BJP/RSS in another attempt to lure Dalits away from anti-CAA protests, has come up with distorted facts about Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar that he wanted ‘Dalitstan’. BJP Goa Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar made this remark and congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for passing the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Previously, similar comments came from Bihar MLA of JD(U) who said that Dr. Ambedkar had envisioned separate ‘Harijanistan’.  The interesting thing to note in these two statements is that both are made by Dalit leaders from Brahminical political parties. Nothing unusual, these Brahminical parties use Dalits against Dalits to get benefited.

Similar comments and arguments can be seen on various social media platforms as well. So, did Dr. Ambedkar really say that a separate nation is needed for Dalits or did he really demand ‘Dalitstan’ or ‘Harijanistan’? The simple answer is no.

He asked for separate electorates for Dalits, which Gandhi didn’t accept and we all know as a result Poona Pact came into the picture. Second, Dr. Ambedkar asked for the “separate settlements” for untouchables far away from caste Hindus to escape caste discrimination. The demand for “separate settlements” is not the same as a separate nation or separate state.

Dr. Ambedkar observed that given the majority of untouchables living outside villages dominated by caste Hindus who practice caste discrimination to the core, it would be wise to have separate villages for untouchables. Working Committees of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation (the political party started by Dr. Ambedkar) on September 23, 1944, passed a resolution to demand the same.

Before I give you reference from Dr. Ambedkar’s book, it must be kept in mind that “separate settlements” for untouchables never gained much attention and neither Dr. Ambedkar followed it with full strength.

The following text is from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol. 1, p425-426 –

This a new demand but is justified by circumstances. At present, the Hindus live in the village and the Untouchables live in the Ghettoes. The object is to free the Untouchables from the thraldom of the Hindus. So long as the present arrangement continues it is impossible for the Untouchables either to free themselves from the yoke of the Hindus or to get rid of their Untouchability. It is the close knit association of the Untouchables with the Hindus living in the same villages which marks them out as Untouchables and which enables the Hindus to identify them as being Untouchables. India is admittedly a land of villages and so long as the village system provides an easy method of marking out and identifying the Untouchables, the Untouchable has no escape from Untouchability. It is the system of the Village plus the Ghetto which perpetuates Untouchability and the Untouchables, therefore, demand that the nexus should be broken and the Untouchables who are as a matter of fact socially separate should be made separate geographically and territorially also, and be settled into separate villages exclusively of Untouchables in which the distinction of the high and the low and of Touchable and Untouchable will find no place.

The second reason for demanding separate settlements arises out of the economic position of the Untouchables in the villages. That their condition is most pitiable no one will deny. They are a body of landless labourers who are entirely dependent upon such employment as the Hindus may choose to give them and on such wages as the Hindus may find it profitable to pay. In the villages in which they five they cannot engage in any trade or occupation, for owing to Untouchability no Hindu will deal with them. It is therefore obvious that there is no way of earning a living which is open to the Untouchables so long as they live in a Ghetto as a dependent part of the Hindu village.

This economic dependence has also other consequences besides the condition of poverty and degradation which proceeds from it. The Hindu has a Code of life, which is part of his religion. This Code of life gives him many privileges and heaps upon the Untouchable many indignities which are incompatible with the dignity and sanctity of human life. The Untouchables all over India are fighting against the indignities and injustices which the Hindus in the name of their religion have heaped upon them. A perpetual war is going on every day in every village between the Hindus and the Untouchables. It does not see the light of the day. The Hindu Press is not prepared to give it publicity lest it should injure the cause of their freedom in the eyes of the world. The existence of a grim struggle between the Touchables and the Untouchables is however a fact. Under the village system the Untouchables has found himself greatly handicapped in his struggle for free and honourable life. It is a contest between the Hindus who are economically and socially strong and the Untouchables who are economically poor and numerically small. That the Hindus most often succeed in suppressing the Untouchables is due to many causes. The Hindus have the Police and the Magistracy on their side. In a quarrel between the Untouchables and the Hindus the Untouchables will never get protection from the Police and justice from the Magistrate. The Police and the Magistracy naturally love their class more than their duty. But the chief weapon in the armoury of the Hindus is economic power which they possess over the poor Untouchables living in the village. The proposal may be dubbed escapism. But the only alternative is perpetual slavery.