Abstract: Dalit community in India is a very significant community in terms of their large number. It is not possible for any political party to ignore them during the elections. Their proportionately large number in the total population is their strength. This political strength was given to them by Ambedkar through the legal provision enshrined in the constitution. These provisions were nothing but the basic needs of every individual which were converted into basic rights by Ambedkar. By these basic rights, Ambedkar provided the Dalits with the mechanism through which they could change the political destiny of the nation.

Keywords: Ambedkar, Dalit, rights, elections, constitution, upper caste

According to the Census of India 2011, the total percentage of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Indian population is 16.6 and 8.6 respectively. They are such a significant part of the population that their number plays an influential role at the time of elections. Whether they are Boyas of Andhra Pradesh or Yadavas of Uttar Pradesh or Ahinda of Karnataka or Vanniyars of Tamil Nadu or Ad-Dharmi/”Chamars” of Punjab or Jats of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh or Gujjars of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, they are very much persuasive during elections due to their relatively good number among the voters. No political party can afford to ignore them as at times they become the deciding factor of the party’s fate. For instance, in Karnataka, in May 2013, the then CM candidate Siddaramaiah who could make it go to Assembly with the support of Dalit, Muslims and backward castes failed in 2018 when the same group which he termed AHINDA did not cast the vote in favour of the Congress. The three times Dalit Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, whose party was a Dalit based party, lost the Assembly election in 2017 just because of her non-attentive attitude towards the Dalits. This empirically shows that voting share of Dalit community plays a vital role in the party’s growth and downfall.

Somewhere I read,

Dalit ki thali me chawal aa gaya hai, lagata hai shehar me chunav aa gaya hai, (Dalit has got rice in his plate, it seems elections are approaching in the city).

Is this not the real scene? Is this not the true condition among the Dalits? They are only considered during the elections. But the question arises why only during the elections. Why not their social rank becomes a significant position outside the domain of elections? To answer these questions there is a need to peep into the phase of Constitution construction where Ambedkar as the drafter of the Constitution, tried to provide the untouchable communities with some basic rights. In the process of providing them constitutional protection, he framed the laws in such a manner that transformed their basic needs into basic rights. Being an untouchable, he was highly concerned for the plights of the then millions of untouchables. The framing of the constitution by Ambedkar was fully engrossed by his intention to anticipate protection for the untouchables from the atrocities of the upper caste Hindus. Ambedkar focused on the fundamental requirements of the people. In his approach, he not only thought of the Dalits and the disadvantaged groups rather in his policy framing mechanism he included the entire nation as a whole. This is very much evident from the fact the inclusion of basic rights were not only enshrined for the Dalits but for every individual of the country. He, while giving his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on 25th of November 1949, had said:

I came into the Constituent Assembly with no greater aspiration than to safeguard the interests of the Scheduled Castes. I had not the remotest idea that I would be called upon to undertake more responsible functions. I was therefore greatly surprised when the Assembly elected me to the Drafting Committee. I was more than surprised when the Drafting Committee elected me to be its Chairman. There were in the Drafting Committee men bigger, better and more competent than myself such as my friend Sir Alladi KrishnasWami Ayyar. I am grateful to the Constituent Assembly and the Drafting Committee for reposing in me so much trust and confidence and to have chosen me as their instrument and given me this opportunity of serving the country.

Through these words, Ambedkar had expressed that though his intention to join the Constituent Assembly was to bring the benefits for his community men his responsibility as the Chairman of the drafting committee did not allow him to restrict himself only for the Dalits.

Since his childhood, he himself had faced humiliation and exploitation and the same he witnessed with his community members. He experienced the denial of fundamental requirements like a drawing of water from the same pond, lake or well used by the Brahmins, services of the barber, washerman, school teachers, officials, merchants, petty shop owners, temple entry, decent jobs. They were forced to hang an earthen pot around their neck and to tie a broom on their waist in order to clean the ground on which they had marked their footprints, were required to carry a bell and had to sound it to tell the upper caste people their arrival so that the latter must get alert and avoid falling even the shadow of the former on them. In such milieu, Ambedkar was brought up. Though he was fortunate enough to gain English education and got the opportunity to receive higher education in a foreign land the stigma of being an untouchable never left him.

The miserable condition at the hands of the Brahmins and the exploitative nature of the upper caste Hindus urged Ambedkar to ensure quality life to the downtrodden. For this, he waged many movements to bring the status of his community people to the mainstream level. In his movements he demanded small things like in 1927 at Mahad Satyagraha he asserted to draw lake water by the untouchables; in Nasik in 1930 at Kalaram temple his demand was to open the gates of the temple for the untouchables, he asked education for them, he asked proper wages for them, in defence of one’s basic rights, he burnt Manusmriti, that denied the untouchables their fundamental dues. His demands evolved from the daily life requirements of the untouchables who were debarred from the social fabric of society. They were not treated at par with the other three high castes of the Hindu fold and at the same time advantages and opportunities were snatched from them. This dual exploitation made their life hell.

Ambedkar became the voice of the untouchables. He infused in them the courage to fights for their rights. He made them educated, bold and rational being who could question the authorities. He tried his level best in bringing the social rank of the untouchables to a certain standard through his services he rendered to the British administration. His varied positions in the British rule helped him in gaining some safeguards for his fellow brethren. In this regard he could able to achieve benefits before independence and post-independence like communal award, reservation for the untouchables, labour laws under which he was successful in bringing down the working hours from 12 to 8 hours, maternity benefits for pregnant women, voting rights for both men and women irrespective of caste, creed, gender and religion, property rights to women and banning of untouchability.

Ambedkar always advised the untouchables to gain political power. Through many of his speeches, he warned his fellow men to hold political power in order to achieve political positions. He was of the view that this would lead them to the Parliament where they can legislate for the benefit of the entire Dalit community. He believed this because all the political positions were occupied by the upper caste and he was worried that in this situation the untouchables would remain their slaves forever. To avoid this situation, he introduced voting rights for all. This, he thought, would empower the untouchables to decide the rulers of the nation. In this sense, he made the untouchables the destiny makers of thousands of aspiring candidates with the rest of the society. This also provided them with the power to remove those who did not deserve to be Sevak of the people. Ambedkar not only made them mere voters but rather he provided in the Constitution for the untouchables the right to fight the elections on the reserved seats. This helped the untouchables to reach the Parliament which was just a dream for them. He converted their small requirements into the basic provisions of the Constitution so that they can live a dignified life. His contribution to the lives of millions of untouchables brought a kind of revolution which was unimaginable for them.

A basic life surrounded by basic needs is the desire of every individual. This was his life’s philosophy. Ambedkar’s contribution to the Indian society at large is at two levels: practical level and philosophical level. It is also noteworthy that both levels have a perfect connection. In other words, the philosophical sight of Ambedkar is truly visible in practice also. The working of the constitution in practice is the embodiment of his philosophical vision. In this context, the philosophical aspect of Ambedkar in terms of liberty, equality, justice and fraternity are very much prudent in his capabilities of framing the constitution which can be expressed as a living document. In this living document, he enshrined the basic rights not only for women or untouchables but for Indian people as a whole keeping in mind his philosophical thoughts. Throughout his political journey, he tried to achieve this philosophy. He contended hard first with the British and after the freedom of the nation with the Brahmins to seek protection for the rights of the untouchables. He was very much aware of the attitude of the upper caste towards the untouchables and other than legal mechanism he found no method of their social, economical and political security.

The present political parties know this crux and therefore they just before the election go to the ghettos and try to obtain their valuable votes in the party’s favour. But due to education gained among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (official nomenclature) the proportion of votes they have had cast has favoured those parties which have done significant work for making their position better. The warning of Ambedkar which he gave on April 25, 1948, in Lucknow, tells his determination. He said,

‘Political power is the key to all social progress and the Scheduled Castes can achieve their salvation if they captured this power by organizing themselves into the third party and holding the balance of power between the rival political parties-Congress and Socialists.’

It is therefore very much pertinent for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to prudentially calculate the power of their number and change the destiny of the nation. It is also the time to fulfil the dream of Ambedkar of an egalitarian society in which everyone would get his or her due share in the form of political, social and economic rights which are the basic need of every individual. In this way, we can give a true tribute to Ambedkar.

Author – Mukesh Sablania
Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi