Grappling with untouchability

Grappling with untouchability
Paramita Ghosh, Hindustan Times
September 12, 2008

Two people do not crowd a small flat. But when there are three? “Dr Ambedkar is god,” says Dr Rahul with a laugh, “So certainly you’ll see him everywhere in this house.” Rahul shares a room with his 81-year-old father, Bhagwan Das.
Ambedkar busts and wall art outnumber images of that other Dalit icon, Buddha, here. This morning, space is tight. Publisher S Anand is also here to film Das, the last surviving research assistant of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, and author of 23 books on the Dalit struggle.
“Are you a PhD?” Ambedkar had asked his then young research assistant one day. Bhagwan, a 28-year-old radio operator who had just quit the Royal Air Force to join him, replied: “Never been to college, Sir. But I read.” The exchange on the subject became a private joke between the two men, recalls Bhagwan, who would buy books from the People’s Education Society set up by Ambedkar. “One day he caught me carrying a book on progressive thinking and Marxism, but I didn’t want to show it to him. He had a weakness for books. And I knew I wouldn’t get it back. Suddenly, he asked me again: ‘Are you a PhD?’”
, Bhagwan Das’s career was not in imitation of his boss, but built through reflection. His views on Gandhi, an ideological counterpoint to Dalit intellectuals, flow from the same source. “If Gandhi was Bapu, the father of a society in which he tried to inject quality while maintaining the Hindu framework, Ambedkar was Baba to his people and the great liberator from that framework,” he quotes from sociologist Gail Omvedt’s book. Das’s own four-volume Thus Spoke Ambedkar (New York’s Museum Library keeps a copy) was the most important reference book for 20 years on Ambedkar after his death in the 50s.
As the camera rolls, the Gandhi connection crops up again. Homer Jack of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Delhi, had introduced Das to the Social Welfare Ministry and recommended that he present a paper at the UN in the 80s.“I was the first Dalit to speak at the UN. It was Dr Ambedkar’s dream... I presented a paper on the plight of untouchables all over the subcontinent. When I came out, they told me that they had thought that Gandhi had abolished untouchability.”
Independence, stresses Das, wasn’t liberation for everybody. “We don’t call it Independence. We call it a transfer of power between upper castes. On August 15, we were afraid. We had no constituti-onal safeguards.”
Das is also no admirer of Mayawati. As a teacher at a Karol Bagh school, she would attend meetings at the Ambedkar Bhawan where Das would lecture. After joining politics she kept away. “The BSP does not want intellectuals. It wants crowds,” Das explains. “Kanshi Ram thought political power was everything.” Political organisations like the Republican Party of India started by Ambedkar were anyway divided. Its leaders lacked unity and stength. Mayawati took advantage of the vacuum. Her party had no agenda of social emancipation. Chamars — her base — put their numbers behind her and voted her into power, Das says.
Untouchability in Asia, Das believes, is his last task. He pores over the census of 1891 as the camera zooms in and talks of how the Lal Begis (untouchables) have, over the years, started calling themselves Balmikis. “When the lower castes started embracing Christianity, the Hindu Mahasabha tried to check their conversion and introduced the myth of Balmiki as the author of the Ramayana to uphold the caste structure.” he says. “The trouble with caste is that if you try to throw it out from the front door, it creeps back again through the window or the back door.”
The ‘set’ is Das’s study. The period is 61 years after Independence. Nothing has changed.

Political parties have worked to strengthen caste system

                        'Political parties have worked to strengthen caste system'

 

Bhagwan Das, a research associate of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, is best known as compiler and editor of the four volumes of Thus Spoke Ambedkar. He spoke to Prasanna Raghav about his meetings with Ambedkar and the trajectory of Dalit politics in India:

 

 When did you first meet Ambedkar?

 

 My father, who was politically and socially aware through his readings, was a great admirer of Dr Ambedkar, referring to him as Ummeedkar, the one who brings hope. I used to read every newspaper article about Babasaheb with great interest. When i first went to meet him in Simla in 1943 with a request for a job, I had to wait for seven hours. Impressed with me, he promised me a job and I got my appointment letter in 15 days.

 

 Mahatma Gandhi was also against discrimination of Dalits. How were the two leaders different? 

 

Gandhi was no friend of untouchables. Though Gandhi sensitised the people of India towards the evils of untouchability, it was only due to Gandhi's fast-unto-death that the right of untouchables to choose their own representatives was snatched away from them in elections. He included and excluded us at the same time. 

 

What changes have you witnessed in Dalit politics since independence?

 

 It has deteriorated. In the per-independence days, Dalit leaders used to be well educated and informed about issues regarding their community and the society as a whole. The movement was vibrant. Unlike today it wasn't only lip service and vote-bank politics. They encouraged untouchables to take up education. For example, Babasaheb started three colleges across Maharashtra and a school in Mumbai. Ambedkar didn't only talk about fight against exploitation but also against the caste system. But today, everybody uses Babasaheb's name only for political gains. No present-day politician can ever come close to following what the great Dalit leader preached. They don't even know about his teachings and principles. No Dalit leader can ever acquire a pan-Indian identity like Ambedkar. And that's why Dalits continue to wallow in poverty and illiteracy. 

 

Do you think that proliferation of Dalit parties and leaders has changed the course of Indian politics? 

 

It has certainly, but only for the worse. Instead of abolishing discrimination, Dalit parties have worked to strengthen the caste system, by further driving a wedge between scheduled castes and other groups. Their method of assertion is wrong. Only a few people in the corridors of power have benefited from the ascendancy of some Dalit leaders. For example, a Chamar leader will only work for his community since Dalits as a whole are not united.

 

 Has reservation in jobs, education and legislature helped to improve the lot of Dalits? 

 

Quota has helped but it has not been implemented properly. Prejudice against us is very strong and officers from our community are still humiliated at the workplace.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Interviews/Dalit-parties-have-worked-to-strengthen-caste-system/articleshow/4401339.cms

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."