Editor-in-Chief: Prem Kumar Chumber Contact: 001-916-947-8920 Fax: 916-238-1393 E-mail: chumbermedia@yahoo.com, editor@ambedkartimes.com

VOL- 13 ISSUE- 6 April 21, 2021 California (USA) www.ambedkartimes.com www.deshdoaba.com

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Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia, Ad Dharm and Dalit Identity in Punjab(Invited Editorial and Article Combined on the 41st Anniversary of Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia)Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia is toPunjab what Mahatma Jyotirao Phuleis to Maharashtra, and just as the Ma-harashtra Dalit movement owes its ori-gin to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, thePunjab Dalit movement is similarly in-debted to Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia. If Mahatma Jyotirao Phulewas influenced by the writings ofThomas Paine, the famous English-born American political activist, theo-rist, philosopher and revolutionary ofthe nineteenth century, Babu ManguRam Mugowalia learnt his lessons ofequality and freedom from the pro-claimed democratic and liberal valuesof the United States of Americawherein he came into contact, duringhis sojourn, with the revolutionaryfreedom fighters popularly known asGhadari Babas, of the historic GhadarLehar. This further cemented his re-solve to fight for a dignified life for themasses by liberating India from theclutches of the British Empire, and toestablish in its place democratic andegalitarian home rule with equality andfreedom for all irrespective of caste,class, creed, language, gender and re-gional differentiations.

Like his nineteenth centuryMaharashtrian counterpart who wasalso a revolutionary social thinker ofthe so-called lower castes, BabuMangu Ram Mugowalia – from one ofthe lowest castes in Punjab - estab-lished the first school of its kind in hisnative village of Mugowal for the chil-dren of those self-same socially ex-cluded sections of the society thatlater came to be designated ScheduledCastes (SCs) under the Government ofIndia (Scheduled Castes) order, 1936,which contained a list (or schedule) ofcastes throughout the British-adminis-tered provinces. He also faced stiff op-position,like his predecessor inMaharashtra, from the so-calledupper/dominant castes of Punjab in hisfierce struggle against oppressivestructures of domination including un-touchability - the most egregious oneamong them. Following into the foot-steps of his revolutionary Ghadariteleadership in the United States ofAmerica, he aspired to both fightagainst the caste-based social evil ofuntouchability and to replace it with anall-encompassing social freedom, aswell as to join the fight to free the sub-jugated India and return to it its politi-cal freedom.

On return to his native villageafter spending 16 years abroad anddiscovering the pervasiveness of un-touchability, Babu Mangu Ram decidedto dedicate rest of his life for theemancipation and empowerment of theso-called low-caste people. In his ownwords: “While living abroad I had for-

gotten about the hierarchy of high andlow, and untouchability; and under thisdelusion returned home in December1925. The same disease from which Ihad escaped started tormenting meagain. I wrote about all this to myleader Lala Hardyal Ji, saying that untiland unless this disease is cured, Hin-dustan could not be liberated. Hence,in accordance with his orders, a pro-gramme was formulated in 1926 forthe awakening and upliftment of theAchhut qaum (untouchable commu-nity) of India” (Kaumi Udarian 1986:23-24).To give a

p r a c t i c a lshape to hisabove-men-tioned re-solve, BabuMangu RamMugowa l i afounded thefamous AdDharm move-ment in thefirst quarterof the 1920s.It was theonly move-ment of itskind in thenorth-west-ern region ofthe countrythat aimed atsecuring a re-s p e c t a b l eplace for thelower castesthrough cultural transformation, spiri-tual regeneration and political asser-tion, rather than seeking patronagefrom above. Comprising all the lowercastes people of the state, the AdDharm built its headquarter named ‘AdDharm Mandal’ in Jalandhar. Seth Kis-han Das of Bootan Mandi - leatherbusiness centre in the vicinity of theBritish military cantonment at Jaland-har – provided major financial supportto the Ad Dharm movement. BabuMangu Ram literally took the move-ment to the doorsteps of the untouch-ables in the region and soon emergedas a cult figure of the Dalits (lowercastes) in Punjab. Like theSatyashodak Samaj movement in Ma-harashtra, the Ad Dharm soon becamea household name among the Dalits ofPunjab. It was for the first time in theforgotten history of the lower castes inthe state that a golden opportunityknocked at their doors to get themunited on a common and distinct plat-form under the leadership of their fel-low-travellers to fight for the mostsought after goal of dignified life andto collectively press their long-pending

claim for a share in the local structuresof power.

In the wake of the limited dem-ocratic political process in 1919 prisedfrom the British Government for the in-stitutionalization of the electoral sys-tem, every community was busy inorganizing its respective members intowell-organized socio-political forces(political parties/organizations); and asa young man freshly-returned from theUS, and meticulously chiselled in thesuperb companionship of the proudGhadarite Babas, Babu Mangu Ram

successfullyg a t h e r e dmany of hisfellow com-munity mem-bers to build aseparate so-cial and politi-c a lorganizationat par withthat of theupper castecommunitieslike the HinduMahasabha ofthe Hindus,M u s l i mLeague of theMuslims andSingh Sabhasof the Sikhs.This limitede l e c t i o n -based legisla-ture- forming-process also

led to the formation of similar Adi-movements in other parts of the coun-try like Adi-Andhras, Adi-Dravidas,Adi-Karnataka in South India and Adi-Hindus in the Uttar Pradesh provinceof North India. Though these differentAdi-movements emerged almost at thesame time in different regions of thecountry, there is no evidence to provethat they were instrumental in the riseof one and another. Each Adi-move-ment was influenced by the then pre-vailing situations in its own specificcontext in the given state.

Babu Mangu Ram Mugowaliaformed the Ad Dharm movement inPunjab to fight for land rights of hispeople who were legally denied to pur-chase agriculture landby the LandAlienation Act of 1900, which prohib-ited the lowest castes along with othernon-agriculture castes from owningagricultural land. Moreover, under thelocal customary law, popularly knownas ‘rayit-nammas’, the so-called un-touchable peoples were even deniedthe ownership rights on the residentialplot of their houses in the segregatedneighbourhoods of the mainstream vil-

lages andneither werethey allowedto build' p u c c a 'houses. Theywere onlypermitted tobuild mud/t h a t c h e dhouses andin returnwere sup-posed to per-form some begar (forced labourwithout wages) in the agriculturefarms of the legal owners of their resi-dential plots. Another important tasktowards the material empowerment ofthe lower castes that this versatileleader of the Ad Dharm movement in-cluded in its mandate was the officialprovision of education and governmentemployment for the lower castes underthe state affirmative action.

Apart from the material uplift-ment of the lower castes, what madeAd Dharm the most politically notice-able and powerful movement of itstime was the foresight of its visionaryleader in setting the goal of bringingthe divergent lower caste communitiesunder a single flag and to transformthem into a distinct single Qaum at parwith other separate Qaums of Hindus,Sikhs, Muslims, Christians etc. Thiswas the most crucial political move onthe part of Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia, the master strategist, who in-tervened at a critical period whenlimited direct elections were scheduledto be held in the state. He pressed fora separate religion for the lower castesof Punjab to be recorded in the 1931Census, who in his opinion were nei-ther Hindus, Sikhs, Muhammadans norChristians. The lower castes, reiteratedBabu Mangu Ram Mugowalia, werethe original inhabitants - Moolnivasis(aboriginal people) of this nation. Thealien Aryan invaders, he continued fur-ther, deprived them of their kingdom,looted them, and finally enslavedthem. In the posterannouncing the firstannual meeting of the Ad Dharm move-ment, Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia,along with Swami Shudranand andBabu Thakur Chand, devoted the entirespace to the hardships faced by theMoolnivasis at the hands of the casteHindus. He also made an appeal to theMoolnivasis to come together to chalkout a programme for their liberationand upliftment. Addressing them asbrothers, he said: “We are the real in-habitants of this country and our reli-gion is Ad Dharm. Hindu Qaum camefrom outside to deprive us of our coun-try and

(Contd. on next page)

Prof (Dr.) Ronki RamFellow & Dean (Faculty of Arts),

Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chair Professor, Panjab University, Chandigarh (India)E-mail: <ronkiram@yahoo.co.in>

Mob: +91-9878682160

Babu Mangu Ram MugowaliaJanuary 14, 1886 – April 22, 1980

Founder of the Ad Dharm Movement Punjab

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 2V0l-13 Issue-6 April 21, 2021

Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia, Ad Dharm and Dalit Identity in Punjab(Coninue from page 1)

enslave us. At one time we reignedover ‘Hind’. We are the progeny ofkings, Hindus came down from Iran toHind and destroyed our Qaum. Theydeprived us of our property and ren-dered us nomadic. They razed our fortsand houses, and destroyed our history.We are seven crores in numbers andare registered as Hindus in this coun-try. Liberate the Adi race by separatingthese seven crores. … Our seven crorenumber enjoy no share at all. We re-posed faith in Hindus and thus suf-fered a lot. Hindus turned out to becallous. Centuries ago, Hindus sup-pressed us; sever all ties with them.What justice can we expect from thosewho are the butchers of the Adi race.The time has come; be cautious, nowthe Government listens to appeals.With the support of a sympatheticGovernment, come together to savethe race. Send members to the Coun-cils so that our Qaum is strengthenedagain. British rule should remain for-ever. Make prayer before God. Exceptfor this Government, no one is sympa-thetic towards us. Never consider our-selves as Hindus at all; remember thatour religion is Ad Dharm” (Kaumi Udarian 1986: 21-22). Keenreaders of Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia have observed that he wasconflicted on the issue of the BritishRaj - on the one hand he feared evengreater oppression under Hindu majori-tarian rule than under the British -whom he also viewed as possible part-ners in facilitating a more equal Indiansociety - but on the other hand he as-pired for the dignity of national inde-

pendence, which necessitated the re-moval of the British. This remained arecurring paradox in his political ap-proach till the achievement of Indianindependence in 1947. In his brilliantarticle entitled Achhut da Swaal (Un-touchability Question), Shaheed Bha-gat Singh supported the Ad Dharmleadership in its tirade against thecaste system, but at the same timehad cautioned them to keep their dis-tance from the British.

The leaders of Ad Dharm thuschose to restore dignity and freedomto the untouchables by detaching themcompletely from Hinduism and re-con-solidating them into their own ancientreligion (Ad Dharm). The long domina-tion by the Aryans, they alleged, madethem oblivious of their native religion.In fact, the task of reviving their an-cient religion was not an easy one forthe Moolnivasis who had forgottentheir Gurus and other religious symbolsduring their long period of persecutionunder the rule of the outsiders. Theyhad been condemned as impure anddeclared unfit to have their own theol-ogy. In order to establish their hege-mony and legitimacy over the enslavedMoolnivasis of Bharat, the Aryan in-vaders eventually metamorphosedthemselves into upper castes of thefirst three Varnas (Brahmans, Ksha-triyas and Vaishyas) of their imposedfourfold social order based on Chatur-Varnavyavastha. The natives of theconquered land were pushed into thefourth Varna of Shudras - consisting ofartisan castes and still other further re-duced into lowest of the low castes,contemptuously dubbed as Untouch-

able peoples.Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia strongly put forth the demandof a separate religion for his low castepeoples in order to forge them togetherinto a distinct Qaum. To revive AdDharm was tantamount to developinga new religion for the native lowercastes people. Babu Mangu Ram’sclaim that the Dalits were the real in-habitants of this land made an enor-mous psychological impact on them. Itprovided a theological podium to sus-tain and reinforce the new Dalit iden-tity. The British Government grantedthem, as demanded, distinct status ofa separate religion - Ad Dharm. The AdDharm was based on the teachingsand inspiration from the spiritual fig-ures of North India Bhakti movement,particularly Guru Ravidass, BhagwanValmik, Sant Kabir and Sant Namdev.In fact, the leaders of the Ad Dharmmovement placed the spiritual figure ofGuru Ravidass in the centre of theirdiscourse around which the entiresocio-political and spiritual parapherna-lia of the movement and the separateDalit religion of Ad Dharm was woven.In this way, Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia played a dominant role in chis-eling the distinct markers of separateDalit identity and restoring the nativestheir lost heroes, Gurus, rich culturalheritage.He strengthened their resolveto become rulers themselves.

During the Census of 1931,around half a million SCs in Punjab re-turned themselves as followers of theirnewly recognized religion - Ad Dharm.Thenceforth, the followers of AdDharm took pride in being addressedas Ad Dharmis. Another equally great

achievement of the Ad Dharm move-ment was that it swept the PunjabProvincial assembly elections in 1937& 1946, which made it an equally im-portant stake-holder in the Punjab leg-islature, perhaps for the first time inthe history of the lower castes in thecolonial India. Moreover, Babu ManguRam Mugowalia and the Ad Dharmmovement provided a fertile ground forsowing the seeds of the mission ofBabasaheb Dr B.R. Ambedkar in Pun-jab. During Dr. Ambedkar’s struggle forthe separate electoral status for theDepressed Classes at the LondonRound Table conferences, Babu ManguRam supported him by sending manytelegrams in his favour in a tie withMahatma Gandhi over the question ofthe leadership of the DepressedClasses in India. An eminent Americansocial scientist, Mark Juergensmeyer,had also noted in his classic ‘ReligiousRebels in the Punjab,’the tremendouscontribution of Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia towards Dalit upliftment inPunjab, by his founding of the AdDharm movement to generate socialand political consciousness among thelowest of the low to help them riseagainst the centuries old discrimina-tory caste system and to establish anegalitarian socio-political order in theimage of Begampura of Guru Ravidass.References: Juergensmeyer, Mark, Religious Rebelsin the Punjab: The Ad Dharm Chal-lenge to Caste, Delhi: Navayana, 2009.

Kaumi Udarian (Punjabi), vol. 1, no. 2,January 1986, pp. 21-24 (Jalandhar, C.L. Chumber, ed.).

Ambedkar Times and Desh Doaba forum Pay Floral Tribute to Mr. Parkash Chand JassalAmbedkar Times and Desh Doaba forum share itsdeep grief with the bereaved family, friends, and fellow-missionaries of Mr. Parkash Chand Jassal Jiwho suddenly left us. He was among the pioneersof the Republican Party of India in Punjab. He wasan untiring follower of Ambedkar mission, a sinceredevotee of Buddhism and a fearless soldier of theRights of Scheduled Castes. In his sudden demise,Mr Jassal has left us with irreparable loss. Through-out his missionary life he never ever compromisedwith wrong values. He began the tradition of cele-

brating the martyrdom day of martyor Sh. RamPrakash Abad Pura (Jalandhar) of 1964 RPI agita-tions. He actively participated in the agitation fordeclaring holiday on the Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R.Ambedkar. He played constructive role in organizingPlumbers' Union. He was also in the forefront of Talhan agitation and had been very active in ChetnaMarch Committee.

Ambedkar Times and Desh Doaba pay floral ribute to the departed noble soul.

Prem Kumar Chumber Editor-In-Chief

Historic picture of Sanghol with Late Mr. Parkash Chand Jassal (Picture credit: P. K. Chumber)

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 3V0l-13 Issue-6 April 21, 2021

Increasing Poverty and Declining Proportion of the Middle Class in Indiaccording to a report released inMarch 2021 by the Pew Re-search Center, Washington

D.C., the number of people livingbelow the poverty line in India is pro-jected to increase by 75 million dur-ing 2020 due to the COVID-19pandemic which is about 60 per centof the increase in the population liv-ing below the poverty line in theworld. The impact of the pandemicon the economy is expected to re-duce the number of middle-incomepeople in India by 32 million which is60 per cent of the decline in thenumber of middle-income people inthe world. The Pew Research Centerhas estimated the number of peopleliving below the poverty line as poor,with US $ 2 or less per capita in-come, per day. To estimate the de-cline in the number of middle-incomepeople, the center has consideredthose people in this group whose percapita, per day income is between US$ 10.01 and $ 20.

Governments from time totime provide definitions of the poverty

line to determine the number of people living below the poverty lineand raise their living standards by ini-tiating welfare schemes for thesepeople. The definitions of the povertyline given by various governments inIndia have been the subject of criti-cism. The definitions suggested bythe Tendulkar Committee (2005), theRangarajan Committee (2012), thePanagarhiya Committee (2015) and afew other committees have beensharply criticized and to date no suchdefinition has been given which hasbeen accepted without criticism. Atthe international level too, manygiven definitions of the poverty lineare not flawless. The definition ofpoverty line given by the World Bankis used in many countries. One of theaims of this bank is to eradicatepoverty from the world. One of thecriticisms of the poverty line given bythis bank is that in this definition, theper capita income, per day has beendeliberately kept low in order to re-flect that the corporate economicgrowth model is helpful in eliminatingpoverty from the world. This criticismseems plausible because how can aperson live above the poverty linewith an income of US $ 2 per capita,per day? Purchasing power parity isused to calculate the country's cur-rency equivalent to US $ 2 when cal-culating income. Using the

purchasing power parity to calculatethe Indian rupee equivalent to one US$ for 2020, one US $ equals 21.35Indian rupees. Thus, US $ 2 wouldbe equivalent to just 42.70 Indian ru-pees. How can one get rid of povertywith only Rs. 42.70 per capita in-come per day? One critique-free def-inition of the poverty line may bepeople living below the poverty lineare the ones unable to meet theirbasic needs — food, clothing, hous-ing, education, health care, clean en-vironment, and social security. Thecorporate world propagates corporatesocial responsibility on a large scale,but its main purpose is to maximizeits profits. The extreme increase inthe wealth of the extremely rich andthe increase in the number of thepoor in India and most of the coun-tries of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic are tearing apart thetune of corporate social responsibil-ity.

During Indira Gandhi's tenureas Prime Minister, one of the coun-try's leading economists, Dr. Bagicha

Singh Minhas had resigned as a mem-ber of the Planning Commission ofIndia. Indira Gandhi was known forher hot-tempered nature but regard-ing Dr. Minhas' resignation, she hadsaid that the Planning Commissionhad lost a top economist. After re-signing, Dr. Minhas wrote a book,“Planning and the Poor'', in which hemade it clear that plans for the well-being of the poor could not be madein air-conditioned rooms. Governmentof India and state government institu-tions are full of economists. Theseeconomists are deliberately givingfoolish arguments, they are trying toequate the high economic growthrate with the development of thecommon man and while they knowthat this eventually goes in favour ofthe corporate world and against thecommon man. They are not ashamedin propagating that the high eco-nomic growth rate of the country in-evitably lifts the common man out ofpoverty and raises his standard of liv-ing. These economists deliberately ig-nore the problems that arise from thecurrent corporate economic model ofthe country, such as unequal distribu-tion of resources and income, inequal-ity, poverty, debt, and hunger, and theresulting social problems and unethi-cal acts such as suicide, looting, mur-der, hooliganism, drugs, theft,robbery, corruption. They do not miss

any opportunity to sing the praises ofthe country's high economic growthrate in the hope of fulfilling their pettymeaningless selfish interests. In addi-tion, emphasizing beyond their nor-mal capacity, these economistsfabricate data and go for conclusions-oriented studies to show their 'sym-pathy' for the common man. Theyleave no stone unturned in makingand preaching nonsensical state-ments. The country's middle-incomegroup continues to be the victim ofmany misconceptions. One of theirbiggest misconceptions is that theyare bearing the brunt of taxes andconcessions / subsidies being givento the poor people at the middle-in-come group’s cost. A student witheven basic knowledge of economicsis well aware that most of the govern-ment's revenue comes from indirecttaxes and the biggest burden of thesetaxes is on the poor. Another big mis-conception of the middle-incomegroup is that they have to rise up toget in the upper-income group soon.In fact, very few people from the mid-

dle- income group are allowed toenter the upper-income group andmore people are pushed into thelower-income group. They are seenplaying a snake-ladder game.

The policies of liberalization,privatization, and globalization havebeen implemented by the Govern-ment of India since 1991 under thepolicy guidelines of the InternationalMonetary Fund and the World Bank.These policies have been dubbed'New Economic Policies'. The agendaof these policies is to strengthen thegrip of the capitalist/corporate worldon the country's economy. The hid-den agenda behind the definitions ofthe poverty line given by 'scholars' atdifferent times is to reduce/eliminatenot only the economic concessions/subsidies already given by the gov-ernment to the poor, various researchstudies conducted in the countryhave made it clear that the 'New Eco-nomic Policies' adopted in the coun-try since 1991 are to take over theagricultural, industrial, and servicessectors by the corporate world.

In capitalist regimes, rulersoften become insensitive to under-standing and solving people's prob-lems. At one point, people wereprotesting outside the palace of theQueen of France. When the queenasked her officials why these peopleare protesting, they said that these

people arehungry dueto lack ofbread. Theq u e e nasked herofficials inamazementthat ifthese peo-ple do notget breadthen whythese peo-ple don'teat cakes /p a s t r i e s ?The same istrue of our scholars, planners, andrulers. The country's marginal andsmall farmers, farm labourers, ruralsmall artisans and informally em-ployed labourers continue to be bur-dened by poverty and debt. While theCOVID-19 pandemic has exacer-bated the problems of these classes,it has also led to a tremendous in-crease in the wealth of the extremely

rich. The recent wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will further weakenthese working classes.

Poverty in India's workingclass people will not go away on itsown. This requires pressure and inter-vention from the working people aswell as strong political will-power.The solution to this problem is to getrid of the corporate economic devel-opment model and adopt a people-friendly and pro-nature economicdevelopment model that ensures ex-pansion and growth of the public sec-tor and monitoring and regulation ofthe private sector. Capital-intensiveproduction techniques must be re-placed by labour-intensive productiontechniques. The scope of MGNREGAneeds to be widened and other simi-lar schemes need to be implementedin villages and cities. Grass growingon the graves of the poor warns cap-italists and governments that growingpoverty anywhere among the workingclass people is a serious threat to thewell-to-do people everywhere. To ad-dress the problem of poverty, financ-ing can be done by raising theexisting tax rates and imposing newtaxes on the capitalist/corporateworld, imposing and ensuring theircollection. In this regard, it is impor-tant to define and implement ‘thepoverty line' as well as ‘the prosperity line'.

Dr. Gian SinghFormer Professor, Department of Economics,

Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab.

+1 (424) 422-7025

A

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 4V0l-13 Issue-6 April 21, 2021

Laura’s Law in Sacramento Countyhis summer the SacramentoCounty Board of Supervisors

will have a big decision to make re-garding whether or not to implement“Laura’s Law.” I want to take this op-portunity in my monthly article to ex-plain to you what this law is, why thisis coming before the Board of Super-visors, and why it is such a big deal.

Laura’s Law is named for 19-year-old Laura Wilcox, who was a col-lege student working in a NevadaCounty mental-health clinic in 2001,when she and two others were shotand killed by a man with untreatedsevere mental illness. After the inci-dent Laura's parents chose to advo-cate for assisted outpatient treatment(AOT) for individuals who meet strictlegal criteria and who, as a result oftheir mental illness, are unable to vol-untarily access community mentalhealth services.

Since then, California coun-ties have the option to “opt in” to theprogram, and that has been done sofar in most of the larger counties. Todate, Sacramento County has beenone of the few larger counties whohas not opted in and has never held a

public hearing at the Board ofSupervisors regarding whether or notto implement the program.

This process changed how-ever with the passage last year of AB1976, which requires counties likeSacramento to hold public hearings atthe Board of Supervisors aboutwhether we will “opt in” or “opt out”,and if we choose to “opt out” wehave to provide specific reasons forthis to the State.

The deadline for SacramentoCounty to have this hearing and for-mally decide will be July 1st of this year.

Earlier this month a mentallyill homeless man assaulted a child onFreeport Blvd. in Sacramento, only tobe released back into the public inless than 24 hours – and this wasafter he had been captured and re-leased previously for assault and bat-tery of another woman. As a formeremergency room nurse, I understandfirsthand that there are people livingin our community who cannot takecare of themselves, and they desper-ately need help.

People like this should be ableto get help before more crimes areperpetuated in our communities – it’sthe compassionate and safe way tomove forward.

I do not know how I will voteon this issue when it comes beforeme as I want to have an open ear toboth sides as well as be able to fullycomprehend the fiscal impacts, but I

do knowthis is ag r o w i n gp r o b l e mand weshould beh a n d l i n gthis prob-lem betterthan we are right now.Thank you for reading – and as al-ways, if you want to contact me, callme at 916-874-5491, or e-mail me atSupervisorFrost@saccounty.net.

Sue Frost represents the 4thDistrict, which includes all or part ofthe communities of Citrus Heights,Folsom, Orangevale, Antelope, RioLinda, Elverta, Gold River, RanchoMurieta, North Highlands,Carmichael, Foothill Farms and Fair Oaks

Sue FrostSacramento County Supervisor

Change of Name

T

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The Ad Dharm Movement and Dr. AmbedkarWhen in 1915Dr. B. R.Ambedkar wasgiving finaltouches to hisPh.D. thesis atColumbia Uni-versity in NewYork, a Punjabiyouth, who

had gone to America a few years ear-lier, was involved in a dangerous mis-sion of smuggling suns fromCalifornia to the Punjab for incitingmutiny in India. This Punjabi youthlater became famous as Babu ManguRam, the founder of the Ad DharmMovement. Mangu Ram was born ina small village Mugowal in districtHoshiarpur, Punjab on 14 January,1886 in an untouchable family; hisfather was a leather merchant. As bythen the doors of education had beenopened to all by the British rulers,Mangu Ram was sent to the schoolin the nearby village, Mahilpur, butthe treatment meted out to him bythe Hindu teacher was far fromhuman. Like Bhim Rao in Satara,Mangu Ram too was made to sitoutside the classroom. Not onlythat, even the teacher would notteach him directly; he was invariablygiven lesson through a Muslim stu-dent. Somehow, Mangu Rampassed his middle examination andjoined high school at Bajwara, anearby town. Here too. He was sub-jected to the same humiliation, andwas made to sit outside the class-room. One day, it rained so heavilythat in spite of taking shelter undera tree, Mangu Ram was completelydrenched. And when the snow-balls,accompanied by high velocitywinds, fell like missiles on him, hewas unable to bear it any longer. So,he ran to take shelter inside theclassroom. As soon as he had en-tered the room, the teacher saw him,and instead of showing any sympa-thy, he started beating him with astick for having come inside. Weepingand crying, Mangoo Ram went out,and somehow reached his home.

Unmindful of the insult andbeating, Mangu Ram again went tothe school next day. As soon as hereached there, he was surprised tosee the teacher in the process of pu-rifying the classroom by sprinklingwater on the wooden table, chair andthe tats on which the students usedto sit. On seeing him, Brahminteacher cried out, “Oh Chandal, youhave come again”. Fearing anotherbeating, Mangoo Ram hastened back,never to go again to the school. Andthat was the end of his education.

With his education coming toan abrupt end, Mangu Ram becameunemployed, and bit frustrated too. In1909, he, along with some otheryoung men from the village, went toCalifornia, U.S.A. in order to earnsome money by working in the PeachOrchards of Fresno and elsewhere inthe San Joaquin valley of central Cal-ifornia. Instead of earning money, he,however, became involved in the ac-tivities of the Ghadar Party, an inter-national network of militant Punjabi

nationalists led by Lala Hardayal. Byhis sheer devotion and sincerity tothe cause of India’s freedom, hecame to be regarded as the most de-pendable and reliable member of theorganization. In 1915, Mangu Ramvolunteered to be one of the fiveGhadarites accompanying a shiploadof guns and propaganda materialheaded for India. This ship was unfor-tunately intercepted by the British asBatavia, and was sealed. It remainedsealed for nearly a year, with the fiveGhadarites as prisoners inside. In themeanwhile, they were prosecuted inabsentia, and sentenced to death fortaking out the weapons illegally onthe ship. On hearing the capital pun-ishment, some patriot Indians in Ger-many decided to help the imprisonedGhadarites. Somehow, they managedto smuggle the prisoners out from thesealed ship, and sent them in differ-ent directions. Mangu Ram was putin a ship going to Manila. By mistake,

however, the ship reached Singapore.Unfortunately for Mangu Ram, herehe was recognized by some traitor In-dians who had earlier worked for theGhadar Party. They informed the Po-lice. By now, for running away fromBatavia, death warrants had been is-sued by the British Government to beexecuted wherever any one of themwas found. Accordingly, the Singa-pore Police began preparing for hisexecution. Then a miracle happened.Just half an hour before his execu-tion, a gentleman named Barde,whom Mangu Ram had never seen ormet, came, caught him by the arm,took him out of the Thana, and put-ting him on the same ship in whichMangu Ram had come, he asked theCaption of the ship to sail for Manila.By the time the Police swung into ac-tion, the ship had crossed the Singa-pore Port Limits. Having failed tointercept the ship, the police caughthold of some drunkard; executed himto cover up their lapse, and an-nounced that Mangu Ram had beenexecuted. This news was later pub-lished in the Indian Newspapers.

For the next 7-8 years, ManguRam hid in the Philippines, and duringthis period he had no contact with hisfamily as no letters could be written

for fear of being intercepted. Takinghim, therefore, as dead, his wife mar-ried Mangu Ram’s elder brother, whowas a widower. The validity of thedeath warrant issued by the BritishGovernment lapsed in 1924. ThenMangu Ram thought of returning toIndia. Accordingly, he came back toPunjab in 1925. Soon thereafter,Mangoo Ram became involved in an-other kind of freedom struggle, theliberation of the untouchables, thepeople among whom he was born,and the people who were meekly suf-fering the atrocities of the Hindus.Babu Mangu Ram’s association withthe Ghadar Party had broadened hisoutlook, and sharpened his skills asan organizer. Soon he found a bandof like-minded young men involved inthe social work, and began organizingthem in order to liberate the down-trodden from the clutches of theHindu social slavery.Encouraged by the response to his

ideas, Babu Mangu Ram convened aConference at his village Mugowal indistrict Hoshiarpur on 11-12 June,1926. Addressing the largely at-tended Conference, Babu Mangu Ramproclaimed that the Untouchablesconstituted a separate Qaum, a reli-gious community like the Muslims,Sikhs and Hindus, and those theywere the original inhabitants of thiscountry. Hence, the movement wasnamed as Ad Dharm; and its leadersdevised distinctive costume, brightred turbans and shashes; coined anew sacred mantra or symbol, “So-hang” and exhorted the people to callthemselves as Ad Dharmis.

The primary object of the AdDharm was to give the untouchablesan alternative religion. Its another ob-ject was to reform the society fromwithin. As social movement, the AdDharm exhorted the people to abstainfrom immoral practices; to lead a lifeof purity and piety; to discard the useof alcohol, drugs, give education toboys and girls, and to treat all menand women equal in the society. Onthe whole, the movement was aimedat giving the untouchables a sense ofpride and dignity as members of theAd Dharm.

The headquarters of Ad

Dharm Mandal were established inJalandhar city from where the move-ment was organized in a systematicmanner, and the devoted missionariesspread the message far and wide inthe Punjab, and even beyond. Sincethe Mandal had accepted Sahib ShriGuru Ravidass Ji as its spiritualleader, the movement became prima-rily popular amongst the Chamars,and they readily adopted the nomen-clature of Ad Dharmi.

At the time, Babu Mangu Ramwas organizing the untouchables ofthe Punjab under the banner of AdDharm; Dr. Ambedkar was fighting asimilar battle in another part of thecountry. Though they were thousandsof miles apart, yet their ideas andmethods of struggle were almostidentical. Both believed that the pres-ent day Scheduled Castes are notHindus, and that their salvation liesonly in being independent of theHindu religion. Both believed in self-help and advocated peacefulmeans to achieve their goal. Bothlaid the greatest emphasis on ‘ed-ucation’. Babasaheb considered“education” the key to allprogress, and Mangu Ram saysthat only “education can lead usto Sachkhand (the realm oftruth).” Again, Babasaheb ex-horted the people to follow theThree Commandments of ‘Educa-tion, Agitation and Organization’to gain power. According toMangu Ram, the poor have threekinds of power: “Qaumiat (collec-tive solidarity), Mazhab (spiritual-ity) and Majlis (organization)”.

Within a year of its founding,the Ad Dharm movement createdquite a stir in the Punjab by con-stant rallies and conferences, ifforced the Government of the dayto take notice of the problems ofthe untouchables. One of the rea-

sons of the poverty and exploitationof the untouchables was the perni-cious system of beggar, the systemunder which they were forced to liveat the beck and call of others andwere obliged to do a great deal ofwork without any remuneration what-soever. The Ad Dharm Mandal agi-tated against the system of beggar,and demanded its abolition. The Man-dal also agitatedfor repealing the Pun-jab Land Alienation Act whichprohibited the untouchables frombuying even a small piece of land.The Ad Dharm movement reached itspeak at the time of 1931 Census. Asa result of their sustained propa-ganda, more than half a million un-touchables declared themselves asAd Dharmis. This showed the organi-zational skill of its leaders. “The mas-sive support”, as says MarkJueregensmeyer,“created politicalcapital, and Mangu Ram used thatcapital in political ways. Ad Dharmicandidates stood for public officesand an alliance was created with theUnionist Party. In both instances,scheduled caste leaders supported bythe Ad Dharm organization achievedpublic positions”.Courtesy: Dr. Ambedkar and Punjab

by D. C. Ahir

www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 6V0l-13 Issue- 6 April 21, 2021

BABU MANGU RAM MUGOWALIA - A PROFILEabu Mangu Ram Mugowaliacombined in his personage thequalities of a fierce revolution-

ary, a staunch patriot, a devoted cru-sader against social evils and aboveall a true humanitarian through. Bornamong the lowliest of the low, hecrossed all social barriers dauntlesslyand suffered all sorts of indignities oflife and made his way to reach thepinnacle of greatness.

Babu Mangu Ram Mugowaliarepresents a rare example among therevolutionaries Ghadarite philosophy.In those dark days, it was rare for anuntouchable to understand theessence of revolution against imperi-alism. But he rose to the occasionand proved his mettle. He joined theGhadar Party when he went to Cali-fornia (U.S.A.) in 1909 A.D. as its ac-tive member. Babu Mangu RamMugowalia, it appears desired an es-tablishment of society which must bebased on Equality. And he saw onebeing fought for by the Ghadarites asthey had abolished all social distinc-tions among themselves first which,perhaps, is not the practice with themodern community or who professchange of the sort. As Babu ManguRam Mugowalia spoke of the GhadarParty, "It was a new society, we wereall treated as equals".

As a Ghadarite, he took partin the organizational activities at firstbut in 1915 A.D. an occasion camewhen he volunteered to be one of thefive Ghadarites in a dangerous mis-sion involving smuggled weaponsshipped from California to the Punjab.Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia waschosen by the leader of the GhadarParty at that time. Mr. Sohan SinghBhakna, the Secretary of GhadarParty, whom Babu M.R. Mugowaliaremembered as "Godha" sent the fiveto Los Angeles, where they boardedan intermediary boat, after depositingall of their personal identificationswith "Godha", for the rest of the jour-ney's saga. Mangu Ram would beknown by a pseudonym, "Nizamuddin".

Putting his life into dangerand travelling through Secrorro Is-lands and halting at Mexico, Calado-nia Islands, Manila, Singapore andagain to Manila where he stayed forsometime and finally to India wherehe reached in 1925 A.D.

It is after 1925, that his ca-reer as a crusader against untoucha-bility and casteism began. As hetravelled from Ceylon to Punjabthrough Madurai, Madras, Bombay,Poona, Sitara, Nagpur and Delhi, heobserved the condition of the un-touchables on route and was dis-mayed to see these people beingtreated so badly. In Madurai, whenBabu Mangu Ram visited theMeenakshi Temple, he was told to becareful not to touch Achhut (Un-touchables) since they assumed byhis dress that he was of a decentcaste. By the time Babu M.R. Mu-gowalia had reached the Punjab, hewas convinced that there was needfor social change.

Babu M.R. Mugowalia wroteto the Ghadar Party headquarters in

San Francisco about the difficult con-ditions of the Untouchables in India.He wrote them that their freedomwas more important to him than In-dian freedom. According to Babu Mu-gowalia, leaders of the Ghadar Partythen disengaged him to work withScheduled Castes (Untouchables),and wrote him that they would sup-port him in his tasks. Thus, in a newcontext, the old revolutionary fromFresno continued the Ghadar spirit.This clearly shows that evenGhadarites had realized the need toawaken these slaves of Indian Society- the then Untouchables.

When he started his task ofsocial reform i.e. establishing schoolsfor untouchables poors, he began tolook for an al-t e r n a t i v ewhich mayprovide a leverfor the unityof the un-t o u c h a b l epoors andthen todemonstratethrough thatalternative thepolitical pres-ence of theuntouchablesin the politicsof Punjab ofthose days. Itmust be re-m e m b e r e dthat Punjabwas alreadyw i t n e s s i n gpolitical up-haul and eachclass was try-ing to reap atpolitical harvesting. Babu Mangu RamMugowalia, along with other con-scious men from his class, thenfounded on June 11-12, 1926 A.D.at his village Mugowal Ad-Dharma asthe alternative.

Ad-Dharma's main aim was tocreate a feeling of identity among theuntouchable class which numbered atthat time about one fourth of the en-tire population of India. Babu M.R.Mugowalia and the early leaders ofthe Ad-Dharma perceived their firsttask to be the creation of a new reli-gion. In their initial meetings, even be-fore they developed an organisationalstructure, they labored over a basicideological theme upon which theycould build a system of religious ideasand symbols. Its central motive wasnovel: the idea that untouchablesconstitute a quaum, a distinct reli-gions community similar to those ofMuslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and thatthe quam had existed from time im-memorial. It was a myth of power ad-dressed to the people without power.It was intended to communicate thesense of strength that Babu M.R. Mu-gowalia felt belonged to his caste fel-lows by right. As he explained, "Theuntouchables have their powers:communal pride (qaumiat), religion(mazhab), and organisation (mazlis)".The hope was that these powerscould be fostered and spiltered

through force of ideology.Ad-Dharma was almost Babu

M.R. Mugowalia's show. It inspiredthe lowliest of the low to fight forequality, economic, social and politi-cal in a converted way. The Ad-Dharma, under the dynamicleadership of a true revolutionary likeBabu Mugowalia, was an aggressiveand autonomous movement or com-pared to similar movements that tookbirth in other parts of the country.Within a short span of time, it joltedthe 'haves-not' through its rallies,publications, deputations and demon-strations to demand new governmentpolicies or to protest upper caste dis-criminations. The most influential po-litical action of the movement that

can be listedas one of itsgreat achieve-ments, was toget ScheduledCastes regis-tered as a fol-lowers of newreligion. In1931 A.D.census, almosthalf a million ofthem regis-tered as "Ad-Dharmi" ratherthan Hindus orMuslim orSikh. Mr. MarkJuergensmeyerwrites as,"Later in the1930, their po-litical influenceturned towardselectoral poli-tics, in alliancefirst with the

predominantly Muslim Unionist Partyand then with the Congress. It wasthe logical consequence of the politi-cal awakening created among themby Ad-Dharma Movement in Punjab,whose undisputable leader was BabuMangu Ram Mugowalia.

Thus through several means,then, the Ad-Dharmis presented to itsfollowers a vision of a world whichboth confirmed and transformed therude experience of untouchables. Andin doing so it implied that a differentsort of world was coming into being,for the separate identity so definedsignaled hope for a society in whichsocial groups carried no inherentmark of judgment and in which thebenefits of progress could be sharedby all.

Cultural and humanistic as-pects of the personality of Babu M.R.Mugowalia were even more glaring.As a humanist his vision of the worldwas near to rationalist view of theuniverse (we can even say materialis-tic as well though in rudimentaryform), he believed in the inherentequality of all human-beings; he wasagainst all sorts of exploitations ofman against man; and he earnestlydevoted his bodily energy and finan-cial resources in founding a new so-ciety based upon the gospel ofequality. His ideas about the universeand equality of all men are echoed in

the Ad-D h a r m aM a n d a l( 1 9 2 6 -1931) re-port in thepreparationof whichBabu Mu-g o w a l i ahad playeda big role. Itreads as follows:"Nature (Qudrat Ka Mela) createdhuman beings from original source(Adi) at the time that it created all be-ings in the earth. The knowledge ofmoral behaviour (karm-dharm) wasalso given to them at that time by Na-ture. Nature made humans superior toanimals, but among humans all were equal.

In the beginning, when Na-ture created human beings, there wasno discrimination. There were no dif-ferences and no quarrels. In particu-lar, there were no such concepts ashigh or low caste. God (Ishwar) wasmeditating; all was in harmony. Every-one believed in one dharma whichNature had given then through intel-lect and knowledge". Babu M.R. Mu-gowalia did not mean by the word'God' as something supernatural be-ings who is said to have created theworld and since then regulating it asis believed in theology. Mark Juer-gensmeyer makes it quite clear in hiswork, Religion As Social Vision, thus:"Occasionally there is mention of Godin a more formal sense". "God (Ish-war) was meditating; all was in har-mony". And Babu Mangu RamMugowalia made a practice of usingthe name Adi-Purkh for the divine -literally "the originator", or the "Orig-inal Being". All these designations, al-though they are theistic terms, areimpersonal in intent.

He, all his life, stood like arock against social evils such as un-touchability, caste-system, womenslavery, exploitation etc. His life in cul-tural side symbolized with the cre-ation of new social virtues such aswomen's rights, the value of educa-tion, abstinence from alcohol anddrugs - which were 'nothing less thana new concept of moral order'. ThusBabu M.R. Mugowalia, a Ghadariterevolutionary, social crusader, politicalactivist and strategist and as a hu-manitarian fought for the establish-ment of an ideal society till hebreathed last. The noble way of com-memorating celebrating the 99thBirth Anniversary (for that matterevery birth anniversary) of BabuMangu Ram Mugowalia - who desiredhis movement to coincide withAmbedkarite Movement to give themovement of depressed classes acountry-wide stature, is to emulatehim. Therefore, let us resolve to emu-late the great Babu Mangu Ram Mu-gowalia - patriot, social revolutionary,a successful strategist and, above all,a humanist.Courtesy: Souvenir Babu Mangu RamMuggowalia 99th Birth Anniversarypublished by MR. C. L. Chumber

M.A., M.Phil.President, Ambedkar Mission Society, Punjab (Regd)

Prof. G.S. BALL (Late)

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www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 7V0l-13 Issue- 6 April 21, 2021

Bhimam Sharnam Gacchamiabasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s130th jayanti is being

celebrated all over the world todaywith usual fervor despite vicious pandemic threat. Despite the restric-tions and advisories from the Govern-ment owing to alarming second surgeof Covid-19 in the country, the enthu-siasm of Babasheb’s followers contin-ues to be sky high in paying tributesto their messiah and pacing up themarch to achieve his avowed missionwith renewed resolve. It is also theday to take stock of the progressmade by the country and the margin-alized sections under the Constitutionfathered by him which is based onthe principles of equality, liberty, fra-ternity and justice. It is over sevendecades that the country has beenfree from the foreign yoke and themarginalized sections constitutionallyliberated from the age old thralldom.Viewed in terms of the overallprogress made by the country, it goeswithout saying that the Constitutionhas stood the test of times notwith-standing the multiple socio-politicalhurdles being created in its smoothfunctioning by the people of orthodoxfossilized mindset. It promises brightprospects for the country if followedsincerely in its letter and spirit by allthose responsible to work it. As re-gards the deprived sections, it has along way to go mainly because of thelackadaisical approach of the peopleof Brahmanical mindset at the helmsof affairs, and the age old prejudicesof the selfish Hindu orthodoxy. Beingstrong opponents of the Constitution,such elements seem to be hell bentto reinforce Manu Smriti consideredas the holy law book of the Hinduswhich was set ablaze by Babasahebon 25 December 1927 as a blackbook of unparalleled inhuman laws onearth. The Brahmanical forces are la-tently and patently at work againstthe interest of the marginalized peo-ple at all levels in the country. The un-fortunate downtrodden sections are,therefore, always at the receiving enddue to the Government machinerybeing predominantly controlled andrun by such people. Resultantly per-petual poverty, illiteracy, unemploy-ment, marginalization, deprivationand criminal victimization continue tobe the destiny of these unfortunatecitizens of India. One can refer to theNational Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) Reports to realize the gloomypicture in this regard. As a result, theconstitutional ideals of liberty, equal-ity, fraternity and justice, and Babasa-heb’s ideals of ‘annihilation of caste’;‘Everyone being Indian first and In-dian last’; ‘one India one people’ andegalitarian social order remain moreor less to be the ideals only so far.Babasaheb wanted his people educa-tionally, socially, economically and po-litically sitting at the pinnacle of apalace overseeing community’s inter-est and leading the country to thepinnacle of glory. He struggledthroughout and sacrificed his life fortheir uplift and empowerment. Unfor-tunately most of the beneficiaries ofhis sacrifices also turned out to beself-centered and greedy for power

and position. Almost all their politicalrepresentatives joined the oppositecamp leaving them in the lurch.Babasaheb called them politicalvagabonds and traitors of the com-munity. He once remarked: “…But forthese black-legs, whowere barter-ing away therights and interests of the communityfor their petty personal gains wewould have won the battle of our po-litical emancipation long ago...” Feel-ing distressed at the situation, hestrongly recommended abolition ofpolitical reservation on August 27,1955.

Speaking of the educatedpeople of these sections, he ex-pressed his dismay in a speech deliv-ered at Agra on 18th March 1956saying: “…These educated personshave betrayed me. I expected that

they would do social service aftergetting higher education. But what Isee is a crowd of small and big clerkswho are busy in filling their own bel-lies....” Opening his heart out to hisPersonal Secretary Mr. N.C. Rattu on31st July 1956, he said with tearsrolling down the cheeks: “…WhateverI have been able to achieve is beingenjoyed by the educated few, whowith their deceitful performanceshave proved to be the worthless lot.They live for themselves and theirpersonal gains. My lieutenant inwhom I had full faith and confidenceto run the movement are fightingamong themselves for leadership andpower. Tell my people that whatever Ihave done, I have been able to doafter passing through crushing mis-eries and endless troubles all my lifefighting with my opponents. Withgreat difficulty I have brought thisCaravan where it is seen today. Let itmarch on and further on despite thehurdles, pitfalls and difficulties thatmay come in its way. If my people arenot able to take it, they should leaveit where it is seen today, but in no cir-cumstances should they allow theCaravan to go back.”

According to Babasaheb, theproblem of the marginalized sectionsis political, which cannot be solvedunless political power comes in theirhands. The political power is a key toall social progress and to bring salva-

tion to them.In his land-mark speechat the First

Round Table Conference at London on20th November 1930, he said: “…Wefeel that nobody can remove ourgrievances as well as we can, and wecannot remove them unless we getpolitical power in our own hands.”Speaking to his people at Nagpur on18th July 1942, he said: “…The onlything we can depend upon for ourcontinued progress is the politicalpower without which we will perish.It is a question of life and death forus.” Delivering the historical speechin the Constituent Assembly while

presenting the final Draft Constitutionon 25 November 1949, he said: “…There can be no gainsaying that po-litical power in this country has toolong been the monopoly of a few andthe many are not only beasts of bur-den, but also beasts of prey. This mo-nopoly has not merely deprived themof their chance of betterment; it hassapped them of what may be calledthe significance of life. These down-trodden classes are tired of beinggoverned; they are impatient to gov-ern themselves. This urge for self-re-alization in the downtrodden classesmust not be allowed to develop intoa class struggle or class war. It wouldlead to a division of the House. Thatwould indeed be a day of disaster.”He emphasized this in his writingsand many of other speeches.The Moolmantra given by Babasahebto capture political power is the‘unity’ of all the downtrodden sec-tions. According to him, it is the unityamong our people that can take themto the seat of power. He strongly andrepeatedly reminded the people ofthis and emphasized in his writingsand speeches right from the begin-ning. Addressing the All India De-

pressed Classes at Nagpur on 19thJuly 1942, he said: If we have not sofar achieved the position in the Con-stitution which is due to us, it is be-cause we have not been united.” Inhis speech there on 20th July 1942,he said: “I want assurance ofstrength, unity and determination tostand for our rights, fight for ourrights and never to return until wewin our rights. My final words of ad-vice to you are: ‘Educate, Agitate andOrganize: have faith in yourself andnever lose hope’.” In his speech atJallandhar on 27 October 1951, hesaid: “… we can achieve somethingonly if we unite. United we stand anddivided we fall.” In his speech at Agraon 18th March 1956, he asserted: “Ihave got for you reservation andother safeguards and proper provisionfor education of your children. Now itis your duty to continue the struggleas one strong united force for removalof educational, economic and socialinequality. For this purpose you willhave to be prepared for all sorts ofsacrifices and even to shed yourblood.”

The task of achieving unity ofall ranks of the deprived sections, par-ticularly when they stand divided notonly into multiple castes themselvesbut also into millions of social, cul-tural and political groups created andrun by handful persons of “R”sguided mostly by their self interest,seems to be very difficult. The situa-tion may appear to be grim but notimpossible. We have some sincereand committed youth and enlightenedAmbedkarites and followers of oursaints and Gurus who have unim-peachable dedication to the cause ofcommunity. Above all, Babasaheb’sphilosophy, life and mission are al-ways there as beacon to guide hispeople through thick and thin. Withhis vow “It is my solemn vow to diein the service and cause of thosedowntrodden people among whom Iwas born, I was brought up and I amliving. I would not budge an inch frommy righteous cause...” and “If I fail todo away with the abominable thrall-dom and inhuman injustices underwhich the class, into which I wasborn, has been groaning, I will put anend to my life with a bullet” in thehearts and minds, and on the lips oftrue Ambedkarites and well-wishersof the community, the task cannot beinsurmountable.

The mission ‘unity’ to accom-plish Babasaheb’s ultimate mission ispossible if his people take refuge inhim and his philosophy. They have tohave the chant “Bhimam SharnamGacchami” always in their heart,mind and on lips. Imbibing Babasa-heb’s spirit, they need to join heads,hearts and hands together, marchahead fearlessly chanting ‘BhimamSharnam Gachhami”. This can onlybe their true tribute to the great sonof India, messiah of the humanity andan icon of his people, on his 130thJayanti. The destiny will surely be-stow smile on them and the destina-tion – mission will kiss their feetsooner than later.

Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat.

Prithvi Raj Kumar

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www.deshdoaba.comwww.ambedkartimes.com 8V0l-13 Issue- 6 April 21, 2021

am stationed in Jalandhar, animportant town of the Doaba re-

gion of Punjab. As usual, AmbedkarJayanti was celebrated and observedwith fervor and enthusiasm to re-member and pay tributes to the great-est son of India in the contemporarytimes in spite of Covid constraintsand restrictions. Each and every local-ity involving the cross sections of thesociety, hosted events and functionsto observe the day with all solemnityand reverence. It was a matter of sat-isfaction to note that acceptance andrecognition of Babasaheb Ambedkarwas growing at a pace which sur-prised many particularly those whoconsciously or otherwise tried to un-dermine Ambedkar and his legacy be-cause of traditional caste-riddenconsiderations and resultant mindset.

The tragedy of the matteris that Ambedkar nevergot his due in the media,school curriculum, acade-mia and other socio-polit-ical activities of thesociety willingly or volun-tarily. He remained a cru-sader throughout his lifefor the causes concerningthe weaker sections ofthe society and alsowomen folk. BabasahebAmbedkar fought withMahatma Gandhi, Con-gress party and its leader-ship, Manuwad andManuwadis single hand-edly as a most qualifiedand competent person ofhis times for equality andjustice to the marginal-ized sections of the soci-ety. Due recognition andsupport was hard tocome by only because ofhis low position in thecaste hierarchy. Withgreat reluctance, he wasallowed to enter the Constituent As-sembly and later made Chairman ofthe Drafting Committee of the As-sembly as he had already proved him-self in the early sittings of theConstituent Assembly which com-pelled the leadership including his op-ponents and critics to take him onboard and he fully justified the choiceby delivering one of finest constitu-tions in the world. Even then he couldnot get due space in the polity andsociety of India. It was unfortunateand regrettable. Babasaheb resignedin 1951 from the Cabinet of PMJawaharlal Nehru on issues like HinduCode bill meant to reform the society,economic policies for socio-economic

development and foreign policy toward off danger to our security andget a dignified position for India in thecomity of nations among others.Against the caste ridden social order,he embraced Buddhism in October,1956, a couple of months before hisdeath in December, 1956. Even afterhis death, Ambedkar still remained apariah both in the polity and societyof the country for which he did a lot.It was the height of hypocrisy. But asMahatma Gandhi said, ‘You can criti-cize Ambedkar but you cannot ignorehim’, Ambedkar could not be sup-pressed for long. His legacy is so po-tent and his work and mission sorelevant he came out on his ownstrength not only in India but in theworld at large. Babu Kanshi Rambrought his political legacy to the fore

beginning 1970s. PM VP Singh andthe likes of Ram Vilas Paswan wereinstrumental in conferring the BharatRattan on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in early1980s. The statues and other memo-rial sites of Ambedkar became thenorm not only in India but abroad tooto relate to the weaker sections of thesociety. The visionary stipulation of‘One Vote – One Value’ in the demo-cratic edifice of India so aptly intro-duced by Ambedkar himself made allpolitical forces to fall on each otherto claim the legacy of Ambedkar.Even social organizations like RSSetc. are keen to own Ambedkar. Theyneed to shed inherent inconsistenciesin their agenda and reconcile with

Ambedkar and his mission, if they re-ally intend to make a dent in the so-cial structures to bring about theirmuch publicized idea of ‘Samrasta’.There is no other way. Ambedkar willremain a force to reckon with in theyears to come. Ambedkar’s fragrancewould spread as Allma Iqbal said insome other context:Uthaye Kuch Waraq Lale Ne, KuchNargis Ne, Kuch Gul NeChaman Mein Har Taraf Bikhri HuwiHai Dastan Meri

Some leaves were picked upby the tulip, some by the narcissus,some by the roseMy story is scattered around every-where in the garden

Urha Li Qumriyon Ne, Tootiyon Ne,Andleebon Ne

Chaman Walon Ne Mil Kar Loot LiTarz-e-Faghan Meri

The turtle-doves, parrots, and nightin-gales pilfered awayThe garden’s denizens jointly robbedaway my plaintive way

The month of April this yearstarted with a befitting tribute toAmbedkar on his birth anniversary onApril 14. In pursuance of our proposalto get declared April 14 as Interna-tional Day of Equality under the aegisof the UN which is lying in the Min-istry of External Affairs of GOI, theProvince of British Columbia ofCanada proclaimed to observe April14 as “Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Day ofEquality” taking the cue from the Cityof Burnaby of Canada which made asimilar proclamation last year, 2020.In this regard, it will not be out ofplace to mention and appreciate therole and efforts of Chetna Associationof Canada. Similarly Federation ofAmbedkarite and Buddhist Organisa-tions (FABO), Global AmbedkariteConvention of the UK, inter alia, arefully engaged in the proposal. Hope-fully, some of entities in the UK would

soon comeon boardand honourDr. Ambed-kar as theProvince ofBritish Co-lumbia did.We areconf identthat theday is nottoo farw h e ncountr ieswould takedue note ofit and the proposal will be firmlyrouted to the UN by the stake holdersworldwide. We hope GOI would un-derstand and wake up in time to get

the iconic person-ality of India,B a b a s a h e bAmbedkar recog-nized internation-ally to add to the‘soft power’ ofIndia diplomaticallyand rightly so.It is a matter ofsatisfaction thatthe legacy thelegacy of Ambed-kar is gaining fur-ther roots andstrength in theDoaba region of

Punjab with every successive year. Imyself attended various events andfunction this year in Jalandhar, 130thbirth anniversary of the leader onApril 14 viz. i) Chetna March on April13 at the eve of the anniversary. Inspite of the Covid restrictions andconstraints, it was a spontaneousshow by the followers of Babasahebii) Sardhanjali function at Vidya Dhamarranged by the Samrasta Chapter ofthe North Zone of RSS . As I said ear-lier that RSS needs to understand andreconcile with Ambedkar and histhought for the larger good of the so-ciety rather than selectively quotingAmbedkar to justify their position iii)Function as the ‘Service Day’ to paytributes to Babasaheb at the Jaland-har Regional Passport office and iv)Participated in the Webinar on Dr.B.R. Ambedkar hosted by GlobalAmbedkarites Convention of the UK.Salute to Bbasaheb Ambedkar and hislegacy which is bound to get furthercurrency and strength in the years tocome. It is my firm belief. I concludethis as my humble tributes to thegreatest son of India, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

Ambedkar Jayanti, 2021– Solute to a Potent Legacy

Ramesh ChanderAmbassador - I.F.S. (Retired)91-99885-10940

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