On 25 Nov 1949, the day
before the Constituent Assembly wound up its proceedings, Dr B R Ambedkar made
a speech summing up the work of the Assembly and thanking all the people associated
with it. He ended his speech with three
warnings.
The second warning was about
the dangers of unthinking submission to charismatic authority. Quoting John Stuart Mill, Ambedkar cautioned
Indians not “to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to
trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions.”
“In India,” went on
Ambedkar, “Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship,
plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in
the politics of any other country in the world.
Bhakti in religion may be the road to the salvation of a soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a
sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.”
Today the two major rival
political parties in India are laying siege to Ambedkar’s legacy. An international centre costing Rs 192 crore
and a monument costing Rs 99 crore are on the anvil. Things that don’t cost much to the exchequer
like a postage stamp in Ambedkar’s honour, street plays to bring him close to
the masses, speeches and rallies are also being planned.
On the other hand,
organisations like Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle at IIT Madras which questioned
the same Bhakti movement that Ambedkar warned against are being banned. A Dalit whose mobile phone played an Ambedkar
song was beaten to death supposedly by the people who are practising the same
Bhakti that Ambedkar cautioned against.
Certain decisions like
whose pictures can be carried in advertisements and whose picture should be
displayed in government offices and other public places point to the possibility
of the government machinery nurturing the Bhakti movement in the country.
Is Ambedkar being honoured
or is he being made use of for nefarious political purposes?
Is what Ambedkar said
about the Congress a few years after Independence valid for today’s leading
political party? He accused the Congress
of degenerating into a dharamsala, a gathering
without any unity of purpose or principles, and “open to all, fools and knaves,
friends and foes, communalists and secularists, reformers and orthodox and
capitalists and anti-capitalists.”
All his life Ambedkar
fought vehemently against “narrow-mindedness and communalism.” It is ironical that today his legacy is being
is resuscitated by people who are staunch advocates of what Ambedkar fought fervently
against.
A book review: Dr
Ambedkar
Apt message for the times, which are rapidly making a mockery of the notion of democracy. Not just India, but the world - increasing intolerance everywhere
ReplyDeleteIntolerance is a global problem. But the kind of hero-worship we see in India is quite rare.
Deletewhatever Ambedkar preached has been conveniently being tweeked and used for few peoples cause
ReplyDeleteEvery thinker suffered the same fate.
DeleteAnd sometimes I feel that there are so many problems that all of us must die to solve it. :/ :(
ReplyDeleteThe present system is one which will ensure the death of selected groups of people.
Delete