In his inaugural speech at BAMCEF Karnataka convention (DV Jan. 1, 2010) our Editor said:
It is the Chamar power that helped Mayawati to come to power. There is no Chamar power in any other state (p.26).
You are right. Despite the sarvjan slogan given by Mayawati it is the Chamar power that put her in political power. But to say there is no Chamar power in other states is wrong. Chamars are scattered throughout India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. In fact this is the only Dalit community which has presence in different states. In the cow belt its presence is noteworthy and conspicuous. The population of Chamars in Kashmir. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and MP including Bihar is staggering.
Role of Kanshi Ram: Their population in Punjab (29%), Rajasthan (26%), UP 22%), and MP (23%) can work wonders if they get organized with a determination to capture political power. Why then only UP could experience the Chamar power getting translated into political power? It is because Kanshi Ram through his “caste identity” campaigns awakened not only the Chamars but other backward castes. The UP experiment has not been replicated in other Chamar-dominated states. The reason is Mayawati seems to suffer from rivalry phobia and, therefore, she has intentionally downplayed Kanshi Ram’s strategy. That is why she has removed from BSP all those state leaders groomed by Kanshi Ram.
Star question: But the star question is: does capturing political power result in totality of Ambedkarite movement and mission? Honest Ambedkarites must ask: what is total Ambedkarite mission? What constitutes totality of Ambedkarite mission? Is it only capturing political power as the Brahminical political parties do? Or do the Ambedkarite intellectuals think that capturing political power is only a part of our mission? At this juncture when there is a silence of the graveyard throughout the country it becomes indispensable to launch a Debate in DV on the subject totality of Ambedkarite mission. I am eager to know your learned comments.
