Wake up Dalit movement !!!!
6th december 2006,the 50th Mahaparinirvan diwas is the best day to reveiw dalit
movement.This blog is about rise,evolution and current state of the largest emancipation movement in the world.
The start can be traced to Mahatma Phule but the real explosion came in 1927,when untouchables started first organised movement at Mahad to draw water from public tank.It was not about only drawing water or entering temples but it was an assertion of human rights which were denied to almost 60 million people for past two milleniums.The change in the mental state was phenomenal, from a unorganised force who were treated worst than animals,they became a politically and socially reckoning force.
The one man who literally pulled them from brink of disaster was none other than Dr Ambedkar.He was not ready to stop and asserted that they should give up all rituals like consuming dead animal's flesh and wearing only silver ornaments which are mark of their slavery.The movement was right at that stage because no upper caste Hindu (except few like Savarkar)were ready to accept their legitimate rights. It was very critical of Brahminical order which beleived in caste superiority.
The movement became consolidated with broader sphere of awakening led by Babasaheb who did’nt miss any opportunity to assert the sufferings and grab more rights for their emancipation. The ‘Poona Pact’ made Babasaheb, one of the stalwarts in political arena of India and proclaimed on the world stage that no body can now deny rights to this wronged populace. The pact secured reserved seats for dalits. Even when their political rights had been recognized still a large proportion of Hindus were not ready to recognize their legitimate social rights. After observing this attitude for almost a decade, finally Babasaheb declared that although ‘he was born a Hindu but he will not die as Hindu’. However during a conversation with Gandhiji, he assured him that he will chose the least damaging path for the nation.
Finally the culmination came when on 14th October 1956,he embraced Buddhism and along with him, his lacs of followers also followed suite. Thus even while lodging a protest against Hinduism, he did’nt missed the national character of India. He chose Buddhism which had it’s firm roots in India and was not a religion of invaders. Even during Round Table conference, he wanted Dalits to be mentioned as Protestant Hindus. Thus he was very well aware that conversion of Dalits to Muslims or Christianity will spell a disaster for the nation.
But today the Dalit movement is first of all leaderless and if they exist then they are the likes of Mayawati, Paswan, Athavle or Gawai who are only interested in securing their power. And in spate of secularism are pushing the movement closer to Muslims and Christians whom Babasaheb purposely avoided. The need of the hour is to turn the movement from it’s reactionary and violent mode to a more proactive and constructive mode by joining hands with socio-religious organizations like RSS which are trying to reorganize the Hindu society by destroying caste barriers.
