Race, Caste and Discrimination

 

                                Race, Caste and Discrimination

-                                                                                             BHAGWAN DAS

 

Discrimination has been practiced by the dominating groups against the weaker and smaller groups for centuries. Discrimination is the child of prejudice born of fear and ignorance. Buddha was perhaps the first among the great religious leaders of the world who took practical steps to educate people against prejudice and discrimination. Society in his time was, as the society in India is horizontally and vertically divided into hundreds of castes. He had rejected the theories propounded by the Brahmins in regard to the creator God, soul and caste system. He laid emphasis on right living, right thinking, compassion and loving kindness. Unfortunately, as Buddhism developed and spread throughout the world many things, which were opposed to his teachings, were incorporated in the Dhamma. Castes exist and untouchability is practiced in many countries of Asia where majority of the people profess Buddhism.

Race has been defined as "a biologically distinctive major division of a species in which the differences between recognised races exceed the variations within them." Human population is divided into many races on the basis of physical appearances, which are born of geographical and climatic differences.

Racism is a comparatively recent phenomenon. But racial discrimination has a long history. Jews in Europe became easy victims of discrimination after the rise of Christianity while the Jews are proud of the fact that they are the chosen people of God because a very large number of prophets, philosophers, scientists, thinkers rose among them. But the widespread persecution and oppression culminating into the 'final solution' launched by Adolf Hitler of Germany to exterminate the Jews made many declare, "Let God choose some other race. We have enough of it."

Racism has attracted more attention during the 19th and 20th century because of the struggle for emancipation launched by the Negroes or to use the new title "African Americans" and persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Caste has attracted little attention. Caste is an Indian phenomenon and has done more harm that the discrimination based on race, colour or descent. The main difference between race and caste is that while race is based on physical or biological differences, caste has the sanction of religion and strengthened and perpetuated by culture and economic interests. Caste was phenomenon peculiar to India and partly because of the ignorance on the part of the people who drafted the universal Declaration of Human Rights and partly because of the attitude of Indian leaders, Article 2 says:

"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without dis-tinction of any kind, such as RACE, COLOUR, SEX, LANGUAGE,

RELIGION, POLITICAL OR OTHER OPINION, NATIONAL OR SOCIAL ORIGIN. PROPERTY, BIRTH OR OTHER STATUS."

One can stretch the definition and cover caste and 'social origin' or birth but was not the intention of the authors of the Declaration as is evident from the declaration and covenants of the U.N. passed and approved subsequently.

In the U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. in Article 1 wording was "Discrimination between Human beings ON THE GROUND OF RACE, COLOUR OR ETHNIC ORIGIN .. " In the International convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination." Word "DESCENT" has been used in part I. Article 1. This convention came into force on 4th January 1969.

Caste has sanction in the scriptures of Hinduism starting from the Vedas. Purush Sukts mentions the four-fold division - Brahmin (priestly caste) Kshatriya (warrior or ruler), Vishes (trading merchant, etc.,) and Shudra (servant of the three preceding Varnas.

All other books of the Hindus have provision to maintain this division. Endogamy was an essential condition. Anybody who violated the principle was excommunicated and his progeny was declared out caste. Those who had fought against the Aryan invaders, Dasas, Dasyus, Nagas etc. were also treated as 'untouchable'. In later period one finds people declared to be not only untouchable, but also un-seeable and unapproachable, because Hindu lawmakers believed that even the sight and shadow polluted the upper caste people. In order to make identity easy restriction on dress, habitat etc., were also imposed. In order to keep them poor laws were framed and enforced them to keep them divided, dependent, dispirited and week. The result was that they could not unite and fight against their oppressors.

From India caste spread to other lands - Sri Lanka, Tibet, Korea, Japan - in fact wherever the Indians went and settled down as traders, merchants or priests. If Shinto religion inculcated the idea of purity and impurity, Brahmin Buddhist missionaries introduced the stratification of society. This idea could not take root in China but many other countries fell victim to this pernicious division of society involving prejudice and hostility against men and women who performed essential duties like weaving, flaying the dead animals, sweeping the streets, removing the garbage, making bows and arrows, and carrying messages or guarding the burial grounds.

To keep them ignorant, laws were framed and enforced by Brahmin and other Hindu rulers to keep them ignorant and illiterate.

Caste is still thriving in India. It is evident from the fact that most of the upper caste people take pride in displaying their caste origin, by adding caste names. such as Mishra, Sharma, Pande, Iyer, Iyengar. Namboodri, Anand, Kakker, Shrivastava, Arora, etc.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who had taken up the cause of Untouchables and struggled for their emancipation right from the early decades of the century awakened them, organised them and led them to assert their rights as human beings. He won for them political rights in 1932 which were incorporated in the Government of India Act, 1935. Untouchables won the right to elect their own representatives to the legislature. Mahatma Gandhi vehemently opposed this because he feared this would weaken the Hindu society. He went on fast unto death and agreement popularly known as Poona pact was signed between the untouchable leaders and the Hindu leaders. Untouchables lost the right to elect their own representatives. They were given more seats but Hindus won the right to elect the representatives of the untouchables.

Dr. Ambedkar served as Labour Member (Minister) in the Viceroy's Executive council from 1942-46. It was through his efforts that some seats (8%) were reserved in the Government offices in favour of the untouchables. He resigned in 1946.

He was appointed as Law Minister and Chairman of the Drafting Committee in the first Government after transfer of power in 1947. He played a significant role in getting the Constitution passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949. He could not get all the provisions made in the constitution, which were in the interest of the deprived section of the society, yet many provisions such as reservation of seats in the legislature. Reservation of seats proportionate to population in public services, facilities for promoting higher education's etc., were made in the constitution. Since U.N. Declaration was also being drafted during the same period many of the Human Rights were included in the Fundamental Rights and Directive principles of India's constitution.

Untouchables or Dalits as they like to be called now, have benefited from these provisions made in the constitution and laws like Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (Amended in 1976) and Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989. It is one thing to make provision in the constitution and quite another to implement them. Much depends on the will of the people or party who are in power and their political need and also on those who are entrusted with the duty to implement the political will and the laws enacted by the legislature. India presents a poor picture in this respect mainly because of the deep-rooted hostility and prejudice against the Dalits having the sanction of religion traditions and customs.

Before presenting the constitution to the constituent Assembly Chairmen of the Drafting committee, Dr.B.R. Ambedkar said,

"The United States has no caste problem. In India there are castes. The castes are Anti national. In the first place because They bring about separation in social Life. They are anti-national also, because they general jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste. But we must overcome all these difficulties if we wish to become a nation in reality. For fraternity can be fact only when there is a nation. Without fraternity. equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of paint."

Prejudices die very hard. The example of United States of America is before us. Slavery was abolished and all slaves were freed. Racism still exists and affects the life of millions of Afro-Americans who are still struggling for equal rights. The same applies to the Japanese where a large number of people performing essential duties and unpleasant jobs were condemned to live in "ghettos' outside the villages and town inhabited by upper caste and upper-class people. They were given a new name - Burakumin – when caste system was legally abolished. They are the untouchables of Japan even though like the untouchables of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Africa, and Arab countries they belong to the same race. They are hated and marriages between these two sections of society ae looked down upon by the dominating group. Some manufacturing companies do not employ men and women even if they have the necessary qualifications. Like the untouchables of India, they have been victims of silence.

It is about time that the international organisations, U.N.O., U.N.E.S.C.O. Amnesty International Human Rights organisations take more effective steps to educate people so that the world may get rid of these dehumanising practices. Laws exist as they do in India against untouchability and discrimination but history tells us it is not enough to have laws alone and to expect the government to implement them. Globalisation especially in the economic field leading to privatisation is likely to adversely affect the interests of deprived and discriminated against people like the Dalits of India and neighbouring countries. Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Behari Bajpai has already declared that there will be no reservation (quota reserved for the Dalits, backward sections of society) in the private sector. Once they lose the hope for employment in clean, honourable decent jobs, men and women belonging to the deprived sections of society will lose incentive for education. One does not know where will this lead India to.

What happens in India also affects the neighboring countries. This is a problem, which warrants immediate sympathetic and objective consideration.

(Bhagwan Das, President Moderator, Dalit Solidarity

Peoples, Member Advisory Board, IMADR (Tokyo),

Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights.

Flat BC-1/H, DDA Flats, Munirka, New Delhi-11067

Tel: Fax: (011) 6163321.

Bhagwan Das:The historian of ‘his people’ OBITUARY

Bhagwan Das:The historian of ‘his people’
OBITUARY

The historian of ‘his people’
VIJAY PRASHAD

Bhagwan Das (1927-2010). His life was given over to the fight against caste and untouchability, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

During the monsoon season of 1991, I began my dissertation research in Delhi. I always knew that the project was going to be hard: to write the history of the Balmiki community of North India. In graduate school at the University of Chicago I studied with Barney Cohn, who guided me deftly into the study of a “people without history”. Nothing about the Balmiki community was without history, but its absence in the archives made writing the history difficult. Unlike commercial communities whose archives resided in their transaction documents and unlike royal families whose archives slumbered in palaces and in war notes, the “untouchables” of India did not seem to have their own archives, and only rarely made an appearance in history books.

My work began in the National Archives of India, where my friend Prabhu Mohapatra led me into the Revenue papers. Here, in the margins, I found a lot of information on the Chuhra community of Punjab – the people whose hard labour made Punjab’s fields flower. I also went out to the various colonies where the Balmiki community lived: in the Bhangi colony on Mandir Marg and in the Old City, along its walls. One evening, near Kalan Masjid, a community elder handed me a slip of paper that had a name and a number written on it. He told me to call the number and go and see the man.

A few days later, I called the number and asked to speak to Bhagwan Das. In less than a minute a man came on the line. He spoke with what sounded vaguely like an American accent. Very courteously he asked me to see him a few days later. Bhagwan Das lived in a modest housing complex in Munirka. His unpretentious apartment was filled with books and magazines, all well read.

One of the first questions I asked him was about his accent. He laughed, a bit startled by my abruptness, and told me about his childhood near Shimla, in the Jutogh cantonment. English came to him not from the colonial overlords, but in the 1940s when he encountered U.S. airmen during his service on the Burma front during the Second World War. We chatted about the American troops, and he told me that he had befriended a few African-Americans among them. He was curious about racial discrimination and they were interested in his Dalit community (a U.S. air force report in the 1940s noted, “Native persons here are of a dark race and the Negro fails to respect their rights and privacy”; certainly the airmen that Bhagwan Das met did not respect his privacy, but they did honour his rights). These evenings in Bhagwan Das’ house were my apprenticeship.

Many scholars came through Bhagwan Das’ Munirka flat. He offered us his encyclopaedic knowledge and his kind wisdom. When I heard he had died on November 18, I was reminded of his calm intelligence and his kindness. Born in 1927 in the Jutogh cantonment, Bhagwan Das came of age in the shadow of B.R. Ambedkar, whom he met for the first time in 1943 in Shimla. Ambedkar drew him into the Scheduled Castes Federation and into working for him as a research assistant between 1955 and 1956. Finishing his law degree, Bhagwan Das went to work at the High Court. This was his job. His life was given over to the fight against untouchability and caste, and towards the promotion of Buddhism.

Bhagwan Das helped found the World Conference of Religions for Peace (Kyoto, 1970), along with the remarkable American Gandhian, Homer Jack. In 1983, he spoke before the United Nations on the vice of untouchability. He pointed out that India has an enlightened Constitution, what many in his circle called “Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution. Nevertheless, Bhagwan Das told the U.N., “Anything which the untouchables consider good for them is vehemently resisted and opposed. Whatever goes to make them weak, dispirited, disunited and dependent is encouraged.” It was a powerful presentation.

Bhagwan Das was also a leading figure in making sure that the Dalit issue was not seen only in its domestic context, but taken in an Asian and global framework. In 1998, he was central to the creation of the International Dalit Convention (Kuala Lumpur) and had a role in the Dalit presence at the World Conference Against Racism (Durban, 2001). I had presented a paper at the U.N. conference on Dalit oppression in the global context, a talk that greatly pleased him (it was later published in a volume in honour of Eleanor Zelliot, titled Claiming Power from Below, by Oxford University Press). At the time of his death, Bhagwan Das was working on a book on untouchability in Asia.

I went to see Bhagwan Das several times during the early 1990s. He had a remarkable memory: one day, in 1993 (as my notes tell me), he fired off a series of names of people I should meet: Kanhayya Lal, Bhagwan Din, Narain Din, Kalyan Chand, Shiv Charan, and so on. Each name came with a story. Bhagwan Das did not have to consult any paper or notes; he had their names and their biographies at his fingertips. It was exhilarating. What kind of idea was this that a “people have no history”!

Bhagwan Das was a living historian and his autobiography, Mein Bhangi Hoon (I am a Bhangi, 1976), provided a window into the life and lineage of one person who fought against the idea that he had no history. A part of his story is available from Navayana as In Pursuit of Ambedkar, 2010. I read his works eagerly. He also taught me how to create my archive. The state might have only put the Chuhra and the Balmiki into marginal notes; but the people were less dismissive of their own histories. In plastic bags, and wrapped in rope, under beds and in steel trunks, he said, there were documents galore; and indeed this was the case. The most precious papers that tell the history of the Balmiki community were not found in the National Archives but in the humble homes from northern Punjab to western Uttar Pradesh.

One day Bhagwan Das said to me, get out of Delhi. Go to Punjab. That is where the trick will be uncovered. He sent me to meet Lahori Ram Balley, the remarkable leader of Buddhist Publishing House at Phagwara Gate in Jalandhar. Lahori Ram told me the story of the Scheduled Caste Federation of Punjab and handed me an invaluable pamphlet by Fazul Hussain ( Achutuddhar aur Hindu asksariyat ke mansube, Lahore, 1930).

Lahori Ram had encouraged Bhagwan Das’ intellectual and political work. Both were followers of Ambedkar. In the 1960s, the two friends would publish a series of books of Ambedkar’s speeches, Thus Spoke Ambedkar (edited with superb introductions by Bhagwan Das; the first in 1964). The second volume opened with a poem by Khalil Gibran, demonstrating the open-mindedness of these men. They were not bilious like those dominant caste intellectuals; nor were they prone to compromise. The first volume was strongly criticised by the press, Bhagwan Das recollected. “We expected it and in fact welcomed the criticism,” he wrote in the second volume, “because we believe nobody kicks a dead dog. All great ideas have to pass through three stages namely ridicule, discussion and finally acceptance.” They were at the first stage. The next was before them.

The generosity of Bhagwan Das and his friends never ceased to astonish me. Lahori Ram and Bhagwan Das also sent me off to meet the leaders of the Balmiki community in Jalandhar and Ludhiana, and later, in Shimla. The trick was here. I had not noticed it. They knew where they were leading me. It was the classic matter of the novice historian being led by the intellectual engagé.

Just outside Jalandhar, in a Balmiki-dominated village, I spent several nights. One went poorly. It was cold, and I was not keen on the bed. I went for a walk just before dawn. In the field I saw a light flickering, and went toward it. There I saw an old man lighting a set of lamps and placing them in a set of pigeon-holes. He was in what might have been a trance. I watched him, and then retreated. The next morning I asked him what he was doing. He told me about Bala Shah Nuri and Lal Beg, the preceptors of the Chuhras, the great faith of his people that had been obliterated in the 1930s. It was in this decade that the Chuhras had been force-marched into Hinduism and encouraged to forget their own religion and customs. This was the trick.

I went back to Delhi. Bhagwan Das knew I had found it out when I walked into his door (it must have been in March 1993). He handed me his book, Valmiki Jayanti aur Bhangi Jati, which laid out part of the story. Later, I found Amichand Pandit’s Valmiki Prakash (1936), which was a catechism for the Chuhras; and I found Youngson’s collection of Lalbeg songs in The Indian Antiquary (1906).

Bhagwan Das appreciated how we had together uncovered a forgotten story: how his community’s deep cultural traditions had been vanquished by the Hindu Mahasabha and conservative sections of the Congress – eager as they were to increase the numbers of “Hindus” against “Muslims”. It was a tragedy for the Chuhras, the Lalbegs, the Bala Shahis: they now became second-class Hindus. It is from this kind of reduction that human dignity shudders. It was also out of this history that Bhagwan Das followed Ambedkar to Buddhism; better a new religion that one loved than an enforced one that treated you as beneath contempt.

The generations before us loved poetry. It is something that we have lost to our own discredit. To make a point, and to do so in an unexpected way, they would often offer up a couplet or a line of poetry. It was very graceful. Bhagwan Das loved poetry. He particularly liked to talk with me about the verse of the Punjabi branch of the Balmiki community. It is from him that I grew to love the writings of Bhagmal ‘Pagal’, whom I would later meet in Jalandhar, and Gurudas ‘Alam’, whose poem from 1947 stays with me.

After one trip to Jalandhar, I brought back Alam’s Jo Mai Mar Gia (1975) for Bhagwan Das. We sat in the main room in his house, me drinking tea, and him reading out the poems. Here is Azaadi,

My friend, have you seen Freedom?

I’ve neither seen her nor eaten her.

I heard from Jaggu:

She has come as far as Ambala,

And there was a large crowd around her.

She was facing Birla with her back towards the common people.

In Jalandhar, I also met R.C. Sangal, the editor of Jago, Jagte Raho, from whom I got a stack of the papers. Bhagwan Das enjoyed the fact that the paper carried the verse of Baudh Sharan Hans and Alam (I also found Bodhdharam Patrika, another Ambedkarite newspaper that regularly carried poetry, including, from 1978, Alam’s great Chunav). The last time I met Bhagwan Das, we talked about poetry. I had thought to bring together some of these poets into a small volume. I was such a poor translator that I doubted my abilities. He was as encouraging as ever.

He called Ambedkar “an iconoclast and a revolutionary”. These words apply to Bhagwan Das himself, whose flat in Munirka was a stone’s throw from Jawaharlal Nehru University, but for me it was an intellectual haven like no other.

Mr. Bhagwan Das, our Guide and Mentor

                        Mr. Bhagwan Das, our Guide and Mentor
                                By Arun Kumar

Hearing the news of the passing away of Mr. Bhagwan Das Ji, a wave of shock spread through out the Ambedkarite movement in the UK. He had a special relationship with the UK people. I feel privileged to see and meet Mr. Bhagwan Das. I had read most of his books especially his ‘Thus Spoke Ambedkar’ series. I was greatly impressed and influenced by his writings. I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Bhagwan Das in 1983 for the first time when he visited UK on the invitation of Dr. Ambedkar Mission society, Bedford. This Society had a long association with Mr. Das. Some of the NRIs in Bedford set up an organisation called Bheem Association in 1969. Due changing circumstances and to connect with the mainstream Ambedkarite movement, Mr. Bhagwan Das suggested to change the name. Hence Dr. Ambedkar Mission Society, Bedford came into existence.

Mr. Bhagwan Das was one of the few Ambedkarite scholars involved in highlighting the plight of Dalits at international level. He was one of the founder members of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP). He attended many sessions of the (WCRP) held in Kenya, Japan, Malaysia, USA and many other countries. Dr. Ambedkar Mission Society, Bedford was a part of most of his ventures in one way or the other. He gave testimony in the 36th Session of the United Nations Commission on Prevention of Discrimination of Minorities held at Geneva in August 1983 on behalf of Dr. Ambedkar Mission Society, Bedford and many other organisations from India and abroad. Before going to Geneva, he stayed with us about one week. At that time he was staying with late Mr. Chanan Chahal. I used to spend every evening with him.

While preparing his testimony, Mr. Das said that it would be nice if a few copies of his testimony are made for distribution to the delegates. It would leave a long lasting impact. At that time there was no facility of modern computers and photocopying. We bought an old type cyclostyle copier. Mr. Dass typed his speech on stencils and we made copies. We all finished this work about 2 O’clock in the morning. Over hundred copies were made which Mr. Das took with him to Geneva.

After this testimony, the Indian Muslim, Sikh and Hindu delegates turned against him and conspired to omit his name from the next session of WCRP to be held in Nairobi, Kenya. Mr. Das asked us to write to the Secretary General of WCRP and explained the situation. A letter was written to the Secretary General, Dr. Homer A. Jack and request was made for inclusion of Mr. Das in the delegation list as he was the only voice of the voiceless people in India. Dr. Jack was a genuine person. He thanked the Ambedkar Mission Society, Bedford for letting him know the conspiracy and assured us that Mr. Das would attend the conference. Das Sahib was invited as an ‘expert on the Asian Affairs’. All Indian delegates kept a distance from him. Indian High Commissioner in Nairobi invited all Indian delegates for dinner but boycotted Mr. Das. Bhagwan Dass ji told me later on that boycott incident went in his favour as delegates from other countries came to know the
truth and Mr. Das became a regular invitee to the future conferences. Since then we were in regular contact with each other.

In 1988, Federation of Ambedkarite & Buddhist Organisations UK had a preliminary meeting to celebrate Ambedkar Birth Centenary in the UK. Mr. Bhagwan Das was also present in this meeting. The meeting was held under his Chairmanship. On his initiative, an organisation ‘International Ambedkar Institute, UK’ was set up to take Ambedkar thought in the premier institutes in the UK and do some research work. Renowned actor and film maker, late Kenneth Griffiths was elected as a Chairman who later on made a documentary film on Baba Sahib Ambedkar. During this visit, Das Sahib came to Bedford where he was interviewed by the BBC Radio, Bedfordshire and Chiltern Radio. I requested the BBC presenter for a copy of his interview. He was kind enough to send me the original recording of his interview.

During the Ambedkar Birth Centenary years, Mr. Das visited UK several times. Most of the time, he stayed with Mr. M.S. Bahal and Mr. C. Gautam as all Centenary Celebration activities were in and around London area. They took him around. He took part in many conferences and seminars. He addressed the gathering at the inaugural function of Ambedkar Birth Centenary at the commonwealth Hall, the Royal Commonwealth Society on 14th April 1990. Again he gave a talk at the Great Hall of Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn on 21st February 1991. As I was a part of the Centenary Celebration Committee, UK, I often met him in every function. During his visits, he always spared some time for us and came to Bedford.

As a President of Dalit Solidarity Programme (DSP), he was invited to give talk in Edinburgh University in Scotland. He gave a presentation by showing a short film narrating the history and present conditions of Dalits. Because of a long distance from Bedford and the paucity of time, he was unable to come to Bedford. Instead late Mr. Chanan Chahal, Mr. Dhanpat Rattu, Mr. Satpal Paul and I went to see him.

Once discussing about globalisation and privatisation, he clarified that our people are more adversely affected than others. He gave an example that our people were employed as sweepers in the municipalities. With this new mantra of privatisation the sweepers were being made redundant. Before this privatisation, they had permanent employment with all benefits of a government employee such as job security, health benefits, holidays, pensions etc. Their children had a scope for education. But now the contractor is a ‘sharma’, ‘verma’ or ‘gupta’ who employ the same people on daily wages with no security of work, no pension, and no health benefit. In this situation, children help their parents to earn their livelihood and drop out from schools. Similarly the people who were engaged in the leather work had also lost out. All benefits are taken by contractors but the work was still done by scheduled castes and tribes. . As contractors are from
higher castes good jobs go to higher castes and our people end up with old menial jobs.

Last time I saw him about three four years ago at his Munirka residence at Delhi. Dr. Gurcharn Singh from Delhi was with me. We spent about two hours with him. He enquired about all friends and the movement in the UK. He was as enthusiastic as he used to be about 20-30 years ago. But I could see his failing health.

With his demise, we have lost our guide and mentor. I will always treasure his memories in my heart. He will always be missed but never forgotten.

I am attaching his testimony given in the UN in 1983. His views and facts are as relevant today as they were 27 years ago.

Bhagwan Das: As I Knew Him

                                            Bhagwan Das: As I Knew Him
                                                - S.R.Darapuri I.P.S.(Retd)

I had known Bhagwan Das for the last forty-two years. He was known in Delhi as one of the most learned and dedicated followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
I heard him for the first time in 1968 in the weekly meetings of the Baudha Upasak Sangh in Lakshmi Bai Nagar, New Delhi. Ambedkar Bhavan was the centre of Buddhist activities for some years. The Buddhist society of India organized weekly religious meetings. Two Shastries, Mr. Y.C.Shaankranand Shastri and Mr. Sohan Lal Shastri, both products of the Braham Vidyalaya, an Arya Samajist institution of Punjab, were the leaders of the Buddhist movement. They organized these weekly meetings on the pattern of the Arya Samaj meetings. For some reason, some differences developed between the two Shastries and they parted company. Mr.Shankranand Shastri along with some of his friends formed the Baudha Upasak Sangha and began to hold weekly meetings in the front yard of one room flat owned by Mr. Rama Rao Bagde, an employee of the reserve Bank of India. He and his wife devotedly made the preparations, cleaned the floor, and provided flowers, incense etc. Mr. Das was one of the prominent speakers at these meetings.
He was interested in the unity of Dalits and had tried to bring in many castes like Dhanuks, Khatiks, Balmikis, Helas and Kolis into the movement.
Besides working at grass root level he contributed articles on diverse problems of the Dalits and minorities which were published in the Sarita, Milap, Naya Zamana, Ujala, Bheem Patrika etc. He had good command over English and Urdu. He could read and write in simple Hindi and Punjabi in Gurmukhi script, Bengali which he learnt while serving in the Royal Air force in Bengal and Arakan, but he had forgotten it.
I have travelled throughout India and know many officers, professors, teachers and leaders belonging to the Scheduled Castes. I believe Mr. Das owned the largest collection of books and journals. He was a voracious reader and spent most of his working hours in reading. He spent a good deal of money on purchasing books and journals. In his collection, one finds some very rare books written by foreign and Indian writers. In his files lie many good articles and booklets on diverse subjects which he could not get printed or just forgot about them.
From the talks I had with him, I had come to the conclusion that although he was brought up in a Cantonment near Shimla, the summer capital of India, and the family was well-to-do, he suffered from insults and humiliations owing to his birth in an untouchable family. He was proud of his father who had contributed a great deal in moulding his character. He was an admirer of Babasaheb Ambedkar and was very fond of reading newspapers. Study of Ayurveda was his hobby besides reading scriptures of Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism. Mr. Das had inherited a love for knowledge from his father.
It seems Mr. Das was influenced by Christianity like most Untouchables of his times. Later on, he studied Arya Samajists literature and Koran and other books on Muslim theology. For a considerable time, he had been reading Marxist literature and wrote on Marxism. The Class character of Communist leaders, however, deterred him. To cap it all he read Ingersoll, Tom Paine, Voltaire, Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell. He developed his own ideas about religion before he came in direct touch with Babasaheb Ambedkar.
He was introduced to Babasaheb Ambedkar by the late Mr. Shiv Dayal Singh Chaurasia, an imminent leader of the Backward Classes who served as a Member of Kaka Kalekar Commission and also as a Member of Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Das had no plan to marry but it was Mr.Chaurasia who got him married to a well-educated girl belonging to the Dhanuk caste of Lucknow. Mr. Das was sixteen when his father died. He had to brave another calamity. Immediately one month after the death of his father, his house caught fire on the 14th of May 1943 and in the evening of that fateful day he was reduced to the level of a pauper. He had to support a large family of six members of his family getting them reasonable high school education and later on they themselves improved their acquisitions and status.
Mr. Das has written many books besides compiling and editing the speeches and writings of Babasaheb Ambedkar long before this work was undertaken by the Government of Maharashtra. He wrote four books on the Sweepers and Scavengers and a booklet on the Dhobies. His books on Buddhism and caste and the seminar papers which he had presented in the seminars and conferences in India and abroad give an idea of how deep was his study and how dedicated he was to the cause of the downtrodden and discriminated against people of the world. If Marx gave a call to the workers of the world to unite, Das’s call has been 'Dalits of India Unite' and 'Dalits of Asia Unite.' I do not think there is anybody who has tried to bring all Dalits of Asia on a common platform and struggle for liberation and for the right to live with dignity. At the time of his death, Mr. Das had 23 books to his credit. He had three books in hand: Untouchability in Asia, History of Reservation and Balmiki but his failing health and memory were the biggest impediments and he could not complete them.

He lead a very simple life; ate little, just enough to do the work which he had chosen to do. He was modest and in the words of the late Bhadant Anand Kausalyaayan, “You have too much of humility.” He had very strong ascetic tendencies. As a lawyer, he worked hard when he accepted a brief but was choosy about the kind of cases he would like to handle. Avarice was certainly not his weakness. Mr. Das did not have many friends nor did he happily attend social functions. He felt more at home in the libraries or in the company of the intellectuals and people who were working for the upliftment of the oppressed and the discriminated against people.
Mr. Das visited many countries of the world and addressed public meetings or read papers on Human Rights, discriminated nations, problems of women and disadvantaged people, and the revival of Buddhism in India. He did not only preach Buddhism but also practised Buddhism.
There are few people in India having vision, courage, intelligence, commitment and dedication to the cause of the deprived and disadvantaged people – Untouchables, indigenous people, other backward classes, unorganized labour, victims of the violation of human rights and women as Mr. Das had.
His contribution towards the propagation of the ideology of Babasaheb Ambedkar whether it was appreciated in India or not, officially recognized or not is great and had attracted the attention of scholars and leaders in the sub-continent and abroad. He was by nature quiet and unassuming and avoided publicity.
He was a crusader against "Untouchability". He was the first person after Dr. Ambedkar who took up the issue of untouchability to the international forums. He presented the problem of Untouchability in Asian countries and that of Burakumin of Japan in the U.N.O. in 1983. He earlier took up this issue at various international forums and prepared the background for taking up this issue to U.N.O. He went to U.N.O. to participate in Durban Conference in 2001 and then in 2003 also. He was instrumental in internationalising the issue of untouchability.
One wishes that there were a few more followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar with the same qualities, commitment, knowledge, courage, and character as Mr. Das had, the caravan of Babasaheb would have covered great distances and attained great heights. One wished he lived longer but those who knew him intimately knew that he lived as he liked and died according to his wishes. Euthanasia had great attraction for him.
We wished him a long life to finish his books but he suddenly passed away on 18th November 2010. I feel it is our duty to carry forward his mission of emancipation of Dalits through the spread of  Ambedkarism and Buddhism to pay a tribute to Bhagwan Das, a "True Ambedkarite."