Fight to Preserve Ambedkar’s Legacy Reaches America

Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

“Just for argument sake, if there were statues of Bhagat Singh, who was an Indian Marxist, all over Tripura, would they be vandalised?”, asked historian Ramachandra Guha during a primetime debate. Guha made a hard-hitting point as he questioned whether the vandalism of Lenin’s statue in Belonia, a town 90 kms from Agartala, was an act of rebellion against an ideology or the person whose statue stood there.

In March 2018, BJP’s victory in Tripura that ended 25 years of Communist rule was followed by a bizarre spree of statue vandalism across the country. From the founder of the Dravidian movement, Periyar, to the BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookherjee, none was spared. Next in line was the architect of India’s Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, whose statues were either splashed with saffron or vandalised across Uttar Pradesh.

Unveiling of Ambedkar’s Bust: Beginning a Dialogue

In the midst of political bickering over statues, a group of Ambedkarites, under the ambit of the Boston Study Group, decided to unveil a bust of Ambedkar at the University of Massachusetts. The idea behind this initiative is to engage with followers as well as dissenters, thus giving way to sensible dialogue over senseless destruction.

We want scholars to critically engage with Dr Ambedkar’s idea and promote critical thinking in higher education to create an equal, just and rational society.

Gaurav Pathania, Associate Scholar, University of Massachusetts

Some of these Dalit scholars fear that the very ideals of democracy are in danger with incidents of violence tarnishing the pluralistic image of India.

All those who vandalise have probably never read a book by Ambedkar or Periyar. It’s like criticising Gandhism without reading Gandhi. What’s more menacing is that they want to erase Ambedkar and Periyar from Indian history, therefore such vandalism is senseless and irrational.

Gaurav Pathania, Associate Scholar, University of Massachusetts

Sense of Insecurity Among Dalits

Dalit scholars abroad are concerned about the sense of insecurity across institutions of higher learning after Rohith Vemula’s death in 2016. A student of Hyderabad University, 26-year-old Rohith had committed suicide after he was suspended by college authorities over a spat with a student who was a member of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), the student wing of BJP.

Rohith Vemula’s death was not the first incident and unfortunately it won’t be the last one. We did a survey in 2015-16 and it’s very surprising that 70.5 percent of teachers at some universities identified themselves as upper caste Hindus. When a Dalit enters a classroom, he or she is exposed to ingrained biases that a professor is bringing to the class.

Suraj Milind Yengde, Non-Resident Fellow, University of Harvard

For Bharat Rathod, Doctoral Candidate in International Education at University of Massachusetts, experiencing caste-based slurs in the US was painful.

Caste is not just limited to social domain. It’s very much a part of higher education. The kind of discrimination, whether it is explicit or implicit, hardly comes into public domain. Being a Dalit scholar myself, I have experienced this kind of discrimination.

Bharat Rathod, Scholar, University of Massachusetts

For individuals like Bharat, the statues of Dalit icons like Ambedkar, Sant Ravidas, Jhalkari Bai and Suheldev in public places instill confidence. According to author and political commentator, Badri Narayan, these statues play an important role in conveying the message that the Dalits have as much right over resources as other communities.

When they (Dalits) enter the Ambedkar Park where the statue of Dr Ambedkar is installed, they do so with the feeling that they have a right to the place.

Author Badri Narayan (excerpt from ‘The making of the Dalit Public in North India’)

It’s this notion that echoes in the installation at the University of Massachusetts:

The idea behind installing the bust is to educate the society about an individual who came from the lowest rung of society, emerged as a scholar from Columbia University and went on to write the Constitution of world’s largest democracy.

Gaurav Pathania, Associate Scholar, University of Massachusetts

Dilution of SC/ST Act Sparks Outrage

Installation of Ambedkar’s bust in America is significant since Massachusetts is also the place from where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr completed his graduation.

This is the place where two black giants of the mid-20th century, Malcolm X as well as Martin Luther King lived. With the installation of Ambedkar’s bust at the University of Massachusetts, we are trying to take their legacy forward.

Suraj Milind Yengde, Non-Resident Fellow, University of Harvard

Struggle against racial discrimination seems to have found solidarity in fight against caste-based hegemony.

On 20 March, the Supreme Court ordered that the arrest in cases under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act should follow a preliminary inquiry. Nine people lost their lives in the violence that ensued during the Bharat Bandh as a mark of protest in April this year.

Marginalised communities view this is a blatant attempt that takes away the legal cover protecting them from centuries-old humiliation at the hands of those belonging to upper castes.

When we see that the SC/ST Act is being diluted, it shows that we are still living under Manu’s regime where the law of religion and brahmin orthodoxy prevails. Protection that was accorded constitutionally as well as by the statute to the most vulnerable should have been made more stringent; that would have demonstrated our commitment towards the liberal values of the Constitution of India.

Suraj Milind Yengde, Non-Resident Fellow, University of Harvard

Unlike the photo op of politicians sharing a meal with Dalits, there is a sincerity evident in the latest gesture of the University of Massachusetts. Will the politicans here in India take note of the growing resentment among the marginalised communities? In the pre-election year, it would be foolhardy to ignore the message behind the unveiling of Ambedkar’s bust on foreign shores.