Which Ambedkar do you want? The one who arouses a consciousness for democracy and constitutional values, or the one who is just an object of worship and reverence?
The central government and leaders of the party in power, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), boast about turning places associated with Dr Ambedkar into pilgrimage sites and installing huge statues of the architect of the Constitution. But the same government has stopped giving out awards meant for individuals and institutions making organized and concerted efforts for propagating Ambedkar’s ideas.
Why are the national and international awards instituted by the central government to honour individual or institutional endeavours to spread Ambedkarite ideology not being presented? In 2022, advertisements were issued inviting nominations for Dr Ambedkar International Award and Dr Ambedkar National Award. But the awards were never announced. That was a repeat of what happened in 2015.
Dr Ambedkar National Award was instituted in 1992 and Dr Ambedkar International Award in 1995. The last time nominations were invited for Ambedkar awards was in 2022. On 9 March 2022, Dr Ambedkar Foundation published an advertisement inviting nominations for Dr Ambedkar National Award and Dr Ambedkar International Award. However, the selected awardees were not announced. Advertisement is no longer only a corporate tool. It is also being used as a tool by democratic governments. They give the people an impression that the government is at work. Those who do actual work and those who live off just advertising are distinct sets of people. Those who do actual work are often overshadowed by those who live off advertisements.
The national award has a cash component of Rs 10 lakh and the international award, of Rs 15 lakh. The national award is meant to honour those promoting Ambedkar’s ideas in society. The international award is meant to honour those waging an exemplary fight against inequality and injustice or bringing about reconciliation among conflicting social groups.
The awarding body is the Dr Ambedkar Foundation and the awards are supposed to be presented on 14 April every year. According to government documents, the national award could not be conferred from 2015 to 2021 due to “administrative reasons”. A re-think on the scheme was also hinted at. Similarly, the international award hasn’t been conferred since 2001 for the same reason – “administrative”.
According to the rules made by the Dr Ambedkar Foundation, the process of inviting nominations for the twin awards by individuals or institutions would commence in November every year and close on 31 December. The year 2022 would have been the last opportunity for President Ramnath Kovind to present the Dr Ambedkar awards but that was not to be. The truth of the matter is BJP only needed Kovind’s Dalit identity to expand its base among Dalits.
Since the institution of the national award in 1992, it has been awarded only seven times. The international award has been conferred just twice. In 1999, it was conferred on Murlidhar Devdas alias Baba Amte and in 2000, on Remy Fernand Claude of Spain.
Interestingly, the exercise for conferment of the award was initiated twice over the past 12 years and advertisements inviting nominations were published. But perhaps this was done just to please the people. According to estimates, each advertisement cost more than Rs 50 lakh to the exchequer. Moreover, no one knows which “administrative reasons” came in the way of the conferment of the award.
During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s premiership, that lasted from 1999 to 2004, these awards were not conferred even once. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government continued in the same vein in its first term. Only in its second term was the national award conferred and that too, just thrice in five years.
Almost all political parties do politics in the name of Ambedkar but none of them have ever bothered to ask why the Ambedkar awards are not being announced.
Awards encourage. Do the holders of political power believe that those working for Dalits don’t need encouragement? Or do they want to blunt the edge of Dalit consciousness? They don’t want conscious and awakened people. They want devotees. This may well be part of an endeavour to fulfil long-term political objectives.
(Translated from the original Hindi by Amrish Herdenia)
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