BJP’s Dalit Morcha cites encounters between BR Ambedkar and MS Golwalkar

NEW DELHI: In his lifetime, BR Ambedkar’s hatred for caste system was well documented and is reflected in India’s liberal Constitution he framed. He converted to Buddhism and launched a political party as he felt Dalits were denied their rights by mainstream parties and Hinduism, alike.

That however did not bother BJP, or its mother outfit RSS, as its Scheduled Caste Morcha launched a campaign to co-opt Ambedkar as its own Dalit icon on Constitution day.

Along with Ambedkar, BSP founder Kanshi Ram, former Congressman Jagjivan Ram and former president KR Narayanan were also feted at the launch of the campaign headed by Sanjay Paswan, the president of the morcha.

Paswan told ET that whatever the facts of Ambedkar’s life, the only way forward for Dalits was to integrate into mainstream Hinduism and political parties, while keeping its icons. “The party started by Dr BR Ambedkar is not functioning, the one started by Kanshi Ram is limited in its appeal. For Dalits to hit mainstream we have to do inclusive politics,” he said. “Politics in isolation is not possible and I blame these regional parties for harming the cause of Dalits,” he added.

Paswan had assembled an impressive array of RSS functionaries like Sanjay Joshi and Indiresh Kumar to launch the campaign and even roped in Dr Suraj Yadav, history professor at the Delhi University and grandson of BP Mandal (the author of the Mandal Commission report on Backward Classes) to sign off on the campaign.

“ABVP was the first forum where my grandfather extolled Dr Ambedkar’s insistence that reservations be allowed. It paved the way for reservations for other Backward Classes,” he said. The party had not been very happy with the announcement of the implementation of the Mandal Commission report in 1990 by the VP Singh government, but that seemed to be a thing of the past, said Paswan.

Late Sangh ideologue Dattopant Thengdi’s biography of Ambedkar, which reportedly cites several encounters between Ambedkar and RSS founder KB Hedgewar and MS “Guruji” Golwalkar was cited at length.

“The plain fact is that this is an attempt to change the discourse among Dalits, that unless they enter power structures through the mainstream they will not be truly empowered,” said Paswan. For that, Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, Jagjivan Ram and KR Narayanan’s biographical weight is being measured in new terms and in a new home.