kapoor 2003

8/16/2019 Kapoor 2003

1/6

Economic and Political Weekly December 27, 20035344

Perspectives

S D K APOOR

In one of the essays, ‘The AmericanExperience of B R Ambedkar’ in-cluded in her book, From Untouch-able to Dalit , Eleanor Zelliot writes: “Adirect comparison between the Negroes of America and Untouchables of India doesnot appear in Ambedkar’s writings.” Shemay be right, in a way, but Ambedkar doesmake comparison between slaves anduntouchables, cites parallel cases and alsoshows how Hindus lack social and publicconscience as against the white Americans. 1The reason why Zelliot finds no directcomparison between the two oppressedgroups is that Ambedkar found no racialbasis for untouchability. From this shededuces that Ambedkar was not influ-enced by the struggle of Negroes (theyprefer to call themselves African Ameri-cans or Blacks) in America but used his

“knowledge of American culture to analysehis own country’s social situation”. Thus,according to her, the American experienceof Ambedkar “seems to be chiefly in deve-loping his commitment to a pragmatic,flexible democratic system”. Zelliot seemsto limit Ambedkar’s interest in Americato the effort made by white American tocreate an egalitarian democracy. 2 Forher Ambedkar’s experience of Black Americans counts for nothing.

Apart from the trappings of Americandemocracy to which Ambedkar wasexposed, there was another reality, the

Black American reality, that was strug-gling to assert itself. I believe that theBlack American component of his Ameri-can experience has been glossed over orhas not been sufficiently researched. SinceBlack struggle is integral to Americanexperience, it is difficult to keep this partout of Ambedkar’s experience of America.

The period of Ambedkar’s stay atColumbia University (1913-16) coincidedwith the most crucial period in Black American history. It was the period of Harlem Renaissance when Black Ameri-can writers and thinkers were trying toseparate those aspects of their existencethat made them different from the whites.In fact, they were struggling to free them-selves from the white imagination whichhad defined their existence for them. Theirstruggle did not end with the Civil Warand the Fourteenth Amendment of theconstitution of the US. It continued long

after the period of Reconstruction both inthe south and the north. Malcolm X, inthe first chapter of his autobiography titled‘Nightmare’ mentions the warnings andthreats given by the Ku Klux Klan raidersto his family that they better leave thetown. Malcolm’s father was a dedicatedorganiser for Marcus Aurelius Garvey’sUniversal Negro Improvement Associa-tion. The incident took place beforeMalcolm X’s birth. 3 The struggle inten-sified in the 1950s and the 1960s movingfrom civil rights (non-violent struggle of Martin Luther King Jr) to human rights

(violent struggle represented by MalcolmX). Black power movement bordering onseparatism and Black Muslim movementwere other manifestations of that struggle.As late as 1992 Arthur Schlesinger Jrwrote that “racism has been a great na-tional tragedy”. 4 It is not surprising, there-fore, that in India a large number of dalitwriters, particularly in Maharashtra, com-pared their struggle with that of Blacks inAmerica. The Dalit Panther Movementwas modelled on Black Panther Move-ment. V S Naipaul writes in India: A

Mil lion Mut inies Now that NamdeoDhasal’s career was like the career of anumber of Black Power people in the US. 5Sharad Kumar Limbale, one of the promi-

nent dalit writers, has written his PhDdissertation on Negroes and dalits.Even if it is conceded that the untouch-

ables in India were of the same racial stock as the caste Hindus, although it has notbeen conclusively established as yet, it doesnot follow that the comparison betweenthe two cannot be made. James Baldwin,while emphasising the uniqueness of Black experience in America, finds similaritiesbetween the Blacks and the oppressedgroups in other countries. In a piece onJames Baldwin, Stephen Spender writes:“If the Negro problem is resolvable, theonly useful way of discussing it is to con-sider American Negroes in a situation com-parable to that of workers and Negroeselsewhere (like dalits in India). To writeas though Negroes do not exist anywhereexcept in America is to induce despair, tosuggest that in America, white and black,cannot become integrated to the (ratherlimited) extent to which they have been,for example, in Brazil. It is in fact playingin the hands of black Muslims whoseposition is that America – world even –has to choose between having but black

or nothing but white people by which itis meant that it would be undemocratic tohave nothing but the black majority.” 6 Thecomparison between the oppressed groupsis natural despite different historical situ-ations because the process of liberation isalmost similar. Although the direct com-parison between the Blacks and untouch-ables is rather limited in Ambedkar’swritings, the influence of America, in-cluding Black America, goes deeper thandirect comparisons can show. I find markedsimilarities between W E B DuBois andB R Ambedkar in the process of liberation

B R Ambedkar,W E B DuBois and theProcess of Liberation

B R Ambedkar’s American ‘experience’ helped him hone hiscommitment to a pragmatic, flexible democratic system. For most authors, Ambedkar was not influenced by the Black Americanstruggle, though his stay in America coincided with anefflorescence of Black protest literature. Instead he used hisknowledge of American culture to analyse his own country’s

social situation. This essay analyses the writings of Ambedkar and W E B DuBois as both sought a way out to liberate their long oppressed peoples.

8/16/2019 Kapoor 2003

2/6

Economic and Political Weekly December 27, 2003 5345

of their people. It is here that the compari-son is valid and ought to be considered.

Slaves and Untouchables

In an essay, ‘Slaves and Untouchables’,Ambedkar compares the two inhumansystems pointing out the level of segrega-tion and the degree of psychological dam-

age caused by them. “Slavery was neverobligatory. But untouchability is obliga-tory. The law of slavery permitted eman-cipation. Once a slave always a slave wasnot the fate of the slave. In untouchabilitythere is no escape. Once an untouchablealways an untouchable. The other differ-ence is that untouchability is an indirectform of slavery. A deprivation of a man’sfreedom by an open and direct way is apreferable form of enslavement. It makesthe slave conscious of his enslavement andto become conscious of slavery is the firstand most important step in the battle forfreedom. But if a man is deprived of hisliberty indirectly he has no consciousnessof his enslavement. Untouchability is anindirect form of slavery.” 7

Columbia University, where Ambedkarwas working for his degree, was close toHarlem, and it seems unlikely that he had noknowledge of the stirrings going on there.Besides, there were two prominent Black leaders whose approaches to Black prob-lems were diametrically opposed. Theywere Booker T Washington and W E BDuBois who disagreed not only over the

nature of education Blacks should receivebut also the direction their struggle shouldtake. Washington wanted his people not toaspire to be like white but be satisfied withthings they could do. In other words, he wasfor the status quo. It was reflected in hisfamous slogan ‘cast your bucket where youare’ ( Up from Slavery ). Dhananjay Keerin his biography, Dr Ambedkar: Life and

Mission 8 and W N Kuber in B R Ambedkar mention Booker T Washington and the goodwork he had done at Tuskegee Institute. 9A N Rajsekhariah in his book, B R Ambedkar:The Politics of Emancipation , mentions,not only Booker T Washington but alsoW E B DuBois. This is what Rajsekhariahwrites about Washington: “One of the mostremarkable men America has produced, aman born in slavery but lifted by his ownvision and perseverance to a position of leadership and power. The son of a slavewoman, Booker T Washington struggledto acquire an education for himself, thendedicated his life to educating others. Hisis the story of almost unbelievable devo-tion and selflessness, an inspiration topeople all over the world as long as men

recognise the value of courage and humandignity”. Rajsekhariah adds: “How couldAmbedkar escape the influence of such asilent revolution that was brought aboutby Booker T Washington, about whom hehad learnt so much while in America.” 10Rajsekhariah does not mention DuBois insuch glowing terms although he was doingmuch more revolutionary work than

Washington. DuBois wanted his people toeducate themselves in the best mannerpossible – not just for mechanical work which was the object of Tuskegee institute– and work for change so that they couldnot only compete with the white on equalfooting but also help raise their unfortu-nate brethren. Towards the end of his book Rajsekhariah mentions DuBois to whomAmbedkar had sent a letter exploring thepossibility of taking the question of theuntouchables to the newly born UnitedNations Organisation. The letter was sentto the University of Atlanta, Georgia, USwhere DuBois was working as a professor.The letter was despatched on July 2, 1946. 11Ambedkar probably had no time to pursuethe matter as soon after the British govern-ment announced that it would hand overpower to Indian leaders by June 1948. Ido not think it was a sudden revelation toAmbedkar that DuBois was a prominentBlack leader and could help him in hiscrusade against untouchability. It appealsto reason that he must have known DuBoisor read his books during his stay in the US.DuBois published his important book, The

Souls of Black Folk , in 1903 and it becamean instant success. Its readers were im-pressed by the fresh approach to the Black problem. Saunders Redding wrote that thebook “may be seen as fixing that momentin history when the American Negro beganto reject the idea of the world’s belongingto white people only, and to think of himself as a potential force in the organisation of society”. 12 Ambedkar was a bibliophileand, according to Dhananjaya Keer, hebought about 2,000 old books in NewYork itself. It is unlikely that Ambedkarwouldn’t have seen the book or even boughtit. It is said that the steamer in whichAmbedkar had sent his pile of books wasdestroyed by a submarine. Some of theprecious books were lost this way. He hadalso sent some books with his friendsreturning from America but not all booksfinally reached him. I am sure some futurescholar who will have access to the pileof papers still lying unpublished, will comeacross the name of DuBois and other Black American writers.

In polite conversation quite often weadvance the argument that since law has

taken care of casteism and racism, it ispointless to talk about it. But a singleincident in Los Angeles or in a remotevillage in Rajasthan or Bihar exposes thefalsity of this argument. Similarly, it isfacile to argue that racism and casteismwere invented to deal with a particularhistorical situation and it was necessary atthat particular point of time. Ambedkar

argues that a division of labour eventuallybecame a division of labourers and becamethe basis of graded inequality. A systemthus invented doesn’t suddenly disappearwith a change in historical situation. Itacquires association and mythical, evenrational, justification. The power of theprivileged whether in India or the US restsupon lies which are propagated in such amanner that they get internalised. Evenafter the lie on which the entire structureof racism and casteism is based is exposed,it continues to exist in the minds of people.

Dalits in India took a long time, as com-pared to Blacks in America, in reachingthe level of awareness of their predicament.And even when they did reach that level,their awareness was still enmeshed in thecomplex hierarchy of caste within theirown group. In Laxman Mane’s Outsider the protagonist fights against the strangle-hold of caste throughout his life but endsup by accepting the same debasing andlimiting system against which he had earlierrevolted. It is another thing that he did thisto please his father. One is tempted to ask whether it is the expression of related into-

lerance or a kind of assimilation into thelarger world of caste. A character in LorraineHansberry’s play Les Blancs has this to sayabout racism, and it could be applied tocasteism as well. “Race-racism is a device.No more, no less. It explains nothing…Iam simply saying that a device is a devicebut it also has consequences; once in-vented it takes on a life, a reality of its own.So in one century, men invoke the deviceof religion to cloak their conquests. Inanother race (or caste). Now in both casesyou and I may recognise the fraudulenceof the device, but the fact remains that aman who has a sword run through himbecause he refuses to become a Muslimor Christian – or who is shot in Zatembeor Mississippi (or refuses to follow thecaste code in a remote village in India)because he is Black (or dalit) is sufferingthe bitter reality of the device. And it ispointless to say that it doesn’t exist.” 13

The process of liberation of dalits andBlack Americans from invisibility to visi-bility, from a non-human to a humanexistence, has not been simple and linear.It is characterised by growth and difficulty.

8/16/2019 Kapoor 2003

3/6


In fact it has been painful and prolonged.It has been painful because at each stageof their struggle they are reminded of theirlurid past; it has been prolonged becausethey have to fight against an invisible wallof segregation, supported by racially orreligiously sanctioned entrenched attitudes.The attitudes that racism and casteism haveput in them cannot be jettisoned out of the

system at will. Besides, the ruling ideologyin its innumerable manifestations does notconcede the human space to them. Thehistory of Black Americans since 1866when slavery was legally abolished and of dalits since 1948, when through an Act of Parliament untouchability was abolished,shows how difficult the path for equalityhas been. The psychological distance inboth cases is not allowed to be bridged andever new ways are devised to maintain thestatus quo. The fight is now against anunknown terror as against a known terror.

It takes a long time before the oppressedgroup throws up a thinker who givesdirection to their struggle. In America sucha thinker emerged in the person of W E B DuBois; in India, in the person of B R Ambedkar. The task of such a thinkeris momentous since he derives his strengthfrom his people. He has to analyse theentire gamut of their experience, the forcesthat were responsible for their predica-ment, the strategies to deal with thoseforces and then to project an ideal orderin which the one-time victims can realisetheir full potential as human beings.

The first task of a thinker is to give hispeople ‘group consciousness’ that is to tellthem that it is not an individual problembut a group problem. Since they have hada common history, have shared a commonmemory and have suffered a commondisaster, they must fight it collectively.The battle for liberation begins when groupconsciousness gets crystallised. DuBoiswrote in his autobiography, Dusk of Dawn ,that his life derives its significance fromthe community and not otherwise.Ambedkar wrote letters for Mook Nayak in which he emphasised the need for unityamong all the innumerable untouchablecastes. He once said that he would surviveas long as it was necessary for the welfareof the depressed classes. “If I fail to doaway with the thraldom and inhumaninjustice under which the class, into whichI was born, has been groaning, I will putan end to my life with a bullet.” 14 He wasimpatient to get his people dignity andhuman status. He kept on goading hispeople to come out of the ghetto of theirexistence and unitedly fight against themonster of caste discrimination and those

who denied them a decent existence. Inorder that they did not relapse into the samepattern of passive acceptance of theirexistence, he organised satyagraha, firstagainst the denial of access to ChawadarTank, then against entry to the Kalaramtemple and finally the burning of

Manusmriti which was for him a symbolof inequality.

Examining the Past

A precondition for forging group con-sciousness was to systematically examinethe past. Both DuBois and Ambedkar wereintellectually equipped to do so. DuBoishad done his research on the Suppressionof the European Slave Trade; Ambedkarbegan his intellectual journey by writinga paper on Castes in India: Their Mecha-nism and Development for the anthropo-logical seminar at the Columbia Univer-sity. DuBois took this inquiry further inThe Souls of Black Folk ; Ambedkar ex-amined the concept of caste in his well-researched paper, ‘Annihilation of Caste’,which he wrote as a presidential addressfor the Jat Pat Todak Mandal, Lahore.

In Dusk of Dawn: An Essay toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept DuBoistries to capture the mechanism of racismthrough an elaborate imagery.

It is difficult to let others see the fullpsychological meaning of caste segrega-tion. It is as though one, looking out froma dark cave in a side of an impendingmountain, sees the world passing and speaksto it courteously and persuasively, show-ing them how these entombed souls arehindered in their natural movement, ex-pression and development; and how theirloosening from prison would be a matternot simply of courtesy, sympathy and helpto them, but aid to all the world. One talkson evenly and logically in this way, butnotices that the passing throng does noteven turn its head, or if it does, glancescuriously and walks on. It gradually pene-trates the minds of the prisoners that thepeople passing do not hear, that some thick sheet invisible but horribly tangible plateglass is between them and the world. They

get excited; they talk louder; they gesticu-late. Some of the passing worlds stop incuriosity; these gesticulations seem sopointless; they laugh and pass on. Theystill either do not hear at all, or hear butdimly and even what they hear, they donot understand. Then the people withinmay become hysterical. They may screamand hurl themselves against the barriers,hardly realising on their bewilderment thatthey are screaming in a vacuum unheardand that their antics may actually seemfunny to those outside looking in. Theymay even, here and there, break throughin blood and disfigurement, and find them-selves faced by a horrified, implacable and

quite overwhelming mob of people fright-ened for their own very existence.” 15

Similarly, in the second issue of his paper Mook Nayak , Ambedkar conveys thisreality of segregation through the imageryof a tower. “Hindu society was just likea tower which had several storeys withouta ladder or an entrance. One was to diein the storey in which one was born.” 16

DuBois moves on to show the intellec-tual and psychological interaction with thesituation of the Blacks who had their livesshaped and manipulated by the way thewhite world treated them. And the inter-pretation of their situation kept changing:it was social, biological or cultural. DuBoisproved through his character and achieve-ments that such an interpretation was acontrivance. He could beat them in everydepartment of life in which he partici-pated. Similarly, Ambedkar questioned andrejected the religious interpretation of thedepressed classes based on the theory of birth and karma. He called such an inter-pretation a ruse to keep his people inthraldom. In fact, he went to the extent of saying that “if Hindu religion is to be theirreligion, it must become a religion of socialequality.” 17 Not many savarnas could matchhis scholarship. He could stand up to anysavarna leader and interact with them onthe level of equality. Until Gandhiji metAmbedkar he thought that he was a savarnafighting for the cause of the depressedclasses. The speech he made at the RoundTable Conference for self-governance and

communal award was praised by all, in-cluding the Britishers.

Having exposed the falsity of interpre-tation, DuBois moves on to deal with thereal problem which began with Recon-struction: how to deal with the damagedpsyche, the ‘double consciousness, thetwoness of their existence’. There were“two un-reconciled strivings, two warringideals in one dark body whose doggedstrength alone keeps it from being tornasunder. The history of the American Negrois the history of this strife, this longing toattain self-conscious manhood, to mergehis double self into a better and truer self.In this merging he wishes neither of theolder selves to be lost. He would notAfricanise America, for America has toomuch to teach the world and Africa. Hewould not bleach his Negro soul in a floodof white Americanism, for he knows thatNegro world has a message to the world.He simply wishes to make it possible fora man to be both a Negro and an Americanwithout being cursed and spit upon by hisfellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face.” 18

8/16/2019 Kapoor 2003

4/6


The problem of reconciling the two selvescould not be solved so easily. A largemajority of Blacks wallowed in misery andignorance and time and again, despite thefact that they were now free, relapsed intothe old pattern of submissiveness of the‘Yes Sir, Massa’ variety. DuBois knewthat the only way they could understandtheir situation and the possibilities of

existence was through education. And thekind of education he had in mind wasdifferent from the kind of education BookerT Washington was propagating, that istechnical skill. DuBois was very clear inhis mind that technical skills producedonly artisans and not men. “Men we shallhave if we make manhood the object of the work of the schools – intelligence,broad sympathy, knowledge of the worldthat was and is, and of the relation of mento it – this is the curriculum of that highereducation that must underlie true life.” 19He did not leave education entirely toschool; he wanted family and social groupto contribute to their growth. For this hehad a specific plan in mind which he out-lined in his famous essay, ‘The TalentedTenth’. The plan was that 10 per centof bright young Blacks would be trainedin the best manner possible so that theyin their turn bring the others up and provideleadership. “Men of America”, DuBoissaid, “the problem is plain before you.Here is a race transplanted through thecriminal foolishness of your fathers.Whether you like it or not, the millions are

here, and here they will remain. It is if youdo not lift them up, they will pull youdown. Education and work are the leversto lift a people. Work will not do it unlessinspired by the right ideals and guided byintelligence. Education must not simplyteach work; it must teach life. The TalentedTenth of the Negro race must be madeleaders of thought and missionaries of culture among other people. No other cando this work and the Negro colleges musttrain men in it. The Negro race, like allother races, is going to be saved by itsexceptional men.” 20

The assumption was that the elite of theirrace would be alive to their social andethical obligations and would provide anoverall leadership, directing their thoughtand movements. DuBois had obviouslyplaced responsibilities in them which theywere not equipped to bear. The danger insuch a plan was that they might end upby imitating the standards of the other raceplacing their interest above the interest of their community. DuBois was later chargedwith encouraging elitism and was forcedto examine his thesis, which he did in a

memorial lecture at the Grand BoulsConclave in 1948. Among other things hesaid: “I assumed that with knowledgesacrifice would automatically follow. Inmy youth and idealism, I did not realisethat selfishness is even more natural thansacrifice. I made this assumption of itswide availability because of the spirit of sacrifice learned in my mission school

training.” 21In his modified lecture he moved from

individuals motivated by personal free-dom to group leadership. Such a leader-ship, he believed, would take care of economic and cultural aspects of their race.Lest people misunderstand him, he madeit explicit that he was not advocating pridein biological race but pride in a culturegroup, integrated and expanded by devel-oped ideals. In such a leadership, it wouldnot remain a simple thing of colour butwould include a deeper and broader matterof social conditions, including economicconditions. “Here comes a new idea fora Talented Tenth: the concept of a groupleadership, not simply educated and self-sacrificing, but with clear vision of presentworld conditions and dangers, and con-ducting American Negros to alliance withculture groups in Europe, America, Asiaand Africa, and looking towards a newworld culture.” 22

Like DuBois, Ambedkar identified theproblem of his people in his longishessay, ‘Annihilation of Caste’, which wasinitially written as a presidential address

but later published by Ambedkar on hisown. The booklet was sold out immedi-ately and, what was more, was translatedinto a number of Indian languages. Ac-cording to him “caste is a notion, it is astate of the mind. The destruction of caste does not therefore mean the destruc-tion of a physical barrier. It means anotional change. Caste may be bad, castemay lead to conduct so gross as to be calledman’s inhumanity to man. All the same,it must be recognised that the Hindusobserve caste because they are deeplyreligious.” Thus he attacked the religiousbasis of caste. Fighting against it involvedfighting against the authority of theShastras. This religious sanction was re-sponsible for creating not only separateenclosures in society, but also separateenclosures in the mind. Despite the factthat the Jat Pat Todak Mandal wasworking against the annihilation of caste,it did not go along with Ambedkar indenouncing religion, at least the partsthat sanction untouchability. Pushed tothe wall, they gave excuses and finallycancelled the meeting.

Gandhiji agreed with Ambedkar thatcaste was evil and must go but he madea subtle distinction between caste and varnaand said that the latter was the basis of Hindu society and had nothing to do withcaste. Even Sant Ramji of Jat Pat Todak Mandal questioned this distinction. In aletter to Gandhi he wrote: I wish to bringto your notice that your philosophical

difference between caste and varna is toosubtle to be grasped by people in general,because for all practical purposes in theHindu society caste and varna are one andthe same thing, for the function of bothof them is one and the same, i e, to restrictintercaste marriages and interdining.” 24Ambedkar was more forthright. He ac-cused Gandhi of ‘terminological inexacti-tude’. He countered this distinction at amore rational level. Questioning Gandhi’semphasis of following ancestral calling,he wrote: “When can a calling be deemedto have become an ancestral calling so asto make it binding on a man. Must onefollow his ancestral calling even when itdoes not suit his capacities, even when ithas ceased to be profitable? Must one liveby his ancestral calling even if he finds itto be immoral? To me the ideal of follow-ing one’s ancestral calling is not only animpossible and impractical ideal, but it isalso morally an indefensible one.” 25 Norcan the distinction between varna and casteon the basis of worth and birth be de-fended. Besides, who is going to decideand in what manner the existence of worth

in a person. Thus, for all practical pur-poses, worth is associated with birth andthat is what has happened all along.

That is why he did not go along withGandhi, despite the latter’s messianiczeal, in the abolition of untouchability.The basis of caste is a lie and must beexposed for what it is. It is to be foughtnot only in the minds of the people, butalso in the realm of the abstract which isso dear to Hindus. Like Jyotiba Phule, hesaw the danger of following the line of converting a social problem into a moralproblem. It is a social problem supportedby religion and must be accepted withoutprevarication. “The power of the privi-leged class”, he wrote in the same essay,“rests upon lies, which are sedulouslypropagated among the masses. No resis-tance to power is possible while the sanc-tioning lies, which justify the power, areaccepted as valid. While the lie which isthe chief line of defence remains unbrokenthere can be no revolt. Before any injus-tice, any abuse of oppression can be re-sisted, the lie upon which it is foundedmust be unmasked, must be clearly

8/16/2019 Kapoor 2003

5/6


recognised for what it is. This can happenwith education.” 26

Ambedkar, like DuBois, believed thatpart of their problems emanated from ig-norance. They must be brought to a levelwhere they become critically aware of theirenvironment. The consciousness-raisingstrategy could be effectively achievedthrough education. As early as 1924 he

helped establish Bahishkrit Hitkari Sabhawhich, among other things, aimed at pro-moting education among the depressedclasses. Apart from starting Industrial andagricultural schools, it also opened libraries,social centres and study circles and throughthem promoted the spread of culture. Hefirmly believed in a kind of education thathelps people to blow up the caste system.“Giving education to those who want toblow up the caste system will improve theprospect of democracy in India and putdemocracy in safer hands.” 27 LaterAmbedkar helped establish the People’sEducation Society and schools and col-leges under its aegis. Once people beganto see things for themselves, formed ideasof their own, they would willingly coop-erate in creating a common front, whichwould lead to agitation. In the field of education Ambedkar was following thebroad direction that DuBois had given inhis famous essay on the ‘Talented Tenth’.His hope that the educated men of hiscommunity would take up the leadershipof the people was belied. Most of themforgot all about their obligation and moved

to become ‘dalit brahmins.’ They lackedcommitment and fell into the trap of middleclass respectability. Like DuBois, whoedited The Crisis , Ambedkar also broughtout a fortnightly paper called Mook Nayak ,although he was not its official editor. Itunderwent a number of mutations: itbecame Bahishkrit Bharat , Samta , Janataand finally Prabuddha Bharat . He alsoprepared a blueprint for the formation of a political party, the Republican Party of India, which was formed after his deathin 1956.

Ambedkar was convinced that withoutsocial emancipation of the depressedclasses, political emancipation had nomeaning. He went to the extent of sayingthat no economic or political reform wouldbe successful unless the monster of castewas destroyed. For this it was imperativethat the depressed classes were treated notas a religious minority, but as a politicalminority. Here the approaches of DuBoisand Ambedkar towards the liberation of their people diverge. Whereas DuBoisemphasised cultural and racial aspects, notcompletely ignoring the political aspect,

Ambedkar believed that liberation couldbe achieved through political means. Hisdemand for a separate electorate for hispeople which was conceded by the Britishand his disagreement with Gandhi over itshows the direction in which he wantedhis struggle to move. One doesn’t knowwhat direction dalit politics would havetaken if the communal award had been

implemented, but the course of dalit situ-ation would have certainly been different.Under moral pressure from the peoplethroughout the country following Gandhi’sfast unto death, he was forced to sign thePoona Pact instead of the Communal Awardannounced by the British government.Ambedkar had already earned the displea-sure of the people and the charge was thathe was working against the interests of thecountry. Even when he sought support of the British for getting political power forhis people, he knew that they were helpinghim out of political compulsions. I believeAmbedkar was more sinned against thansinning. It is true that the cause of hispeople was uppermost in his mind but timeand again he had given evidence of hisloyalty to the country. The letter thatAmbedkar wrote to Alexander, a memberof the Cabinet Commission, and some-what sympathetic to the cause Ambedkarrepresented, after the British had decidednot to give representation to the depressedclasses in the interim government, showsAmbedkar’s bitterness and the wily char-acter of the British. This is what he wrote:

“The despotism of the Hindu continued asever before. Far from being curbed by theBritish High Command, it was pampered.From a social point of view, the Britishaccepted the arrangement as they foundthem and preserved them faithfully in themanner of the tailor who, when given anold coat as pattern, produced with pridean exact replica, rents and patches and all.The result is that though 200 years haveelapsed since the establishment of theBritish rule the Indian wrongs remainedunaddressed and their progress hamperedat every stage.” 28

Campaign to Secure Rights

Like DuBois, Ambedkar was impatientto get his people not only civil rights, butalso human rights. Despite the fact thatNehru made efforts to secularise Indianpolitics, Ambedkar was sceptical of therole of caste Hindus. He saw some hopeto translate his ideals into practice whenhe was called upon to be the chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. Hefirmly believed that through the statutes

and law the status of his people as equalcitizens would be upheld which wouldpave the way for their final assimilationinto the Hindu society. Then the slogansof equality, liberty and fraternity wouldbecome facts of life. His speech at theConstituent Assembly spelt that out.

These principles of liberty, equality andfraternity are not to be treated as separate

items in a trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that to divorce one fromthe other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy... We must begin by acknowl-edging the fact that there is a completeabsence of two things in Indian society.One of them is equality. On the socialplane, we have in India a society based onthe principle of graded inequality whichmeans elevation for some and degradationfor others. On the economic plane, we havea society in which there are some who haveimmense wealth as against many who livein abject poverty. On January 26, 1950,we are going to enter into a life of con-

tradictions. In politics we will have equal-ity and in social and economic life we willhave inequality. In politics we will berecognising the principle of one man onevote and one vote one value. In our socialand economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, con-tinue to deny the principle of one man onevalue. How long shall we continue to livethis life of contradictions? How long shallwe continue to deny equality in our socialand economic life? If we continue to denyit for long, we will do so only by puttingour political democracy at peril. We mustremove this contradiction at the earliestpossible moment or else those who sufferfrom inequality will blow up the structureof political democracy which thisassembly so laboriously built up. 29

It is apparent that Ambedkar was rede-fining the concepts in the light of his readingin Buddhist philosophy and his experienceas a leader of the depressed classes. Henot only pointed out the contradictions insocial and political life, but also identifiedthe two enemies that had come in the wayof their liberation. The two enemies were:brahminism and capitalism. By brahminismhe meant not brahmins as a community,but all those who negated the spirit of trinity. And such people could be foundin all sections of society including thecommunists who were at times guided bythe spirit of brahminism. Ambedkar knewthat economic deprivation was as real associal degradation. And he made a begin-ning in this regard when he collaboratedwith the communist in the strike againstthe Industrial Disputes Act. But suchcollaboration was short lived.

True, he realised the limitations of lib-eral democracy but kept on working within

8/16/2019 Kapoor 2003

6/6


its framework for whatever benefits hecould get for his people. Besides, thosewho were at the helm of affairs in the rulingparty were not radical enough to bringabout revolutionary change in their situ-ation. He became painfully aware of thiswhen he piloted the Hindu Code Billthrough which he wanted to correct someof the ills of Hindu society. Initially he

had the support of Nehru but when theparliamentary party opposed it, he wasforced to modify it and finally withdrawit at the behest of Nehru himself. Theorthodox elements were too powerful forhim to resist. On this issue he resignedfrom the cabinet.

Both DuBois and Ambedkar wereworking within the Enlightenmentworldview – Ambedkar modifying it a bitbut still reposing faith in liberal democracy– which defined man and society in humanterms. Both worked indefatigably forchange in the social, political and eco-nomic conditions of their people withoutspelling out institutional change. DuBoisunwittingly became part of the elitist culturewhich aimed at correcting things throughexcellence for which criteria came fromthe others. Cornel West in his revaluationof DuBois points out two defects in hisendeavour. “First he believed that thehighbrow culture was inherentlyhumanising and that exposure to andimmersion in great works produce goodpeople. The other was that the educatedelite he had put his faith in could transcend

their individual and class interests andmove easily on behalf of the common goodthan the educated classes.” 30

Ambedkar is being subjected to a similarreevaluation. Anand Teltumbde is one suchcritic. But he is guarded in his reevaluationalthough he announces those who haveused different icons of Ambedkar to fur-ther their own ends. According toTeltumbde “although there cannot be anydoubt that he stood against capitalism, hecould not articulate a sound theoreticalbasis for doing so”. At another place hewrites: “Babasaheb Ambedkar, in his ownway, has been in search of a suitableideological carrier for the dalit move-ment”. 31 The consequence has been thatin the Post-Ambedkar dalit movementthe revolutionary character of Ambedkarhas been overshadowed by “prejudicedsocial identities in worn-out casteistphraseology”. 32

But Ambedkar could not be chargedwith elitism as he always kept contact withhis people who came to him in largenumbers for advice and guidance. Accord-ing to Keer “he was the voice of their woes,

their view and their vows”. 33 Ambedkar’stragedy was that he trusted for a while theexisting political system to go along withhis line of thought. Despite the fact thathe never gave up his fight against economicexploitation, he could not free himself from the stranglehold that Hindu socialsystem had created for his class. He lookedfor and found some solace in religion. At

best he shuttled between religious andeconomic reorganisation of society whichcould not be combined as one finds in hiscomparison between Buddha and KarlMarx. In one of his speeches in 1953Ambedkar said that the present generationand the future generation would have tochoose between the gospel of Buddha andthe gospel of Marx. But if one chose theformer, which some of them did, one couldnot change the material conditions of peopleexcept through moral force.

The strategies adopted by both DuBoisand Ambedkar did not emanate from anideological framework that encompassedall aspects of human activity. That was onereason why they were disillusioned to-wards the end of their life. At the ripe ageof 91 DuBois left America for Africa. Hewrote in a letter: “I cannot take any moreof the country’s treatment. We leave forGhana October 5 and I set no date forreturn…Chin up and fight on but realisethat American Negroes can’t win.” 34 Hedied soon after.

Ambedkar was similarly disillusionedwith the system after he was made to with-

draw the Hindu Code Bill. After resigningas minister of law he wanted to make astatement but he was not allowed to do soby the deputy speaker on the ground thathe had not submitted a copy of his state-ment earlier. When Kunzru and Kamath,two members of the House, pointed outthat it amounted to pre-censorship, thedeputy speaker said since he was thecustodian of the rights and privileges of parliament, it was necessary for him to seethat the statement contained nothing irrel-evant and libelous. On this Ambedkar leftthe House and immediately afterwards gavehis statement to the newspapers. His faithin parliamentary democracy was shaken.His end came soon after.

Address for correspondence:[email protected]

Notes

1 See Volume 5 of Ambedkar Writing and Speeches compiled by Vasant Moon, EducationDepartment, Government of Maharashtra,1989.

2 Initially written in 1977, revised in 1979 and

later included in her book From Untouchableto Dalit , Manohar 1988, pp 79-85.

3 The Autobiography of Malcolm X , Penguin1976, pp 79-102.

4 Arthur Schlesinger Jr, The Disuniting of America , Norton Edition, USA, 1992, p 19.

5 V S Naipaul: India: A Million Mutinies Now ,Minerva, India, 1990, p 115.

6 Fred L Standly and Nancy V Burt (ed), CriticalEssay on James Baldwin, C K Hall and Co,Boston, 1988, p 256.

7 Ambedkar Speeches and Writings, Vol 5, p 15.8 Dhananjaya Keer, Dr Ambedkar: Life and Mission , Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1994,p 31.

9 W N Kuber, B R Ambedkar: Builders of Modern India Series , Publications Division, Ministryof Information and Broadcasting, Governmentof India, December 1990, p 22.

10 A K Rajsekhariah, B R Ambedkar: The Politicsof Emancipation , Sindhu Publication, Bombay,1971, p 11.

11 Ibid, p 216 Rajshekhariah found this letter inthe files containing his correspondence withthe Cabinet Mission and with other leaders atSiddharth College Library, Bombay.

12 W E B DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk ,A C McClurg and Co, Chicago, 1931, p 1X.

13 Lorraine Hansberry, The Last Collected Playsof Lorraine Hansberry , Random House, NewYork, 1972, p 122.

14 Keer, p 525.15 W E B DuBois, Dusk of Dawn: An Essay

Toward an Autobiography of a RaceConcept , Shocken Books, New York, 1968,pp 131-32.

16 Quoted by Keer, p 41.17 Quoted by Keer, p 229.18 The Souls of Black Folk , pp 3-4.19 Henry Gates Jr and Cornel West (ed), The

Future of the Race , Alfred A Knopf N Y, 1996,p 132.

20 Ibid, pp 156-57.21 Ibid, p 161.22 Ibid, p 168.23 Ambedkar Writings and Speeches , Vol 1, p 68.24 Ibid, p 84.25 Ibid, p 90.26 Ambedkar Writings and Speeches , Vol 5, p 399.27 Quoted by Keer, p 491.28 Ambedkar Writings and Speeches , Vol 10,

pp 497-98.29 Quoted by V R Krishna Aiyer, Ambedkar and

the Dalit Future , B R Publishing Corporation,New Delhi, 1990, pp 32-33.

30 The Future of the Race , p 68.31 Anand Teltumbde, Ambedkar in and for the

Post-Ambedkar Dalit Movement , SugawaPrakashan, Pune, 1997, p 55.

32 Ibid, p 23.33 Keer, pp 302-03.

34 The Future of the Race , p 118.

EPW Economic and Political Weekly

available at

Alter Media BookshopBrahmaswom Madom Bldg,

MG RoadTrissur 680 001, Kerala

Email: [email protected]

kapoor 2003

Documents