http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/folk-theorem/ambedkars-false-groupies-out-of-sync-with-his-legacy/
Ambedkar's false groupies out of sync with his legacy April 26, 2015, 10:43 AM IST Abheek Barman in Folk Theorem | India | TOI On April 14, when Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar turned 124 years old, it set off a rush by politicians and so-called 'public intellectuals' to hug him to their bosom and claim him as their own. In the process, history, words and beliefs of the man himself, got trampled underfoot. Inaugurating an Ambedkar memorial recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wouldn't have been what he was without the efforts of Bhimrao. Really? Modi is a ghanchi, an oil-pressing caste classified as 'bania' in Gujarat. He's part of the mainstream Hindu caste system, which Ambedkar wanted to 'annihilate'. Last year, in a rambling essay called The Doctor and the Saint, writer Arundhati Roy pitted Ambedkar against Mohandas (or 'Mohanlal', as our Prime Minister once called his fellow Gujarati) Gandhi. Roy wanted to knock Gandhi off the firmament of our heroes and replace him with the Dalit icon. Nearly three quarters of her essay was an anti-Gandhi rant; it barely surveyed Ambedkar's work as economist, lawyer, campaigner for social justice and chairman of the Constituent Assembly. The task of rebutting Roy fell on Rajmohan Gandhi, a trained historian at the University of Illinois. He is also grandson of Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari, biographer of both, as well as of Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Vallabhbhai Patel. On April 11, The Economic and Political Weekly published his essay, showing up Roy's biases, selective quotes, half-truths and lack of intellectual honesty. The Congress will celebrate next year as Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. No problem, apart from the fact that Bhimrao was never a member of the party. His main priority after he returned to India from America and Britain was to dismantle caste Hinduism. As a child, Bhimrao sat on a jute rag brought from home outside his classroom, where only upper castes were admitted. When thirsty, he had to plead upper caste fellows to pour a few drops of water into his hands. No touching allowed. Ambedkar's and Congress's goals diverged sometimes. While Gandhi, Nehru and other Congress leaders agitated for freedom and were jailed, Ambedkar argued for the liberation of the underclass. He was never imprisoned. The British, weakened by the 1930s, were ready to grant electoral constituencies to special groups, including Muslims, Punjabis and so on. Ambedkar pressed for untouchables too. Gandhi was initially opposed to this, believing that separate electorates would divide Hindus. But finally, in jail in Yerwada, Poona, he agreed to Ambedkar's demand. That's why today, we have demarcated constituencies for 'scheduled' castes and tribes, empowering both. But here's the real -- or surreal -- Tom and Jerry moment. The BJP, party of Hindutva, formed and led by high-caste Hindus like Madhav Golwalkar and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, now wants to hug Babasaheb. Bhimrao said he didn't have a choice born a Hindu Dalit, but he wouldn't die as one. He did as he said, converting to Buddhism in 1956, with 500,000 followers, two months before his death. The best way to understand Babasaheb is to read Riddles in Hinduism. It is Euclidean in its relentless logic, surgically slicing the hypocrisies and lies of the religion. It was published posthumously in English around 1997-98. In 1999, the Vajpayee-led BJP government banned it, but was overruled by courts. Why did the BJP want the ban? Because its 24 'riddles' and three appendices destroy the foundations of Hindutva. One of the first riddles questions the origins of the Vedas and their authenticity. After working through the entire canon, Ambedkar says that there are at least 11 sources of these texts, each incompatible with the other. So, any claim to 'eternal' Vedantic veracity is bogus. Ambedkar's maths was excellent. He showed that if Brahma indeed composed the Vedas, it was 311 trillion-plus years ago. Astrophysics says the universe came into being around 13.8 billion years in the past. According to my calculator and Bhimrao's maths, the Vedas were composed 2,500 times before the scientifically accepted birth of the universe. Hindutva is heavily invested in Ram. Ambedkar asks why, after the victory over Ravana, Ram tells Sita, "I have got you as a prize in a war after conquering my enemy, your captor .... I have recovered my honour and punished my enemy.... I came here to kill Ravana, and wash off the dishonour. I did not take this trouble for your sake." "I suspect your conduct. You must have been spoiled by Ravana. Your very sight is revolting to me ... I cannot think that Ravana would have failed to enjoy a woman as beautiful as you are." The rest of it, told by Ambedkar and Valmiki, is about Sita's trial by fire, her exile, the birth of her children and her final rejection by Ram. Ram's political priorities outweigh his acceptance of a wife and children. Sita asks her mother, Earth, to take her away from this vain, insecure and ambitious husband. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
