Nayonika Sen Week 7

Ambedkar Jayanti, 14th April 2020
The world around is beginning to acknowledge the revolutionary vision of Babasaheb Ambedkar as a champion of equality and human rights. Primrose Hall in London becomes Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Museum. The small town of Burnaby proclaims 14th April to be Dr. Ambedkar Day of Equality. As an academic scholar, he made Dalits a universal subject of History. As a legal luminary, he envisioned a Constitution that was reflective of a fair and just society; where graded inequality was relegated as history. As an icon, he was so much more. More than having drafted the Constitution and written academic literature rigorously, invoking Ambedkar’s name is akin to invoking a name that shakes the foundation of inequality in India. Although not advocating for Hero-worship, Ambedkar stands as the hope for millions: he ceases to simply be a ‘political figure’ and becomes then a symbol of resistance. The most common statue across villages in India is that of Ambedkar; installed by the people themselves and not even the government. It’s indicative of a larger consciousness developing among Dalits of the assertion of their identities and reclaiming public places as their own.
Perhaps this year is special. Not in a good way. 2020 has seen orchestrated riots in the Capital, the arrest of an eminent Dalit scholar, the mis-treatment of migrant labourers (Who are predominantly shudras and Dalits) at the hands of the police, and the repeated vilification of the Muslim community. But what does Ambedkar or Ambedkar Jayanti have to do with this? With the rise in self-consciousness of the Dalit community (The prominent role of Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan in the Anti-CAA-NRC protests and the formation of the Azad Samaj Party), The Constitution of India has become the voice of the people. And with it, Babasaheb Ambedkar emerges more important now than ever; as an icon of hope, in him and his Constitution. As the cries of ‘Jai Bhim’ grow louder, the party in power and their social wing, the RSS are scrambling to appropriate Ambedkar, to associate their idea of nationalism with his. To show that the image of an upright Ambedkar in his iconic blue suit and red tie, holding a copy of the Constitution in his left hand and his right hand outstretched as if he’s explaining something, is an image that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP can endorse as their own. That their conceptualisation of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ is somehow congruent to Ambedkar, the great scholar and equalist. This Ambedkar Jayanti was a day of mourning; but it was a day that strengthened the resolve to end this tyranny.

(This is not to say that Ambedkar should never be debated or contested. His views are in the end subject to the test of time and circumstances and the position of various social groups. What remains is his resolve to end inequality)

Nayonika Sen

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