Summarized by – Nioshi

This talk takes a journey to understand the importance of Ambedkar in understanding the meaning of democracy in our country.   

Understanding Democracy 

• The bitter truth about the Ambedkarite movement today is that it is sparse in nature. This is mainly because of the disintegration of the intellectual class. This has led to social power being riddled down
• Current reality due to COVID-19: 
• Hungry man feeds on dog carcass
• Migrant laborer delivers baby while walking back home
• Lockdown forces bullock cart to become a bull
• According to a recent Oxfam report, 73% of the wealth generated last year went to the richest ONE PERCENT. Meanwhile, 67 crore Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw a one percent increase in their wealth. 

It has been 70 years of independence. Why does this situation still prevail?

• The reason is that individuals, policymakers, and the government fail to understand the meaning of the term ‘democracy’. 

How it Evolved? A Historical Timeline 

• To understand the term democracy, one must understand the concept of how democracy evolved through the ages. 
• Historically democracy is categorized into two: 1)Athenian democracy and 2) Representative Democracy. 
• Athenian democracy prevailed before Christ era and had inherent lacuna. It was manageable by a small group of people and all constituent people (except women and slaves) were involved in its political and legislative functioning. 
• Since this was not operationalizable, there emerged a separate category called Representative Democracy/ Constitutional Democracy.   
• Magna Carta opened the doors of democracy for in England
• Following which it emerged in France and America
• Many philosophers have spoken about democracy. John Locke and Rousseau conceptualized the idea of democracy in 1690. 
• Locke wrote that under the social contract, the natural rights of citizens must be protected by the government. This included the right to life, liberty, and ownership of property. 
• Further, Thomas Jefferson added a clause of ‘pursuit of happiness’ to the above-mentioned responsibilities of a government (Declaration of Independence, 1776).
• So finally, the definition of democracy based on the above-mentioned history can be framed as ‘the social contract under which the natural rights of citizens must be protected by the government. This includes the right to life, liberty, and ownership of property, the pursuit of happiness, and right to security, and right to resistance. 
• Charles Montesquieu and Jean Rousseau pointed out that when people in a society begin to claim over ownership of property, inequality begins, leading to murder in society
• Contrarily, John Dewey said– the very existence of human civilization is based on the existence of society. Democracy is the only way that leads to the existence of society. 
• For the existence of society, there must be transmission and communication of free flow of ideas, aims, goals, habits, and knowledge amongst the individuals inter and intra groups of the society. 

Notion of Democracy

• The notion of ‘unnoticed democracy’ is based on 2 assumptions:

1) outcome produced by democracy as a process when implemented in any nation, which includes the protection of their rights 

2) how commons see the process of democracy. Especially for Indians, it is seen as ‘government for the people by the people, of the people’. 

However, on dissecting these assumptions, it is seen that democracy in India is not based on the rights of the individuals. This remains unexplored, and can hence be understood through the writings of Babasaheb Ambedkar. 

In the following section, Prof. Dongre uses various definitions of democracy as proposed by John Dewey, and explains them through the writings of Ambedkar.  He takes the help of three important readings as a classic commentary by Ambedkar that remain largely unexplored when it comes to understanding democracy: 

1. Caste in India (1916)
2. Annihilation of Caste (1936)
3. Maharashtra as a Linguistic Province (1948)

While many people have read, analyzed, thought and understood Ambedkar’s take on caste, but very few have questioned why he wrote on this issue. He wrote on these issues as he wanted to actualize and nurture the culture of associate life so as to communicate the conjoined experience 

1] “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience”. 

CASTE IN INDIA (1916)

• It is believed that caste is the artificial chopping off of population into fixed and definite units, each one prevented from fusing into another. But according to Ambedkar, more than this, caste is the destroyal of associated living.
• ‘Caste as an unnatural institution’, but it marks the web of social institution in terms of providing right to life
• Caste is an infection and outcome of imitation. According to Gabriel Tarde– ‘imitation hampers innovation’. One should mold the mind NOT to imitate. 

ANNIHILATION OF CASTE (1936)

• Babasaheb was aware of that annihilation of caste can not be achieved at once, but he was also aware that it can be liquidated from the mind of people
•  He proposed inter dining and intercaste marriages
• For the annihilation of caste, social efficiency is very important. Ambedkar emphasized on individual efficiency. Without this, it cannot be achieved. 
• For this, he put forward two points: Consciousness of kind, and consciousness of its own being.  
• These need to be further explored. 

MAHARASHTRA AS A LINGUISTIC PROVINCE (1948)

• Foundation of democratic space is decided by the environment of the existence of fellow beings. For this, there must be a mutual flow of social exchanges. This is required to maintain social homogeneity. Social homogeneity leads to associate living.
• In a democratic society, heterogeneity can not succeed because in that case power, instead of being used to be impartial, is used to detriment others 

2] “Democracy is freedom with power to frame purpose and to execute purpose so framed the sooner”

• Science of purpose is very important. Ambedkar understands this deeply. 
• Plato defines a slave as a person who is made to execute the purpose of others. 
• The purpose is a process where impulse emerges. When the impulse is destructed, desire emerges.  
• Ambedkar at the age of 22 presented a memorandum to South Borough commission. In 1928, he presented another memorandum to the Simon Commission. He carried out the Kalaram temple movement in the same period. This shows his impulse, hence creating a desire in his mind, as seen later through the outcome of the round table conference. attempted to
• Ambedkar pointed out that purpose is a plan of action for an individual to preserve the self with dignity. So a person without a purpose is a slave, who lives without dignity.
• If the government fails to provide purpose to its people, they become like slaves. 
• Until we do not have the freedom with power to frame purpose, we cannot say we are living in a democratic nation. 
• ‘Educate, Agitate, Organize’– a slogan for provided by Ambedkar as a mechanism to frame ‘purpose’ for the youth of this country

3] Democracy is neither a form of government nor social expediency, but a metaphysics of relation of man and his experience to nature”  

• The goal of civilization is to work for the existence of society. Civilization is directly proportional to the continuity of the existence of life in society. Ambedkar mentions the importance of reconstruction of experience for a democracy. 
• In Ambedkar’s last speech in the constitution assembly, he jotted down the dangers of democracy. He warned people that if it is not handled properly, in terms of creating purpose, creating associated life, or reconstruction of experience, then India will see slavery for the second time.
• The notion of reconstruction of experience is often ignored by intellectuals 
• Ambedkar emphasized social democracy as compared to political democracy. This is because the basis of social democracy is a boost for social reforms. 
• ‘Reconstruction of experience’ was never incorporated into the education system in India by its rulers, so as to suppress the emotional, psychological, and mindful aspect of masses in India 
• It was the outcome of Ambedkar’s reconstruction of experience that compelled him to walk out of the rule of the Hindu religion. He embraced Buddhism. 
• He decided to quit Hinduism in 1936, and it took 20 years for him to embrace Buddhism. He studied Buddhism thoroughly in this period. He brought forth Buddha and his dhamma as a reconstruction of experience which was essential for the civilization as a whole.

Conclusion

When democracy actually awakens in India, Indians will have the right to life, right to liberty, right to ownership of property, right to dignity of life, right to security, and the right to resist against oppression. It is imperative to teach, implement, and consider democracy as:

1. An associate living
2. Provides mechanisms for freedom 
3. Individuals have the power to execute the purpose
4. A system that paves the way for people to reconstruct their experience. 

When democracy actually awakens, there will be no hungry man feeds on dog carcass, no migrant labourer delivers baby while walking back home, and no inequality.