened in 2002
Gujarat riots, Dadri Lynching, Bathani Tola, Hashimpura and Maliana massacres. This
is a clear tactic by the millennia-old caste system to remould itself for this
era of neo-liberal, to maintain the continued caste and class supremacy in the
Indian society.
The
activities of the current BJP regime are part of a multi-coloured project for these
causes. They acquired and converted the memorial hall of ‘10, King Henry road, London’ where Ambedkar stayed during 1921 – 22, while
calling the students of Ambedkar Students Association in HCU ‘casteist,
extremist and anti-national’. They cried for Rohit Vemula’s death that ‘a mother
of India has lost her child’, while backing VC Appa Rao, booked for Rohit’s
death, to continue his office in HCU. At the same time, they are more conscious
on their real and intact agenda of building Hindu rashtra. They banned study
circle named with Ambedkar and Periyar (APSC IITM), orchestrated the death of
Rohit Vemula, converting all educational institutes into the hierarchical
‘gurukul’ with the help of their student wing, killing more tribals of central
India in the name of ‘Operation no name’, breaking dissent of any form, are some of their steps
towards the goal. Even some times when they speak about the ‘social justice’, they
are unmasked and their real faces are exposed. Recently, Mohan Baghwat sought a
review on quota policy, Amit shah justified the varna system, MLA’s and MP’s of
BJP are spewing poisonous statements to move towards their ‘Ram raj’ or ‘Hindu
rashtra’.
The
concept of ‘annihilation of caste’ by Ambedkar is more sufficient to fight
against the appetite of digesting Ambedkar within Hindu religion. His ideology
cannot be compared with the ideas of hinduism, where caste hierarchy is its central
nervous system, without which the survival of Hinduism will cease completely. Unless
and until we wish to annihilate the caste system, it is impossible for anyone
to absorb Ambedkar’s ideology. Particularly it is not a possible one for the
Hindutva forces, since Hindu religion itself is built with the bricks of multi
levelled caste system.
Nowadays the celebration of
Ambedkar’s birthday anniversary is being merely turned into a ceremonial
function. This is the greatest betrayal to Ambedkar, who is being worshipped as
a sheer idol rather than being read and understood, to take forward the fight
towards annihilating caste. The dire need of the hour for the student community
is to know Ambedkar’s ideology towards the ‘establishment of caste free society’.
Those who simply praise or celebrate Ambedkar for name sake can never succeed
in fulfilling his wish. Working towards annihilation of caste is the only way
to isolate the trickeries by the proponents of the caste system. For that Ambedkar
has to be reclaimed from identity politics into
radical politics.
As a student community let us unite and pledge to annihilate
the caste system!
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