The Mission of BAMCEF is to bring complete social and cultural revlution in this land of diparity. It is through its objectives that BAMCEF foresees the accomplishment of such a revolution. It has got its root in the concept of payback to the society. If we go deep into the past heritage of the oppressed and exploited society and the struggles fought by its people to put an end to their sufferings. It looks evident that the class of educated employees is one of the major beneficiaries ot the product of such struggle. Thus it becomes obligatory on their part to see that their brethren who stil continue to remain a deprived lot should also enjoy the fruits of the struggle equitably if not in a bigger way. This is the mission of BAMCEF in a mutshell.
LET THE CO-SUFFERERS COME TOGETHER
When we study the structure of Indian society it is fundamentally based on caste syatem. This caste system is intact and maintained by the sanctions of erligious command and the authority of scriptures.As such the system provides privileges to a part of the society and imposes disabilities on other remaining segments. The fundamentals of the present system are, neglect the humanity but love your own caste on one hand and a descending order of duties but ascending order of privileges of the Verna system on the other hand. This is the unique aspect of the system on the other hand. This is the unique sapect of the system which has survived itself in the absence of any appreciable. Combined and successful strugal by the co-sufferers to put an end to this unjust order which has crippled their life. Recognising this fact fully well, the educated employes of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backword Classes and Minority Communities have organized themselves under the banner of BAMCEF, to fulfill their sacred mission i.e. to pay back to society and to bring social and cultural revolution in India because individually they have been feeling hopeless and useless, and in small lots they are ineffective. To ameliorate the condition ot the downroddens and to provide fair justice to them the Indian constitution condemned caste system. But good constitution cannot automatically provide good presidents and good Governments, The intentions attitudes and family background of those who are in high echelons of power ultimately determines the practical utility of the constitution. Though Indian Constitution provided safeguards to these provisions fraudulently over the last 45 years. In this background it can be safely presumed that the government and it agencies will not implement the constitutional safeguards even for centuries more to come. Then those who are the sufferers and full of disabilities must rise up and do something of their own. Just listening to the vocal resentment of these communities, the power hungry political parties in India have been giving some doles and promises. The most important among such laudable promises was the formation of three commissions by Janata Party during 1977 when it came to power after the debacle of Congress (I) rule.
SC, ST,l Commission
Backward Class Commission
Minority Community Commission
The fate of these commissions remained so miserable that these commissions put salt on the injuries of the unfortunate communities. Due to the basic fault of the prevailing system these communities will not come together of their own automatically as they are caged in planes of graded degradation. On the other hand in their own individual capacity these communities cannot launch any successful and sustained struggle. Thus arranging for resourcefulness. Capability, desire, skill and preparedness to initiate, develop and sustain such successful struggle oppression is the need of the hour.
In this direction educated employees of these communities can be looked upon as the only of hope. They have to become the torch bearers to show a path to the victims of the system to put an end to their suffering .Hence BAMCEF takes privilege to pool up the meager resources at the disposal of the employees of these communities to create a mighty rock capable to obstruct the further flow of this dreaded system of graded inequalities, indignities and tyrannies.
Showing posts with label OUR IDOLS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OUR IDOLS. Show all posts
DR AMBEDKAR JI
I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh nor shall I worship them.
I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them.
I shall have no faith in ‘Gauri’, Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.
I do not believe in the incarnation of God.
I do not and shall not believe that Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be sheer madness and false propaganda.
I shall not perform ‘Shraddha’ nor shall I give ‘pind-dan’.
I shall not act in a manner violating the principles and teachings of the Buddha.
I shall not allow any ceremonies to be performed by Brahmins.
I shall believe in the equality of man.
I shall endeavour to establish equality.
I shall follow the ‘noble eightfold path’ of the Buddha.
I shall follow the ‘paramitas’ prescribed by the Buddha.
I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.
I shall not steal.
I shall not tell lies.
I shall not commit carnal sins.
I shall not take intoxicants like liquor, drugs etc.
I shall endeavour to follow the noble eightfold path and practise compassion and loving kindness in every day life.
I renounce Hinduism which is harmful for humanity and impedes the advancement and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as my religion.
I firmly believe the Dhamma of the Buddha is the only true religion.
I believe that I am having a re-birth.
I solemnly declare and affirm that I shall hereafter lead my life according to the principles and teachings of the Buddha and his Dhamma.
I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them.
I shall have no faith in ‘Gauri’, Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.
I do not believe in the incarnation of God.
I do not and shall not believe that Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be sheer madness and false propaganda.
I shall not perform ‘Shraddha’ nor shall I give ‘pind-dan’.
I shall not act in a manner violating the principles and teachings of the Buddha.
I shall not allow any ceremonies to be performed by Brahmins.
I shall believe in the equality of man.
I shall endeavour to establish equality.
I shall follow the ‘noble eightfold path’ of the Buddha.
I shall follow the ‘paramitas’ prescribed by the Buddha.
I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.
I shall not steal.
I shall not tell lies.
I shall not commit carnal sins.
I shall not take intoxicants like liquor, drugs etc.
I shall endeavour to follow the noble eightfold path and practise compassion and loving kindness in every day life.
I renounce Hinduism which is harmful for humanity and impedes the advancement and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as my religion.
I firmly believe the Dhamma of the Buddha is the only true religion.
I believe that I am having a re-birth.
I solemnly declare and affirm that I shall hereafter lead my life according to the principles and teachings of the Buddha and his Dhamma.
SAHIB KANSI RAM JI DE SANDESH
2.ਮੈਂ ਕਦੇ ਫਰਿਆਦ ਕਰਨਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਸਿੱਖਿਆ | ਨਾ ਮੈਂ ਕੁਰਸੀ ਲਈ ਆਮ ਸਭਾਵਾਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਦਾ | ਮੈਂ ਤਾਂ ਬਸ ਬਹੁਜਨ ਸਮਾਜ ਦੇ ਬਿਖਰੇ ਹੋਏ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਜਗਾਉਣ ਲਈ ਘੁੰਮ ਰਿਹਾ ਹਾਂ, ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਇਨਸਾਨ ਹੋ ਕੇ ਵੀ ਅਤਿਆਚਾਰ ਸਹਿਣਾ ਵੱਡੀ ਬੇਸ਼ਰਮੀ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਹੈ |
3. ਇਹ ਵਕਤ ਖੂਨ ਦੇਣ ਜਾਂ ਖੂਨ ਬਹਾਉਣ ਦਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਜ਼ਾਲਮਾਂ ਦਾ ਖੂਨ ਪੀਣ ਦਾ ਹੈ | ਹੁਣ ਜ਼ੁਲਮ ਸਹਿਣ ਅਤੇ ਜਾਨ ਦੇਣ ਦਾ ਸਮਾਂ ਨਹੀਂ | ਜ਼ਾਲਮਾਂ ਦੀ ਜਾਨ ਲੈਣ ਅਤੇ ਜ਼ਾਲਮਾਂ ਦਾ ਖੂਨ ਪੀਣ ਦਾ ਸਮਾਂ ਹੈ | ਸਾਡੇ ਬਜ਼ੁਰਗਾਂ ਨੇ ਜ਼ੁਲਮ ਸਹਿ ਕੇ ਜ਼ਾਲਮ ਦਾ ਹੌਸਲਾ ਵਧਾਈ ਰੱਖਿਆ ਹੈ | ਸਾਹਿਬ ਕਾਸ਼ੀ ਰਾਮ ਜੀ
Babu Mangu Ram ji
I congratulate you and highly appreciate your concerted efforts for celebrating the Birth anniversary of Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia, the Prophet of Dalit Struggle in Punjab in the early 1920s. He was one of the very few Dalit visionaries who correctly realized that the real salvation of the downtroddenlies in theirtotal social and cultural transformation.For that only liberation from the colonial masters would no besufficient. He was of the firm opinion that unless and until a systematic and all embracing struggleagainst the Brahmanical orthodoxy based on the Hindu Shashtric principle of purity/pollution is launched, the national struggle against the British rule would not serve the real interest of the millions of the Dalits, who had been subjected to all kids of marginalities and oppression for centuries. In fact, Dalits were the double victims: of the British rule as well as of the Upper castes of their own country. It was this thinking that looks him to organize the Ad-Dharm Movement in Punjab at a time when Mahatma Gandhi was also getting actively involved in the national liberation struggle in India. Babu Ji gave his people a new religion (Ad-Dharm) to believe in, Gurus (Rishi Valmiki, Guru Ravi Dass, Maharaj Kabir, and Bhagwan Sat Guru Nam Dev) to worship, a symbol (Soham) to display, and a slogan (Jai Guru Dev) to greet each other. He and his movement inculcated a sense of dignity and confidence among the Dalits of Punjab who since have been actively pursuing the cause of Dalit liberation both within the country and abroad wherever they havesettled.
Mangoo Ram was born on January 14, 1886 , in village Mugowal, Hoshiarpur district, where this father,Harman Dass, had left the traditional Chamar caste occupation of training and preparing hides and attempting to sell tanned hides commercially1. Mangoo Ram’s mother, Atri, died when Mangoo Ram was three, so the father began to depend heavily on his sons – Mangoo and an older and a younger brother for assistance. Because the leather trade required some facility in English, Mangoo Ram’s father was forced to rely on literate members of upper castes to read sales orders and other instructions to him. In payment for their reading instructions for an hour, he would have to do a day of crude labour. For that reason, Mangoo Ram’s father was eager to have his son receive an early education.
When Mangoo Ram was seven, he was taught by a village Sadhu (Saint) and soon after attended a variety of schools in the Mugowal area (Tehsil Mahilpur of district Hoshiarpur). He also attended school in a village near Dehra Dun , where his older brother has settled. In most of the schools, Mangoo Ram was the only Scheduled Caste student. He sat at the back of the class, or even in a separate room, and listed through the open door. When he attended high school in Bajwara, he was forced to stay outside the building and listen to the classes through the windows. Once when he came inside during a heaving hailstorm, the Braham teacher beat him and put all the classroom furniture, which he had “polluted” by his presence, outside in the rain to be literally and ritually washed clean. Nonetheless, Mangoo Ram was a good student: he placed third in his class in primary school. But whereas the other good students were encouraged to become patwaris (village record-keeper) or to seek higher education, Mango Ram was encouraged to leave school and help his father at a more proper “Chamar task”. In 1905, he did quit school; he married, and for three years helped his father develop their leather trade into a thriving business.
In 1909 America as in the air. Scores of upper caste farmers from Mangoo Ram’s area of Hoshiarpur had gone to the United States , and those who had not gone were talking about it. Mangoo Ram decided to go also. He persuaded his father that it would be good for the business – he would send money back from America – and his father responded by giving him some savings from the family business. Amid assurances from some of the local Zamindars (“landowners”) and two Chamar friends set off for the new world.2
The friends turned back, but Mangoo Ram persevered and arrived in California late in 1909. For four years he picked fruit for the former Zamindars of his village who had settled in the San Joaquin valley of California . He was also employed in a sugar mill. Mangoo Ram lived first in Fresno , then in Stockton , Sacramento , EL Centro , Vacaville , Visalia , and again in Fresno.3. He did indeed make money and set his savings home.
In 1913 some of the Punjabi settlers in California were forming a militant nationalist organisation. Mangoo Ram joined this group, the Ghadar movement, as a full-time worker in San Francisco . He was struck by the fact that, as he was later to say, “it was a new society; we were treated as equal”4. There were not many Scheduled Caste persons in the Ghadar movement, however; Mangoo Ram recalls only one other Chamar besides himself.
Initially Mangoo Ram played only a minor role in the organisation,, but in 1915 he volunteered to be one of five Ghadrites to participate in a dangerous mission involving smuggled weapons shipped from California to the Punjab . He was chosen for the task by the main whom he identifies as the “leader of the Ghadar” party at that time.” Sohan Singh Bakhna5. The secretary of the Los Angeles where they boarded an intermediary boat after collecting all their personal identification. For the rest of the saga, Mangoo Ram would be known by a Muslim pseudonym, Nizamuddin.
According to Mangoo Ram, the intermediary boat took them to the Socorro (sic) islands to rendezvous with the weapons boat, but after thirteen days military shop from Sydney, the “Man of War”, discovered the timely intervention of an American warship were they spared. They went to Vera Cruz, Mexico , to receive rations.
There they finally connected with their weapons boat, the Maverick; they joined the crew, took on giant turtles for food, and headed for India.7 They were halted again in Hawaii , where Mangoo Ram witnessed the eruption of volcanoes. Free again, they advanced a bit further, perhaps to Java or New Caledonia.8. There the Japanese, on behalf of the British, imprisoned them for one year. Eventually, the British decided to hang them, but at midnight the night before they were to be hanged at dawn, fate intervened. The Germans spirited them away in the dark, and the five went their separate directions – Harmans Dass and Charan Dass to Bangkok ; the others, including Mangoo Ram, to Manila .
But again, according to Mangoo Ram’s memory, the intervention of fate altered their plans. A typhoon appeared, and the ship went to Singapore instead, where British spies, Bela Singh and Bhag Singh, turned Mangoo Ram over to British authorities, who promptly ordered him to be placed before a cannon and shot. Again, however, the Germans whisked Mangoo Ram away, and again he was placed on a ship bound for Manila.9. When Mangoo Ram arrived in the Philippines he read a news report in the Manila Times indicating that he had been executed for treason b the British in Singapore . Mangoo Ram assumes that one of his captured colleagues had taken on his name to protect him, and that that man had been shot in his place. The news of his alleged death preceded him to the Punjab , where his wife heard the report and promptly married his younger brother, as custom dictated. In the meantime, Mangoo Ram was sequestered in the Philippines in a series of hideouts on various islands. Members of the Ghadar party were his benefactors during this period, and Mangoo Ram remembers fondly their hospitality and friendship: he was no longer an Untouchable but a comrade in distress.10.
The war ended in 1918, the Ghadar party was no longer quite the threat its was earlier when it enraged the British by compounding separatism with sedition through its liaison with the Germans. But Mangoo Ram decided to stay in Manila nonetheless. He met an American, a Mr Johnson of Marshall Field and Company (a department store in Chicago ), who hired him to work in an
Early in 1925 he set sail, this time on a more pleasant and uninterrupted trip. He arrived in Ceylon in the company of a Christian missionary he had met on board, then travelled through the subcontinent to the Punjab , visiting Madurai , Madras , Bombay , Poona , Sitara, Nagpur , and Delhi . He observed the conditions of the Scheduled Castes en route and was dismayed “to se our people being treated to badly”.12. At the Minaksi Temple in Madurai , for instance, he was told to be careful not to touch the Achhut (Untouchables): people assumed from his dress that he was of decent caste. By the time Mangoo Ram reached the Punjab he was convinced that there was need for social change, and wrote to Ghadar Party headquarters in San Francisco about the difficult conditions of the Scheduled Castes in India , announcing that their freedom was more important to him than that of the nation itself. According to Mangoo Ram, leaders of the Ghadar party at that point designated him to work for the uplift of the Untouchables 13. Thus, in a new context, the old revolutionary from Fresno continued the Ghadar spirit.
Late in 1925, after his return to the Punjab , Mangoo Ram began teaching in a primary school in his home village of Mugowal , a school which Mangoo Ram claims he named the Ad Dharm School. It was in that school, on June 11 and 12 1926, that Mangoo Ram convened the meeting that formally launched the Ad Dharm movement. Mangoo Ram was elected its first president, a title he was retained for the duration of the movement. Om November 1926, when the Ad Dharm organisation opened an office in the city of Jullundhar , Mangoo Ram took up residence there, where he remained until he became active in politics in the 1940s, at which point he moved to the town of Hoshiarpur . Later, the newly independent government of India presented him with some land near Garhshankar, not for away, which developed into a small farm.
In 1977, after the Ad Dharm movement had been re-established, and Mangoo Ram had been again elevated to leadership of the movement, his supporter sent him on a triumphant tour of communities of expatriate lower caste Punjabis in Great Britain . It was Mangoo Ram’s first major voyage since returning from America , half a century before. For him the occasion was one of nostalgia, but also one of completeness, for it enabled him to mark the closing phase of his long public career with a trip abroad, just as he had opened it in a similar way many years before. It was to be the last great event before his death on April 22, 1980 , at the age of 94.
The pattern of expatriate experience leading to nationalism and political activism when the expatriates return home is replicated in the personal histories of other leaders: the lives of Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Dr. B.R Ambedkar, the Ghadar militants, and other Third world figures such as Kwame Nkrumah and Ho Chi Minh. Seldom, however has a personal history held such dramatic extremes- from leadership in a secular movement to leadership in a religious one, from an anti-British to a pro-British stance (and then back again), from being a banished Untouchable to being an imposing political figure. The sheer diversity of Mangoo Ram’s colourful life would invalidate any claims he might have wanted village culture of the lower castes, but experience forged him into a modern man. Ultimately, his characteristics were modern were those of the movement he led and of the proud new breed of ex-Untouchable he came to represent.
Sahib Kanshi Ram
"I will never get married, I will never acquire any property, I will never visit my home, I will devote and dedicate the rest of my life to achieve the goals of Phule -Ambedkar movement"
These pledges remind the work of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Sahib who is remembered in the history of India as a True leader of Bahujan Samaj . The journey of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Saheb and his movement of socio-cultural revolution and economic emancipation of Bahujan Samaj started way back in 1964. Kanshi Ram, the eldest son of Mr. Hari Singh, resident of Khawas Pur village of Punjab 's Roper district, was born on 15 th March, 1934 , in a Sikh family belonging to the Ramdassia Community. He completed B.Sc. and joined as an assistant Scientist in DRDO in Kirki Pune Maharashtra in 1957 where he was exposed to the bad breath of Hindu social order i.e. atrocious caste system. In the ordinance factory, where Kanshi Ram was working, the management cancelled the holidays of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and Buddha Jayanti and instead granted Tilak Jayanti holiday and an additional holiday during Diwali festival. As a reaction to this, not the Ambedkarites from Maharashtra but a Scheduled Caste Mr. Dina Bhana, from Rajasthan, protested against the cancellation of these two holidays. Dina Bhana's protest resulted in his suspension. By this atrocious act, agitated Kanshi Ram fought the legal battle for Dina Bhana.
As a result, not only was Dina Bhana reinstated but the holidays were also restored. The unjust and casteist act on the part of management resulted in a new awakening in Kanshi Ram, as he did not properly realize the casteist divisions in his youth in Punjab . Thereafter Kanshi Ram studied the literature of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the biggest destroyer of Brahmanism after Buddha, Jyotiba Phule and Periyar.
Kanshi Ram Ji read "Annihilation of Castes" three times in one night which created not only an impact on Kanshi Ram, but shaped his thinking and future course of actions. Beside Dr. Ambedkar's writings, Mr. Kanshi Ram found the path of further movement in Dr. Ambedkar's plan for political action. Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji quit the job in 1964 and decided that he will never marry and devote his life for social transformation.
On 24 th September 1944 , at Madras , Dr. Babasaheb declared the political goal of his struggle. Dr Ambedkar said, "Understand our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to become the rulers of this country. Write this goal on the walls of your houses so that you will never forget. Our struggle is not for the few jobs and concessions but we have a larger goal to achieve. That goal is to become the rulers of the land." On 4 th October, 1945 , in the Working Committee meeting of All India Scheduled Castes Federation again he elaborately stressed on the political power and said , "Politics should be the life-blood of the Scheduled Castes." Since politics of Congress party, the mouthpiece of the dominant castes was detrimental to the very existence and interests of backward class people, Babasaheb tried to form a broad - base movement of all the victims of Brahmanism.
On 18 th March, 1956 in a public meeting at Ram Leela ground, Agra , he said that the highly qualified people belonging to SCs have betrayed us. They are occupying the key posts in government and doing nothing for their poor, oppressed brothers and sisters.
It was a great loss for the movement when Dr. Babasaheb unexpectedly died on 6 th December, 1956 .
After the death of DR Ambedkar, the Republican Party of India (R P I) as visualized by Dr. Ambedkar was formed on 3 rd October, 1957 . But from 1958 the party began to split up under various leaders. The biggest set-back to the party was that, it became a party of Maharashtra and the Mahars (later converted to Buddhism after 1956) and the other sub-castes remained the supporters of Congress and others. The clash of personalities and personal political ambitions took the caravan in a reverse direction rather taking ahead.
Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji noticed the dynamism of Dr Ambedkar's movement. He started working with Republican Party of India. After near about eight years of working with Republican Party of India, he became disillusioned with its functioning. His dream of Ambedkarite movement was completely shattered when Dadasaheb Gaikwad joined the hands with Mohan Dhariya from Congress for a petty one Lok-Sabha reserved seat and few lakh rupees. He observed that supporters of RPI were celebrating the pact of RPI and Congress where RPI got just one seat and rest of seats were given to Congress. This event was the beginning of his dissociation from Republican Party.
Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji decided that he will develop a society which will work to spread the thoughts of Dr Ambedkar and other social reformers and will never sell themselves for a small gain. He independently started organizing the employees of Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes mainly from Pune, Bombay , Nasik , Nagpur and Delhi .
He traveled all over the India along with his few activists to know why Caravan of Dr Ambedkar was brought back rather than taking ahead. During these days he never bothered about his health, food, transport and worked tirelessly to awaken the educated employees. Organization of employees of Backward Class and Religious Minorities, after doing a necessary preparatory work within a period of five years decided to float an organisation in 1973. As a result of it, and as per the vision of Dr. Ambedkar, Kanshi Ramji's started his first organization on 6 th December 1978 in Delhi , called as BAMCEF. Subsequently, he formed Buddhist Research Center (BRC), DS-4 and BSP.
Kanshi Ramji decided to take the Caravan of Dr Ambedkar ahead and he considers it as his responsibility to fulfill the same. Then he started working among educated employees and awakens them to work for the upliftment of the downtrodden. In this process he was successful to a large extent in awakening, realizing and transforming the expectations of Dr Ambedkar from educated class. After the necessary ground work and positive response from some employees in Poona , Nagpur , Delhi and other places Kanshi Ramji decided to launch an organization for pay-back to society. Thus, the idea of BAMCEF was conceived on 6 th December, 1973 . After ceaseless field work throughout the country for near about five years the birth of BAMCEF took place on the lawn of Boat Club in New Delhi , on 6 th December 1978 . During this time, he conducted several cadre camps, meetings, seminars in different parts of the country to awaken the employees. The basic aim of BAMCEF was to develop genuine and capable leadership among the oppressed. Basically it has been the organization aimed to build up the non-political roots for the success of Dr. Ambedkar's political vision and action. BAMCEF's typical feature was that it was an organization of the employees, by the employees but not for the welfare of the employees. The first concept given by Kanshi Ram Ji was "people who should succeed politically must have strong non-political roots"
He witnessed the failure of Ambedkarite movement in Maharashtra, Kanshi Ramji had realized that the people whose non-political roots were not strong were bound to fail politically. They can have their political party, but they cannot succeed politically. Therefore, in order to strengthen the non-political roots of backward class people, he began BAMCEF experiment and spent 10-11 years in organizing the educated employees of SC/ST/OBCs and Minorities, who were benefited by the policy of reservation. BAMCEF created a new missionary political conscience among the backward caste educated employees and also established a national network for further Kanshi Ram's movement.
Kanshi Ram Ji did not project himself a leader but worked silently as organizer and hence he did not mind to invite Ram Vilas Paswan, Karpoori Thakur to address 3 rd National Convention of BAMCEF which was held at Chandigarh on 14 th -18 th October 1983 .
After spending 20 yrs of his young age Kanshi Ramji realized that merely organizing employees would not be enough to fulfill the dreams of Dr Ambedkar. Unless they get power and cannot become rulers. Therefore he created another concept, i.e . 'Power will be the product of struggle'. He realized that Employees cannot do struggle hence he stared DS-4 Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti. According to him, "not that our people were not struggling. They were struggling, but not for themselves. They were not struggling for their own cause. They were and are struggling for somebody else as stooges. Because we are passing through the Chamcha Age, the era of stooges, and as stooges we are struggling."
Books
Kanshi Ram in his historical book, "THE CHAMCHA AGE", (an Era of the Stooges) published on 24 th September, 1982 , on the occasion of 50 th anniversary of the Poona -Pact, has vividly exclusively dealt with the disadvantages of the Chamcha Age.
A) Caste and Community-wise Chamchas.
1 ) The scheduled Castes - Reluctant Chamchas.
2) The Scheduled Tribes - Initiated Chamchas
3) The Other Backward Castes - aspiring Chamchas
4) The Minorities - Helpless Chamchas.
B) Party - Wise Chamchas.
C) Ignorant Chamchas.
D) Enlightened Chamchas or Ambedkarite Chamchas
E) Chamchas of the Chamchas.
F) Chamchas Abroad.
It will be apt to say that, Kanshi Ram has been the only leader who has understood the damage caused by the Poona Pact and applied the necessary measures as it was expected by Dr. Babasaheb. His only book deals with the Chamcha Age phenomenon in detail.
Kanshi Ram has been very crystal clear in understanding the Poona Pact and therefore he said, "Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to take the downtrodden people from Dark Age to bright age. But Gandhi intervened in this process of change. Hence we entered into a different age then onwards, which I have named as the age of Chamchas-the Chamcha Age-the era of stooges".
Thus, from the day of launching D -S4, an agitational and awakening wing of BAMCEF, till the formation of Bahujan Samaj Party, on 14 th April, 1984 , Kanshi Ram conducted several experiments of social action countrywide successfully. The programmes created sufficient awareness in the Bahujan Samaj about their socio - political, economic and cultural status. Hence, D-S4 proved as a milestone preparation for the long battle of political action, social transformation and economic emancipation.
Up to 1976, Kanshi Ram, being in Pune - the center of Maharashtra witnessed the down-fall of Ambedkarite movement. In his scientific analysis of the Chamcha Age, he has focused on the fall of Ambedkarism from the first general election i.e. 1951 till 1980. By 1971 alliance between R P I and Congress, his all hopes of Ambedkarite movement dashed into dustbin. Therefore, following the advice of Dr. Ambedkar i.e. 'political power is the key to all social progress,' he felt absolutely essential for the members of all oppressed and exploited communities to prepare themselves for agitational and political action.
Most of the politicians, Researchers failed to understand the vision of Kanshi Ram Ji and hence could not understand the Role of BSP in Indian Democracy. Today in India there are 7 national political parties which are lead by so called upper caste Hindus. They control all the affairs of their parties to establish the rule of Hindu upper castes and exploit the 85% Bahujan Samaj.
Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji refined the rules of Indian politics. He developed a concept that the unstable government at center is beneficial for Bahujan Samaj as you can derive maximum advantages to deprived sections. Therefore he used say frequently," I want Mazboor (weak) government at centre and not Majboot (strong) till we reach to the Centre". Kanshi Ram Ji articulated positively the Bahujan ideology from Buddha to Ambedkar. Kanshi Ram Ji always acknowledged the contribution of Ex-Mahars now Buddhists for supporting Dr Ambedkar in his war against Manuvadi system. He said," I have learnt two things from them one how to learn the movement I leant from Dr Ambedkar and second how not to run the movement from his followers in Maharashtra ."
Manyawar consistently led his movement for almost 38 yrs from 1965-2003 till his illness. Bahan Mayawati has taken up the unfulfilled dream of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji and proved to be the successor of Kanshi Ram ji's sociopolitical struggle when she became CM of UP 4 th time with an absolute majority in m
Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar
An Indian nationalist, jurist, Dalit political leader and a Buddhist revivalist.
(April 14, 1891 - December 6, 1956)
He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Born into a poor Untouchable family, Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna - the Hindu categorization of human society into four varnas - and the Indian caste system. He is also credited with having sparked the Dalit Buddhist movement. Ambedkar has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Overcoming numerous social and financial obstacles, Ambedkar became one of the first "untouchables" to obtain a college education in India. Eventually earning law degrees and multiple doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, Ambedkar returned home a famous scholar and practiced law for a few years before publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's untouchables.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in the British-founded town and military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh). He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai Murbadkar. His family was of Marathi background from the town of Ambavade in the Ratnagiri district of modern-day Maharashtra. They belonged to the Hindu Mahar caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to intense socio-economic discrimination. Ambedkar's ancestors had for long been in the employment of the army of the British East India Company, and his father served in the Indian Army at the Mhow cantonment. He had received a degree of formal education in Marathi and English, and encouraged his children to learn and work hard at school.
Belonging to the Kabir Panth, Ramji Sakpal encouraged his children to read the Hindu classics. He used his position in the army to lobby for his children to study at the government school, as they faced resistance owing to their caste. Although able to attend school, Ambedkar and other Untouchable children were segregated and given no attention or assistance by the teachers. They were not allowed to sit inside the class. Even if they needed to drink water somebody from a higher caste would have to pour that water from a height as they were not allowed to touch either the water or the vessel that contained it. This task was usually performed for the young Ambedkar by the school peon, and if he could not be found Ambedkar went without water.[2] Ramji Sakpal retired in 1894 and the family moved to Satara two years later. Shortly after their move, Ambedkar's mother died. The children were cared for by their paternal aunt, and lived in difficult circumstances. Only three sons - Balaram, Anandrao and Bhimrao - and two daughters - Manjula and Tulasa - of the Ambedkars would go on to survive them. Of his brothers and sisters, only Ambedkar succeeded in passing his examinations and graduating to a bigger school. His native village name was "Ambavade" in Ratnagiri District so he changed his name from "Sakpal" to "Ambedkar" with the recommendation and faith of Mahadev Ambedkar, a Deshasta Brahmin teacher who believed in him.
Ramji Sakpal remarried in 1898, and the family moved to Mumbai (then Bombay), where Ambedkar became the first untouchable student at the Government High School near Elphinstone Road. Although excelling in his studies, Ambedkar was increasingly disturbed by the segregation and discrimination that he faced. In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and entered the University of Bombay, Bharat Rant Certificatebecoming one of the first persons of untouchable origin to enter a college in India. This success provoked celebrations in his community, and after a public ceremony he was presented with a biography of the Buddha by his teacher Krishnaji Arjun Keluskar also known as Dada Keluskar, a Maratha caste scholar. Ambedkar's marriage had been arranged the previous year as per Hindu custom, to Ramabai, a nine-year old girl from Dapoli. In 1908, he entered Elphinstone College and obtained a scholarship of twenty five rupees a month from the Gayakwad ruler of Baroda, Sahyaji Rao III for higher studies in the USA. By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science, and prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government. His wife gave birth to his first son, Yashwant, in the same year. Ambedkar had just moved his young family and started work, when he dashed back to Mumbai to see his ailing father, who died on February 2, 1913.
Fight against untouchability:
As a leading Indian scholar, Ambedkar had been invited to testify before the Southborough Committee, which was preparing the Government of India Act 1919. At this hearing, Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorates and reservations for Dalits and other religious communities. In 1920, he began the publication of the weekly Mooknayak (Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai. Attaining popularity,Bharat Rant Madle Ambedkar used this journal to criticize orthodox Hindu politicians and a perceived reluctance of the Indian political community to fight caste discrimination. His speech at a Depressed Classes Conference in Kolhapur impressed the local state ruler Shahu IV, who shocked orthodox society by dining with Ambekdar . Ambedkar established a successful legal practise, and also organised the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to promote education and socio-economic uplifting of the depressed classes. In 1926, he became a nominated member of the Bombay Legislative Council. By 1927 Dr. Ambedkar decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements and marches to open up and share public drinking water resources, also he began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable community to draw water from the main water tank of the town.
He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1928. This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for future constitutional reformers.
Poona Pact:
By now Ambedkar had become one of the most prominent untouchable political figures of the time. He had grown increasingly critical of mainstream Indian political parties for their perceived lack of emphasis for the elimination of the caste system. Ambedkar criticized the Indian National Congress and its leader Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, whom he accused of reducing the untouchable community to a figure of pathos. Ambedkar was also dissatisfied with the failures of British rule, and advocated a political identity for untouchables separate from both the Congress and the British. At a Depressed Classes Conference on August 8, 1930 Ambedkar outlined his political vision, insisting that the safety of the Depressed Classes hinged on their being independent of the Government and the Congress both:
We must shape our course ourselves and by ourselves... Political power cannot be a panacea for the ills of the Depressed Classes. Their salvation lies in their social elevation. They must cleanse their evil habits. They must improve their bad ways of living.... They must be educated.... There is a great necessity to disturb their pathetic contentment and to instill into them that divine discontent which is the spring of all elevation.
In this speech, Ambedkar criticized the Salt Satyagraha launched by Gandhi and the Congress. Ambedkar's criticisms and political work had made him very unpopular with orthodox Hindus, as well as with many Congress politicians who had earlier condemned untouchability and worked against discrimination across India. This was largely because these "liberal" politicians usually stopped short of advocating full equality for untouchables. Ambedkar's prominence and popular support amongst the untouchable community had increased, and he was invited to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London in 1931. Here he sparred verbally with Gandhi on the question of awarding separate electorates to untouchables. A fierce opponent of separate electorates on religious and sectarian lines, Gandhi feared that separate electorates for untouchables would divide Hindu society for future generations.
When the British agreed with Ambedkar and announced the awarding of separate electorates, Gandhi began a fast-unto-death while imprisoned in the Yeravada Central Jail of Pune in 1932. Exhorting orthodox Hindu society to eliminate discrimination and untouchability, Gandhi asked for the political and social unity of Hindus. Gandhi's fast provoked great public support across India, and orthodox Hindu leaders, Congress politicians and activists such as Madan Mohan Malaviya and Palwankar Baloo organized joint meetings with Ambedkar and his supporters at Yeravada. Fearing a communal reprisal and killings of untouchables in the event of Gandhi's death, Ambedkar agreed under massive coercion from the supporters of Gandhi to drop the demand for separate electorates, and settled for a reservation of seats, which although in the end achieved more representation for the untouchables, resulted in the loss of separate electorates that was promised through the British Communal Award prior to Ambedkars meeting with Gandhi which would end his fast. Ambedkar was later to criticise this fast of Gandhi's as a gimmick to deny political rights to the untouchables and increase the coercion he had faced to give up the demand for separate electorates. Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
Political career:
In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, a position he held for two years. Settling in Mumbai, Ambedkar oversaw the construction of a large house, and stocked his personal library with more than 50,000 books. His wife Ramabai died after a long illness in the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. His own views and attitudes had hardened against orthodox Hindus, despite a significant increase in momentum across India for the fight against untouchability. and he began criticizing them even as he was criticized himself by large numbers of Hindu activists. Speaking at the Yeola Conversion Conference on October 13 near Nasik, Ambedkar announced his intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to leave Hinduism. He would repeat his message at numerous public meetings across India.
In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which won 15 seats in the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly. He published his book The Annihilation of Caste in the same year, based on the thesis he had written in New York. Attaining immense popular success, Ambedkar's work strongly criticized Hindu religious leaders and the caste system in general. He protested the Congress decision to call the untouchable community Harijans (Children of God), a name coined by Gandhi. Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister for labour.
Between 1941 and 1945, he published a large number of highly controversial books and pamphlets, including Thoughts on Pakistan, in which he criticized the Muslim League's demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. With What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, Ambedkar intensified his attacks on Gandhi and the Congress, charging them with hypocrisy. In his work Who Were the Shudras?, Ambedkar attempted to explain the formation of the Shudras i.e. the lowest caste in hierarchy of Hindu caste system. He also emphasised how Shudras are separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his political party into the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, although it performed poorly in the elections held in 1946 for the Constituent Assembly of India. In writing a sequel to Who Were the Shudras? in 1948, Ambedkar lambasted Hinduism in the The Untouchables: A Thesis on the Origins of Untouchability:
Architect of India's constitution:
Upon India's independence on August 15, 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first law minister, which he accepted. On August 29, Ambedkar was appointed chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, charged by the Assembly to write free India's new Constitution. Ambedkar won great praise from his colleagues and contemporary observers for his drafting work. In this task Ambedkar's study of sangha practice among early Buddhists and his extensive reading in Buddhist scriptures was to come to his aid. Sangha practice incorporated voting by ballot, rules of debate and precedence and the use of agendas, committees and proposals to conduct business. Sangha practice itself was modelled on the oligarchic system of governance followed by tribal republics of ancient India such as the Shakyas and the Lichchavis. Thus, although Ambedkar used Western models to give his Constitution shape, its spirit was Indian and, indeed, tribal.
The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and also won the Assembly's support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, a system akin to affirmative action. India's lawmakers hoped to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities and lack of opportunities for India's depressed classes through this measure, which had been originally envisioned as temporary on a need basis. The Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly. Speaking after the completion of his work, Ambedkar said:
Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet in 1951 following the stalling in parliament of his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to expound gender equality in the laws of inheritance, marriage and the economy. Although supported by Prime Minister Nehru, the cabinet and many other Congress leaders, it received criticism from a large number of members of parliament. Ambedkar independently contested an election in 1952 to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha but was defeated. He was appointed to the upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha in March 1952 and would remain a member until his death.
Conversion to Buddhism:
In the 1950s, Ambedkar turned his attention to Buddhism and travelled to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks. While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced that he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that as soon as it was finished, he planned to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. Ambedkar twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time in order to attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon. In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India. He completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, in 1956. It was published posthumously.
After meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Hammalawa Saddhatissa, Ambedkar organised a formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on October 14, 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk in the traditional manner, Ambedkar completed his own conversion. He then proceeded to convert an estimated 500,000 of his supporters who were gathered around him. Taking the 22 Vows, Ambedkar and his supporters explicitly condemned and rejected Hinduism and Hindu philosophy. He then traveled to Kathmandu in Nepal to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference. He completed his final manuscript, The Buddha or Karl Marx on December 2, 1956.
Death / Mahanirvana:
Since 1948, Ambedkar had been suffering from diabetes. He was bed-ridden from June to October in 1954 owing to clinical depression and failing eyesight.[7] He had been increasingly embittered by political issues, which took a toll on his health. His health worsened as he furiously worked through 1955. Just three days after completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His Dhamma, it is said that Ambedkar died in his sleep on December 6, 1956 at his home in Delhi.
Since the Caste hindus denied the cremation at Dadar crematorium, A Buddhist-style cremation was organised for him at Chowpatty beach on December 7, attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters, activists and admirers.
Ambedkar was survived by his second wife Savita Ambedkar, born as a caste Brahmin and converted to Buddhism with him. His wife's name before marriage was Sharda Kabir. Savita Ambedkar died as a Buddhist in 2002. Ambedkar's grandson, Prakash Yaswant Ambedkar leads the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangha and has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament. Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
A number of unfinished typescripts and handwritten drafts were found among Ambedkar's notes and papers and gradually made available. Among these were Waiting for a Visa, which probably dates from 1935-36 and is an autobiographical work, and the Untouchables, or the Children of India's Ghetto, which refers to the census of 1951. A memorial for Ambedkar was established in his Delhi house at 26 Alipur Road. His birthdate is celebrated as a public holiday known as Ambedkar Jayanti. He was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1990. Many public institutions are named in his honour, such as the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, the other being Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur, which was otherwise known as Sonegaon Airport. A large official portrait of Ambedkar is on display in the Indian Parliament building.
On the anniversary of his birth (14 April) and death (6 December) and on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din, 14th Oct at Nagpur, at least half a million people gather to pay homage to him at his memorial in Mumbai. Thousands of bookshops are set up, and books are sold.
His message to his followers was " Educate!!!, Organize!!!, Agitate!!!".
Memories of Baba Sahab Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar
To name the few of these include pen case, a conch shell, some chinaware, a kettle and a cup and saucer, a lamp, a statue of the Buddha and an ashtray. Babasaheb used to like having his tea in British Style, with tea in a kettle, milk and sugar separate, a habit he had picked up while he was abroad. In the same enclosure we also see a colourful Japanese umbrella presented to Babasaheb during his visit to Rangoon.
(April 14, 1891 - December 6, 1956)
He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Born into a poor Untouchable family, Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna - the Hindu categorization of human society into four varnas - and the Indian caste system. He is also credited with having sparked the Dalit Buddhist movement. Ambedkar has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Overcoming numerous social and financial obstacles, Ambedkar became one of the first "untouchables" to obtain a college education in India. Eventually earning law degrees and multiple doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, Ambedkar returned home a famous scholar and practiced law for a few years before publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's untouchables.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in the British-founded town and military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh). He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai Murbadkar. His family was of Marathi background from the town of Ambavade in the Ratnagiri district of modern-day Maharashtra. They belonged to the Hindu Mahar caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to intense socio-economic discrimination. Ambedkar's ancestors had for long been in the employment of the army of the British East India Company, and his father served in the Indian Army at the Mhow cantonment. He had received a degree of formal education in Marathi and English, and encouraged his children to learn and work hard at school.
Belonging to the Kabir Panth, Ramji Sakpal encouraged his children to read the Hindu classics. He used his position in the army to lobby for his children to study at the government school, as they faced resistance owing to their caste. Although able to attend school, Ambedkar and other Untouchable children were segregated and given no attention or assistance by the teachers. They were not allowed to sit inside the class. Even if they needed to drink water somebody from a higher caste would have to pour that water from a height as they were not allowed to touch either the water or the vessel that contained it. This task was usually performed for the young Ambedkar by the school peon, and if he could not be found Ambedkar went without water.[2] Ramji Sakpal retired in 1894 and the family moved to Satara two years later. Shortly after their move, Ambedkar's mother died. The children were cared for by their paternal aunt, and lived in difficult circumstances. Only three sons - Balaram, Anandrao and Bhimrao - and two daughters - Manjula and Tulasa - of the Ambedkars would go on to survive them. Of his brothers and sisters, only Ambedkar succeeded in passing his examinations and graduating to a bigger school. His native village name was "Ambavade" in Ratnagiri District so he changed his name from "Sakpal" to "Ambedkar" with the recommendation and faith of Mahadev Ambedkar, a Deshasta Brahmin teacher who believed in him.
Ramji Sakpal remarried in 1898, and the family moved to Mumbai (then Bombay), where Ambedkar became the first untouchable student at the Government High School near Elphinstone Road. Although excelling in his studies, Ambedkar was increasingly disturbed by the segregation and discrimination that he faced. In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and entered the University of Bombay, Bharat Rant Certificatebecoming one of the first persons of untouchable origin to enter a college in India. This success provoked celebrations in his community, and after a public ceremony he was presented with a biography of the Buddha by his teacher Krishnaji Arjun Keluskar also known as Dada Keluskar, a Maratha caste scholar. Ambedkar's marriage had been arranged the previous year as per Hindu custom, to Ramabai, a nine-year old girl from Dapoli. In 1908, he entered Elphinstone College and obtained a scholarship of twenty five rupees a month from the Gayakwad ruler of Baroda, Sahyaji Rao III for higher studies in the USA. By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science, and prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government. His wife gave birth to his first son, Yashwant, in the same year. Ambedkar had just moved his young family and started work, when he dashed back to Mumbai to see his ailing father, who died on February 2, 1913.
Fight against untouchability:
As a leading Indian scholar, Ambedkar had been invited to testify before the Southborough Committee, which was preparing the Government of India Act 1919. At this hearing, Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorates and reservations for Dalits and other religious communities. In 1920, he began the publication of the weekly Mooknayak (Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai. Attaining popularity,Bharat Rant Madle Ambedkar used this journal to criticize orthodox Hindu politicians and a perceived reluctance of the Indian political community to fight caste discrimination. His speech at a Depressed Classes Conference in Kolhapur impressed the local state ruler Shahu IV, who shocked orthodox society by dining with Ambekdar . Ambedkar established a successful legal practise, and also organised the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha to promote education and socio-economic uplifting of the depressed classes. In 1926, he became a nominated member of the Bombay Legislative Council. By 1927 Dr. Ambedkar decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements and marches to open up and share public drinking water resources, also he began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable community to draw water from the main water tank of the town.
He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1928. This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for future constitutional reformers.
Poona Pact:
By now Ambedkar had become one of the most prominent untouchable political figures of the time. He had grown increasingly critical of mainstream Indian political parties for their perceived lack of emphasis for the elimination of the caste system. Ambedkar criticized the Indian National Congress and its leader Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, whom he accused of reducing the untouchable community to a figure of pathos. Ambedkar was also dissatisfied with the failures of British rule, and advocated a political identity for untouchables separate from both the Congress and the British. At a Depressed Classes Conference on August 8, 1930 Ambedkar outlined his political vision, insisting that the safety of the Depressed Classes hinged on their being independent of the Government and the Congress both:
We must shape our course ourselves and by ourselves... Political power cannot be a panacea for the ills of the Depressed Classes. Their salvation lies in their social elevation. They must cleanse their evil habits. They must improve their bad ways of living.... They must be educated.... There is a great necessity to disturb their pathetic contentment and to instill into them that divine discontent which is the spring of all elevation.
In this speech, Ambedkar criticized the Salt Satyagraha launched by Gandhi and the Congress. Ambedkar's criticisms and political work had made him very unpopular with orthodox Hindus, as well as with many Congress politicians who had earlier condemned untouchability and worked against discrimination across India. This was largely because these "liberal" politicians usually stopped short of advocating full equality for untouchables. Ambedkar's prominence and popular support amongst the untouchable community had increased, and he was invited to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London in 1931. Here he sparred verbally with Gandhi on the question of awarding separate electorates to untouchables. A fierce opponent of separate electorates on religious and sectarian lines, Gandhi feared that separate electorates for untouchables would divide Hindu society for future generations.
When the British agreed with Ambedkar and announced the awarding of separate electorates, Gandhi began a fast-unto-death while imprisoned in the Yeravada Central Jail of Pune in 1932. Exhorting orthodox Hindu society to eliminate discrimination and untouchability, Gandhi asked for the political and social unity of Hindus. Gandhi's fast provoked great public support across India, and orthodox Hindu leaders, Congress politicians and activists such as Madan Mohan Malaviya and Palwankar Baloo organized joint meetings with Ambedkar and his supporters at Yeravada. Fearing a communal reprisal and killings of untouchables in the event of Gandhi's death, Ambedkar agreed under massive coercion from the supporters of Gandhi to drop the demand for separate electorates, and settled for a reservation of seats, which although in the end achieved more representation for the untouchables, resulted in the loss of separate electorates that was promised through the British Communal Award prior to Ambedkars meeting with Gandhi which would end his fast. Ambedkar was later to criticise this fast of Gandhi's as a gimmick to deny political rights to the untouchables and increase the coercion he had faced to give up the demand for separate electorates. Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
Political career:
In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, a position he held for two years. Settling in Mumbai, Ambedkar oversaw the construction of a large house, and stocked his personal library with more than 50,000 books. His wife Ramabai died after a long illness in the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. His own views and attitudes had hardened against orthodox Hindus, despite a significant increase in momentum across India for the fight against untouchability. and he began criticizing them even as he was criticized himself by large numbers of Hindu activists. Speaking at the Yeola Conversion Conference on October 13 near Nasik, Ambedkar announced his intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to leave Hinduism. He would repeat his message at numerous public meetings across India.
In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which won 15 seats in the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly. He published his book The Annihilation of Caste in the same year, based on the thesis he had written in New York. Attaining immense popular success, Ambedkar's work strongly criticized Hindu religious leaders and the caste system in general. He protested the Congress decision to call the untouchable community Harijans (Children of God), a name coined by Gandhi. Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister for labour.
Between 1941 and 1945, he published a large number of highly controversial books and pamphlets, including Thoughts on Pakistan, in which he criticized the Muslim League's demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. With What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, Ambedkar intensified his attacks on Gandhi and the Congress, charging them with hypocrisy. In his work Who Were the Shudras?, Ambedkar attempted to explain the formation of the Shudras i.e. the lowest caste in hierarchy of Hindu caste system. He also emphasised how Shudras are separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his political party into the All India Scheduled Castes Federation, although it performed poorly in the elections held in 1946 for the Constituent Assembly of India. In writing a sequel to Who Were the Shudras? in 1948, Ambedkar lambasted Hinduism in the The Untouchables: A Thesis on the Origins of Untouchability:
Architect of India's constitution:
Upon India's independence on August 15, 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first law minister, which he accepted. On August 29, Ambedkar was appointed chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, charged by the Assembly to write free India's new Constitution. Ambedkar won great praise from his colleagues and contemporary observers for his drafting work. In this task Ambedkar's study of sangha practice among early Buddhists and his extensive reading in Buddhist scriptures was to come to his aid. Sangha practice incorporated voting by ballot, rules of debate and precedence and the use of agendas, committees and proposals to conduct business. Sangha practice itself was modelled on the oligarchic system of governance followed by tribal republics of ancient India such as the Shakyas and the Lichchavis. Thus, although Ambedkar used Western models to give his Constitution shape, its spirit was Indian and, indeed, tribal.
The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and also won the Assembly's support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, a system akin to affirmative action. India's lawmakers hoped to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities and lack of opportunities for India's depressed classes through this measure, which had been originally envisioned as temporary on a need basis. The Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly. Speaking after the completion of his work, Ambedkar said:
Ambedkar resigned from the cabinet in 1951 following the stalling in parliament of his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to expound gender equality in the laws of inheritance, marriage and the economy. Although supported by Prime Minister Nehru, the cabinet and many other Congress leaders, it received criticism from a large number of members of parliament. Ambedkar independently contested an election in 1952 to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha but was defeated. He was appointed to the upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha in March 1952 and would remain a member until his death.
Conversion to Buddhism:
In the 1950s, Ambedkar turned his attention to Buddhism and travelled to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks. While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced that he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that as soon as it was finished, he planned to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. Ambedkar twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time in order to attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon. In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India. He completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, in 1956. It was published posthumously.
After meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Hammalawa Saddhatissa, Ambedkar organised a formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on October 14, 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk in the traditional manner, Ambedkar completed his own conversion. He then proceeded to convert an estimated 500,000 of his supporters who were gathered around him. Taking the 22 Vows, Ambedkar and his supporters explicitly condemned and rejected Hinduism and Hindu philosophy. He then traveled to Kathmandu in Nepal to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference. He completed his final manuscript, The Buddha or Karl Marx on December 2, 1956.
Death / Mahanirvana:
Since 1948, Ambedkar had been suffering from diabetes. He was bed-ridden from June to October in 1954 owing to clinical depression and failing eyesight.[7] He had been increasingly embittered by political issues, which took a toll on his health. His health worsened as he furiously worked through 1955. Just three days after completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His Dhamma, it is said that Ambedkar died in his sleep on December 6, 1956 at his home in Delhi.
Since the Caste hindus denied the cremation at Dadar crematorium, A Buddhist-style cremation was organised for him at Chowpatty beach on December 7, attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters, activists and admirers.
Ambedkar was survived by his second wife Savita Ambedkar, born as a caste Brahmin and converted to Buddhism with him. His wife's name before marriage was Sharda Kabir. Savita Ambedkar died as a Buddhist in 2002. Ambedkar's grandson, Prakash Yaswant Ambedkar leads the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangha and has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament. Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
A number of unfinished typescripts and handwritten drafts were found among Ambedkar's notes and papers and gradually made available. Among these were Waiting for a Visa, which probably dates from 1935-36 and is an autobiographical work, and the Untouchables, or the Children of India's Ghetto, which refers to the census of 1951. A memorial for Ambedkar was established in his Delhi house at 26 Alipur Road. His birthdate is celebrated as a public holiday known as Ambedkar Jayanti. He was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1990. Many public institutions are named in his honour, such as the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, the other being Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur, which was otherwise known as Sonegaon Airport. A large official portrait of Ambedkar is on display in the Indian Parliament building.
On the anniversary of his birth (14 April) and death (6 December) and on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din, 14th Oct at Nagpur, at least half a million people gather to pay homage to him at his memorial in Mumbai. Thousands of bookshops are set up, and books are sold.
His message to his followers was " Educate!!!, Organize!!!, Agitate!!!".
Memories of Baba Sahab Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar
To name the few of these include pen case, a conch shell, some chinaware, a kettle and a cup and saucer, a lamp, a statue of the Buddha and an ashtray. Babasaheb used to like having his tea in British Style, with tea in a kettle, milk and sugar separate, a habit he had picked up while he was abroad. In the same enclosure we also see a colourful Japanese umbrella presented to Babasaheb during his visit to Rangoon.
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