Sangh Parivar organisations have been organising events to mark B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary all over the State.
However, these attempts have not gone done well with Dalit organisations that smell a conspiracy to appropriate the leader’s legacy and reinterpret his ideology of the politics of self-respect.
RSS pracharaks have addressed a major function in Bidar and some small functions in the taluks in the last week. Samarasya Vedike, a Sangh Parivar group, has organised lectures on the life of Dr. Ambedkar. Raghunandan, an RSS Pracharak who spoke at a programme in Saraswati School in Bidar, urged people to realise that Dr. Ambedkar was not just the leader of Dalits, but of the whole of India.
The district Samarasya committee invited leaders from 22 castes and sub-castes to the event, according to Gurunath Rajgira, event coordinator. “Dr. Ambedkar did not convert to any alien religion. He was a reformer who fought from within. None of us can forget this. He was a great unifying force for this country and his contributions go beyond writing the Constitution. This is what we want to remind the youth of today,” said Mr. Rajgira.
‘Cruel joke’
Dalit leaders disagree. “It is a cruel joke on us,” said Vaijanath Suryavanshi, a Dalit ideologue.
“If Dr. Ambedkar is farthest from any ideology, it is that preached by the Sangh Parivar. He bitterly opposed it. All his life he spent writing books against it. How can they now say they worship him? Who will believe them?” he asked.
Different ideologies
“What Hindutva teaches is the exact opposite of the politics of self-respect that Babasaheb preached. Neither have they accepted his theories nor have they changed till now. How can they now say they believe in him?” asked Vithaldas Pyage, a member of the Buddhist Society of India. The whole exercise is to appropriate his legacy and wrongly interpret his ideologies, he said.
“Where were they all these days? What explains their new found love for Ambedkar?” questioned Maruti Bouddhe, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti leader. “This is nothing but a case of political opportunism,” he said. Ankush Dhole, Bahujan Samaj Party leader, said the level of awareness among Dalits and the deprived classes was high.
They will not be fooled by such tricks, Mr. Dhole said.
‘What Hindutva teaches is the exact opposite of the politics that Babasaheb preached’
