The recent speech of Home Minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha on politics in the name of Dr B.R. Ambedkar becoming fashionable has created an uproar across the country. To put it simply the controversial statement was that it had become a fashion to chant the name of Ambedkar and that if they (Opposition) had only chanted the name of god so many times they would have attained swarg (heaven).
We can deduce two specific points from this statement. The Home Minister and his brand of politics doesn’t consider Ambedkar as a messiah for Dalits and other oppressed communities. Secondly, by branding Ambedkarite politics as fashionable he has betrayed his apathy towards democratization of politics in the name of Babasaheb.
Is it really fashionable?
Why doesn’t anyone remark Gandhian politics has become fashionable! Or that politics in the name of Subhash Chandra Bose has become fashionable! Or that chanting the name of Rabindranath Tagore has become fashionable! While all of these figures are the important and revered personalities of modern India, there appears to be a different equation with Ambedkar.
Ambedkar was a neglected figure for a long period after India became an independent nation. He was neglected and rejected not only during his lifetime due to his social identity but he was also not given his due even after his death. Ambedkar returned to the mainstream consciousness of Indian society through the spirit of the Constitution which was drafted under his chairmanship. When representatives of marginalized sections started to fill the seats of Parliament, the impact of the Ambedkarite movement began to be felt in the corridors of power.
Though the enthusiasm for the Ambedkarite movement varies across the country at present, Babasaheb has become an omnipresent figure. While everyone may not accept him and his ideology wholeheartedly, no one can negate him. Nonetheless, this is the victory of the long struggle of the oppressed communities for whom Babasaheb is no less than a god.
To put it precisely, more than a fashion it is the democratization of Ambedkarite thoughts that has changed the political culture of Indian politics. To call it fashionable tactics is to derogate and diminish the struggles of millions of Ambedkarites not only within the country but also abroad.
However, within this process of democratization there are tendencies to instrumentalize his thought. It would be difficult to name a single mainstream political party that has tried to follow Ambedkar in letter as well as in spirit. To do so they would require to fight the twin evils of both Brahmanism and Capitalism as suggested by Babasaheb in his lecture (that wasn’t allowed to be delivered and was hence self-published) ‘Annihilation of Caste’.
BJP’s attempt to co-opt Ambedkar
If we compare where all the parties within the Indian polity stand with respect to Ambedkar, we find a clear inherent conflict between Ambedkar’s thought and ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The differences here are irreconcilable. Firstly, while BJP is a majoritarian-religion (Hindu) based party, Ambedkar quit the Hindu religion towards the end of his lifetime, two decades after he announced he would do so, and instructed his followers to do so, too.
Secondly, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of the BJP, tries to assimilate Dalits within the fold of Hindu religion whereas Ambedkar after leaving the Hindu religion embraced Buddhism, as, according to him, the Hindu religion’s caste-based ethos precludes sympathy and compassion toward others. He made this argument in his 1936 speech, which goes by the title ‘Mukti Kon Pathe’ (Emancipation which way).
Thirdly, Ambedkar was for strong public institutions to end discrimination and mitigate caste-based inequalities while BJP in its present avatar is for minimum government and maximum disinvestment. Lastly, there are huge differences between ideologues of the BJP like V.D. Savarkar and M.S. Golwalkar on the one hand and Ambedkar on the other with regard to the Hindu religion.
Looking to the numbers for insight
The BJP and its allies won the maximum number of Dalit votes in the 2014 and in 2019 General Elections but in the recently concluded 2024 General Elections the Congress increased its share. While the BJP won only 29 Scheduled Caste (SC)-reserved seats in 2024 compared to 46 in 2019, Congress won 20 SC-reserved seats in 2024 in comparison to 6 seats won during the 2019 General Elections. The Congress performed considerably well not only in terms of seats but also with regard to vote share. In 2019, the Congress had 16.7 per cent vote share, in 2024 it rose to 20.8 per cent. (CSDS report, The Hindu)
Though the BJP gained Dalit votes in the recently concluded Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly Elections, there is a sense of fear among the BJP ranks that they may lose their vote share given the aggressive politics of the opposition parties. This is mainly because of the two specific reasons– the first being the inadequate response of the state machinery to prevent the atrocities against Dalits and other oppressed communities.
According to the latest government report under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, nearly 97.7 per cent of all cases of atrocities against SCs were reported in 2022 in 13 states. Among these 13 states, Uttar Pradesh reported a staggering 12,287 cases which accounts for 23.78 per cent of cases registered under SC-ST POA Act. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh is at the top with 2979 cases related to the atrocities and violence committed against ST communities. Both the states and many other states on the list are governed by the BJP.
Secondly, the BJP is feeling the pressure from the opposition parties demanding a caste-census and initiating caste-based surveys in the states where they are in power. The BJP is at present confused about caste census and caste surveys. The reason behind this confusion can be the result of the fear of dislodging its core vote bank – upper castes and the upper middle class.
Hence, it can be argued that though the BJP, due to their meticulous social engineering, has benefited from Dalit votes from 2014 until today, the inherent contradictions in its ideology (with respect to Dalits) have surfaced. They may have made a Dalit and an Adivasi the president but a formidable Dalit and Tribal leadership has yet to emerge within its one of the most centralised party structures.
It is in this context we need to understand the Home Minister’s remark. It comes from his frustration and anxiety due to the swaying support from the Dalit community. Hence, fashionable politics of invoking Ambedkar is in fact democratization of political culture in the name of Babasaheb, with oppressed communities using their agency to support the political party that works in their interest.
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