The Editor has rightly quoted Babasaheb’s 1948 speech at Lucknow (DV Jan. 1, 2010 p.25) pointing the significance of political power as a master-key. The Editor has also mentioned that was the only occasion when Babasaheb spoke about the indispensability of political power in a democratic polity to be captured by Scheduled Castes.
I have been an insider of Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan movement since 1981 and one of his great admirers. I have even written a book on Kanshi Ram and contributed articles in his monthly journal, The Oppressed Indian, during 1981-88 about BAMCEF, DS-4 and BSP. After the journal was closed down, I began writing about his movement in Dalit Voice. But to be frank, after Kanshi Ram’s demise I have become suspicious and disillusioned about the politics of BSP.
TOTAL MOVEMENT ABANDONED
Let us accept the fact that Kanshi Ram discarded the total Ambedkarite movement in favor of only a political party. We are completely at loss to know why he landed himself in this situation. In his private conversations with his cadre, he used to air this anxiety and used to say, “I can see BSP everywhere but where is the mission? I don’t see it?” Kanshi Ram has rightly projected that totality of Ambedkarite mission through the organisations BAMCEF, DS-4, and BSP. In the constitution of BAMCEF he had included ten different fronts through which the organization was to work. Similar was the structure of DS-4 catering to different sections of the caste-based Indian society to be awakened for agitations. In fact the structure of BAMCEF and DS-4 was highly scientific and comprehensive. Had this model of total movement been implemented by him, it could surely have resulted in taking the Bahujan masses by storm. But, alas, we don’t know what went wrong and the father himself abandoned BAMCEF and DS-4 and concentrated all his energy on politics and BSP.
OVERPLAY OF POLITICAL POWER
After discarding BAMCEF and DS- 4 non-political outfits for awakening and agitations – the only task left with Kanshi Ram was to emphasize and overplay the importance of political power. By 1986-87 both the non-political organizations were taken off from the movement and the significance of political power was drawn out of proportion to project and propagate BSP. The political instability in Delhi resulted in frequent mid-term elections and all his time was consumed by electioneering. Even his health got affected by this stupendous task.
INTEGRITY OF KANSHI RAM
He used to speak about bringing cultural change through political power without any cultural organization and used to exhort the mass through his speeches by saying, “The India of my dream will be the India of Samrat Ashoka”. He also spoke about Buddhist mass conversion in North India in 2006 in which, he said, he would convert minimum 3 crore people.
We cannot doubt the integrity and credibility of Kanshi Ram. He was such a selfless and visionary leader. He could have brought the mass conversion not through BSP but by rejuvenating Budhist Research Centre floated by him in 1973-74. But one thing was certain that after down playing the non-political outfits like BAMCEF and DS-4, he overplayed the role of political power and BSP, forgetting that his non-political activities were solely responsible for bringing political success in UP along with “caste identity” politics. After Kanshi Ram, Mayawati declared in one of her speeches at Nagpur that the project of Budhist mass conversion would be taken up after she became the PM.
BABASAHEB’S MODEL
Babasaheb, during his life-time had himself constructed a model of his total movement. As per this model, we cannot deny the fact that Babasaheb ran the movement by forming three front organizations:
(1) Samata Sainik Dal (for social programs). (2) Scheduled Caste Federation (for political programs) and (3) Buddhist Society of India (for cultural activities.
As he was the mother of these fronts he had nourished them with great care and saw that these fronts co- ordinated and co-operated with each other just like siblings. That was the reason why Babasaheb was able to launch successfully the mega-agitations like Mahad, Kala Ram, Parvati and others. He had not kept these fronts watertight compartments. There was a lot of resilience within the fronts. All these fronts worked like biological system of Ambedkarite thought, providing energy and life to the total movement
We can see clearly that Babasaheb had not given undue Importance to political power at the cost of other fronts and he had made politics only as a part of totality of the movement.
At Nagpur, in 1956 at the time of the historic Buddhist conversion his followers, more interested in 1957 elections, had asked Babasaheb to postpone the conversion ceremony. But he did not agree with them. This event glaringly tells us that Babasaheb had materialized the Buddhist conversion without political power.
FIGHT AGAINST BRAHMINISM ABANDONED
The analysis and evaluation of post-Ambedkarite movement in Maharashtra and elsewhere clearly reveals that Babasaheb’s model of total Ambedkarite movement has been cruelly battered in favor of political power.
Except Dadasaheb Gaikwad’s mass agitation of 1964 – of landless Dalits we don’t come across any meaningful agitation. This is the only silver line in the history of RPI founded in 1957. But immediately after the wrangle for leadership broke out and the other fronts were either isolated or buried deep. And then followed the RPI breakup.
Samata Sainik Dal and Buddhist Society of India were entirely isolated, functioning normally. resulting in complete lack of coalescence between the three fronts.
How could a movement of STRUGGLE against the mightiest opponent, called Brahminism, could succeed with the help of half-baked, factionalized RPI and its self- centered, dishonest leaders?
Instead of developing the model of total Ambedkarite movement further and making it more comprehensive it has been splintered and strangled to death in Maharashtra and outside. During 1970-80, Dalit Panthers came on the scene as a social organisation but resorted to abusing the RPI, adding to another cleavage in the already splintered Ambedkarite masses. How could you expect to win a game when the teammates quarrel like mad dogs? As a result of this, the Ambedkarite masses have been taken for a ride by Manuwadi upper castes. After 1980 Kanshi Ram strove very hard to salvage the movement and had succeeded to a great extent. But he too after a while threw the e-t baby in favor of the bathwater. As a result of all these misdealings there is no movement as such on any front except the shrill noises of political drums.
HOW TO REJUVENATE THE MISSION
First of all we should regard Ambedkarite movement as a mission which only missionaries can take ahead. Secondly, we should have an organic (biological) interpretation and definition of the mission. Ambedkarite thought is an organic body having different organs-having a biological entity. In short, the thought is pregnant with different aspects which constitute its organs.
During his life time Babasaheb had used a metaphor to describe his movement the metaphor of a chariot. We know that a chariot is not a monolithic object. On the contrary it is made of different parts -big and small. If we expect a dynamic and efficient run from the chariot all its parts require to be intact however big and small they may be. If we try to explain the metaphor further we will have to regard each part of the chariot as an organ of Ambedkarite thought.
BABASAHEB’S CHARIOT ABANDONED
We will have to conclude that unless each part is assembled and activated properly the chariot will not move and run. In his life time Babasaheb himself provided physical and mental energy to the chariot as he himself was the mother. But after his demise the chariot has been dismantled with all its parts dislocated. What is the way-out?
We Ambedkarites are aware of the fact that Babasaheb the mother of the mission is no more with us. But we also know that through the model of his movement and through his colossal corpus of writings and speeches he has left behind an explosive ideological (mental) fuel which is more than sufficient to rebuild the mission. Anybody, who studies carefully his model of the movement and his literature, can come across many more fronts (aspects) than were activated during his life time.
MOTHER ORGANISATION NEEDED
So, apart from social, political, cultural fronts we will have to activate economic, educational, literary, labor, journalistic, ladies, youth and agitational fronts to be activated to form a totality of Ambedkarite mission. To serve as a mother, we will have to have a mother organization, which will serve as a controlling unit providing programs and ideological logistics. To this mother organization we will have to attach various fronts providing physical energy to the mission through their field work. This only can bring totality to Ambedkarite mission. The mother organization and the front organizations will have to work with organic unity i.e. there should be complete co-ordination, co-operation and coalescence between the mother and front organizations. Between different fronts also there needs to be co-ordination and resilience. This model needs to work as an organic whole as it happened during the life time of Babasaheb. Only missionaries can steer ahead this model of the mission.