Background of the struggle

Background of the struggle

In 1917, the Indian National Congress passed a resolution in its annual session at Calcutta (now Kolkata) against untouchability; it was more out of inevitability than a genuine concern for the untouchables. Bal Gangadhar Tilak had not supported it fully. The resolution was to administer an oath to Congress members that they would not practice untouchability, but Bal Gangadhar Tilak refused to sign it. The next year, in 1918, Tilak delivered a speech at Athni that was not in tune with the resolution. “Are Teli and Tamboli going to hold the weighing scale or the plough in the legislature?” he had asked, thereby insulting members of communities traditionally engaged in selling oil and betel leaves, which are now classified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

According to Tilak, ruling the country and legislating laws was the job of elite class that was intelligent, not of communities like Teli and Tamboli that were destined to spend their lives in their respective trades. Tilak was an orthodox Brahmin and intermittently, he used to boisterously assert the supremacy of his caste and run down communities in the lower rungs of the caste system. For instance, during the controversy over whether the working hours of labourers should be 12 or 14, he wrote an editorial in his newspaper Kesari supporting 14 hours’  duty. Asking labourers to work for 14 hours a day amounted to their exploitation, but Tilak did not support the view and took an anti-labour stand and one of the reasons was that labour leader Shripad Amrut Dange was Tilak’s follower. And because of it, the labour class had, subsequently, chosen to move away from Dange.

Tilak died on August 1, 1920 and Teli and Tamboli communities, too, joined the funeral procession. Then, the emerging Congress leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (who later led the freedom movement and is considered as father of the Indian nation) took advantage of the crowd and established the Tilak Fund. After Tilak’s death, the leadership of Congress started percolating down from Brahmins to non-Brahmins. Till 1920 Brahmins were leaders of all political parties and organisations. In the post-Tilak era, the most important year was 1925, when the labour class in India came under the influence of communism. Dange established the Communist Party of India in 1925 and the same year Dr Keshavrao Hedgewar established the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). At the same time, Ambedkar’s movement was gaining ground against the Congress and its leader, Gandhiji.

Ambedkar wanted to create awareness in society, but there were certain limitations. He had to do something to earn his livelihood and also take care about the sources of livelihood of thousands of others, while making efforts to kindle self-respect and stir self-consciousness in them. The untouchable community had become weak and was not repenting on its condition. The tendency was to accept the life it was forced to live without realising that it was slavery. Abraham Lincoln had said that if a slave is made to realise that he is a slave, he would revolt against slavery. Ambedkar’s priority was to ignite the spirit of revolt. He started organising meetings of communities, but untouchables who believed that they were destined to live a life of servility, were not moved. However, they started boycotting the meetings, presuming that he was attempting to woo them for conversion to Christianity. Besides, pro-Congress party people like Ganesh Akkaji Gavai used to spread disinformation about him.

Ambedkar had shot into limelight with his testimony before Lord Southborough commission. The ruler of the princely state of Kolhapur, Chhatapati Shahu Maharaj, had already started reforms for the upliftment of the untouchables. He had also helped Ambedkar in pursuing higher education. Ambedkar had met Shahu Maharaj through an activist from the untouchable community Dattoba Powar. The Maharaj was a visionary. Realising that there was a need for a periodical to create awareness among untouchables, helped Ambedkar financially and the Marathi fortnightly Mooknayak (leader of the mute) was born. Though Pandurang Nandram Bhatkal association with the Depressed Class Mission of India of Maharshi Shinde was appointed as its editor, it was Ambedkar’s mouthpiece.

The first issue of Mooknayak was published on January 31, 1920 when Tilak was alive. Tilak was regressive in his outlook. He was against upliftment of untouchables and labour welfare measures. He had even refused to publish a paid advertisement of Mooknayak in his Kesari newspaper, leave aside appreciating the work done by Mooknayak. In the inaugural issue of Mooknayak, Ambedkar had written, “India is the matrix of disparities. The Hindu society is like a tower with floors of castes, one above the other. The amazing thing is that this multi-storeyed structure has no ladder to go upstairs. One who is born on a particular floor has to die on the same floor. A person born on a lower floor, notwithstanding his merit, cannot enter the floor above, and a person born on the upper floor, despite his vices, would not be pushed on the floors below. Those who believe that animate as well as inanimate objects are forms of God, consider their brethren impure. The ambition of Brahmins is to accumulate knowledge, not of spreading it. The reason of the deterioration of non-Brahmins is lack of knowledge and power. There is a need to make efforts to liberate the deprived classes from slavery and poverty. They should be made aware of their miserable condition by providing them knowledge.”

Shahu Maharaj had realised the credibility of Ambedkar as the leader of the untouchables. He took lead in organising the first convention of the untouchables at Mangaon in his kingdom on March 20, 1920. The convention was conducted in the presence of Shahu Maharaj and its highlight was V R Shinde’s testimonial in front of Lord Southborough with reference to Ambedkar. This testimonial had been published in The Times of India newspaper on January 26, 1919. Objecting to Shinde’s contention, Ambedkar said, “The Depressed Class Mission is planning a cooption scheme against the representation of untouchables. It envisages the election of a representative of untouchables by non-untouchables who have been elected. This will ensure that the untouchables continue to remain oppressed forever.”

In the Nagpur convention, a resolution was moved, that said, “The entire untouchable class is restless over the suggestion made by the Depressed Class Mission that the representatives of the ostracised class on the council should not be nominated by the government or caste-wise organisations, but by the non-ostracised elected members of the council. Because, only those people among us, who endorse the Chaturvarnya that had wrecked havoc in our lives, will be appointed as representatives. Hence, this convention is of a firm opinion that the ostracised class has lost faith in the Depressed Class Mission because of its treacherous stand.”

Despite this resolution being conscientious and indicative of the grassroot reality, Maharshi Shinde’s biographer G M Pawar has distorted history. While referring to the Shinde-Ambedkar controversy, he states, “It appears that Ambedkar might have nursed some qualms about Maharshi Shinde’s name being associated with eradication of untouchability. Its roots naturally lay in the stand that the politics over removal of untouchability should be led by leaders from the untouchable community. The ultimate aim was to malign the image of Shinde as a crusader for eradicating untouchability, to derecognise him and pull him down from the position he had gained through sacrifice and selfless service.”

G M Pawar was from the Maratha community, like Maharshi Shinde, besides being related to him and it was the reason for his parochial view of Ambedkar.  The testimony of Ambedkar was not a smear campaign against Maharshi Shinde. On the contrary, Ambedkar was of the view that Shinde and Sir Chandawarkar be taken into confidence while resolving issues concerning untouchables. Only a relative like G M Pawar, not a historian, can take such a stand. Ambedkar’s struggle to ensure that the movement for upliftment of untouchables should be led by untouchables continued throughout the Tilak era as well as the Gandhi era. If Ambedkar had emulated untouchable leaders of the Gandhi era, untouchables would never have got a backbone.

There was no difference between Maharshi Shinde’s testimonial in front of Lord Southborough commission and the stand taken by Gandhi in the round table conference. Only Ambedkar was challenging the contention of the orthodox Hindus that they could uplift the untouchables and yet his detractors were accusing him of trying to monopolise the movement to uplift untouchables by being intolerant towards others who were involved in it. Ambedkar’s movement was not for imposing his leadership, but to liberate untouchables.  Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj had said, “I congratulate the ostracised citizens of my state for finding your true leader. I am sure that Dr Ambedkar will not only be your saviour, but my intuition says that a time will come when he will be a leader of the country.”

On May 30 and 31, 1920, a conference of Akhil Bharatiya Bahishkrut Parishad- a national conference of the ostracised people- presided over by Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj was convened at Nagpur. The local ruler Chhatrapati Bhosale  was expected to attend the conference, but not being progressive thinker like Shahu Maharaj, he stayed away on the pretext of a hunting expedition, so that he would not be tainted by the touch of the untouchables. The conference was divided into two warring groups, one led by Ambedkar and the other by Maharshi Shinde. The followers of Shinde like Ganesh Akkaji Gavai tried to corner Ambedkar. The issue was who would head the governing committee. Ambedkar exposed the Depressed Class Mission and launched a scathing attack against its activities that were in favour of the Congress party. The conference resolved that the government should not take a decision based on Shinde’s opinion.

This was the first victory of Ambedkar in which he gave a pleasant surprise to Shahu Maharaj by demonstrating that he could handle a contentious issue diplomatically. The prediction made by Shahu Maharaj in 1920 came true as manifested in the confrontations with Shinde and Gandhi. Ultimately, Ambedkar drafted the Indian constitution, revealing that Shahu Maharaj was a visionary.