The remarkable social mobilization of SCs and STs on the 2nd April 2018 was historic. Never in the history of India, so many millions have risen together against the violation of their rights. Yet, that movement did not receive the attention it needed in the Indian press. It is striking that the international media covered it in a remarkable way. The mobilization in a shorter period of time was also marked with the interstate communication and multiple states were involved in the demonstration.

In the last few decades, I have been meeting Ambedkarites from all over the country in their settings and in their sphere of influence. One thing stands out among all of them is their undying commitment to Babasaheb Ambedkar and his mission. Their commitment is lifetime and they are ready to even sacrifice their lives for the movement of dignity, self-respect, and ending the social discrimination faced by their people. This is something that I always felt being with people from all over the places.

It is also true that they are all committed to the mission in their own way, but also they have a lot of crucial learnings and experiences through their struggle. Their struggle enabled them to know the situation from an empirical perspective and also through the pragmatic understanding of the situation. Though the SCs throughout India have the common history of social exploitation, their responses have been laying different stresses due to the local nature of the caste configuration, history of their respective social movements, and their worldview informed by the language they speak.

If we can bring these all experiences and knowledge together through some kind of a communication strategy, the movement of Babasaheb Ambedkar will be powerful and its power will increase manifold. A communication platform, a communication strategy will pave a way for a bigger and larger mobilization. The northern states can become politically very active in shifting the balance of power in favor of the Ambedkarites due to the sheer number of one caste and subcastes within it. The northern states can easily swing the power in favor of the Ambedkarites.

The states like Maharashtra which are politically shattered can play a role in the revival of the culture that has now taken a shape away from the dominant caste/religion Hinduism.

The southern states like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have a big lead forward in terms of people’s movement and pragmatic programs with an insightful strategy. They have a bigger role to play if that experience can be shared with the Ambedkarites elsewhere. One can go on and talk about the strength of Punjabi Ambedkarites, particularly from the Doaba region and their ability to mobilize money and youths.

The experience of the Ambedkarite social movement is so rich and so diverse and so alive that it only needs to be synced together. The community has a tremendous fighting spirit and ability to mobilize. It has also skills in using whatever limited resources it has to serve the community.

We need bridges across the states, the fact they are being built is evident from the way the society is coming into front and fighting nationally.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist

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