On August 13, two days before the 75th anniversary of independence, 9-year-old Indra Meghwal, a victim of ethnic violence, died in a hospital during treatment. About 22 days ago, on July 20, Meghwal of Rajasthan’s Jalore district was brutally thrashed by his teacher, Khail Singh, at school. Singh belongs to Rajput caste. Singh beat Meghwal because he, being a Dalit, drank water from his pot. Indra’s uncle Kishore said in his tahrir to the police that, “Indra Kumar was innocent, so he did not know that the matki was kept separately for Chhail Singh, a teacher of upper caste.”

Indra’s uncle further wrote that, “Chail Singh told the student Inder Kumar that ‘Sala-dedh, low, low, low caste, how did he drink water from our pot and beat him, so that his right ear and eye There were internal injuries. Due to severe ear pain, Indra Kumar went to his father Devaram’s shop in front of the school and informed about the incident. Uncle wrote that his family kept roaming about half a dozen hospitals for Indra’s treatment but could not save Indra. He wrote that, “Chail Singh maliciously assaulted Inder Kumar and beat him to such an extent that he died”.

The truth of 75 years of India’s independence is that untouchability against Dalits is so deeply ingrained in Indian society that even the slightest encroachment of it does not spare a child.

Indian society has been dominated by majority Hindus since independence. Hindu scriptures give religious basis to untouchability. Perhaps this is the reason that even after the abolition of untouchability by the Indian Constitution 75 years ago, it is still fully alive today. In such a situation, the framer of the constitution B. R. Ambedkar’s prediction seems to have come true, which he made in February 1946 from Nare Park in Bombay:

Swaraj, for which the Congress is shouting, will only have it that the Hindus will establish their supremacy over the country instead of the British. They should see that they have got all the rights so that they too can be free in free India”.

The basis of Ambedkar’s politics from 1930 to 1947 was that the Scheduled Castes were an independent class, separate from the Hindus, and a political minority in their own right. He believed that Scheduled Castes and Hindus may worship the same God but Dalits are not politically and socially a part of Hindu society.

Indra’s assassination is the meteor that fell on the Dalit consciousness, which compels them to scrape their existence. Especially in the last few days, the way a large section of the Hindu society and the media have stood in favor of the teacher guilty, Dalits seem to be losing hope from the Hindu society and the government. This is not the first time that instead of talking about sympathy, fair investigation, compensation or justice after the murder of a Dalit out of caste hatred, Hindu society and the media have started creating hatred for them. Began to deny their pain. Such an atmosphere is created if a Dalit has taken his own life. Everyone is involved in creating this atmosphere: both the Left and the Right.

In such a situation, it is necessary that we re-understand the history of Scheduled Castes becoming their independent identity apart from the Hindus. Also re-read those pages of history when Ambedkar, the representative of Scheduled Castes, laid some conditions before the British, for Scheduled Castes to be part of a sovereign India. On the basis of the same conditions, the Dalits, the third largest community in undivided India, agreed to be a part of sovereign India. If the Scheduled Castes do not get their separate identity, then no separate facilities are given for them in the Constitution. And then she would be completely dependent on Hindu society for her basic needs like education, employment, health, home.

It is necessary to understand this history so that we understand that every political and religious minority in undivided India had given their consent, only then a sovereign, independent and democratic India was made. The Indian Union was formed with this agreement and treaty that the people living here, whether they are political minorities or religious minorities, will be given full security, equality and justice. To ensure all this, provision for annual assessment was also made by the constitution. But now the majority of the society does not remember that agreement, nor do our governments make any difference to the constitutional provisions.

Apart from this, I will also mention the political and social environment of Maharashtra that was being built in the ’70s of history. This period will show us that when the Indian union and society had marginalized Dalits, the Dalit society in this state of India revolted. I chose the decade of the seventies because then the political climate of the country was somewhat similar to today. In 1971, Indira Gandhi’s government at the Center had a sizable majority of 350 seats, a little more than the Modi government of today. After that, in 1972, like Modi, Indira Gandhi imposed the silver jubilee of independence on every Indian in such a way that harsh punishment was fixed for any contempt of the Indian flag or the national anthem. Every government office was distributing patriotism in its own way. Along with this, atrocities on Dalits were also increasing, but there was no one to listen to them. And then some Dalit youths formed an extremist organization, the Dalit Panthers. The Dalits had waged this political rebellion under the leadership of the Panthers. The main tenure of the Panthers was only for two years, but the changes brought by them changed the social equations between Dalits and Hindus. Now a Dalit could answer the violence of Hindus with violence. I mention all these incidents to one of the founders of the Panthers, J.J. I will quote from the book Dalit Panthers written by V. Pawar. Both different parts of history will show the results of the struggle of Dalits for their political identity, their persistent attempts to guarantee constitutional protections from the British before sovereign India became sovereign, and then the disregard for those guarantees in independent India. I mention all these incidents to one of the founders of the Panthers, J.J. I will quote from the book Dalit Panthers written by V. Pawar. Both different parts of history will show the results of the struggle of Dalits for their political identity, their persistent attempts to guarantee constitutional protections from the British before sovereign India became sovereign, and then the disregard for those guarantees in independent India. I mention all these incidents to one of the founders of the Panthers, J.J. I will quote from the book Dalit Panthers written by V. Pawar. Both different parts of history will show the results of the struggle of Dalits for their political identity, their persistent attempts to guarantee constitutional protections from the British before sovereign India became sovereign, and then the disregard for those guarantees in independent India.

However, before going into history, in brief, we must also take a look at the political and social developments after the assassination of Indra. This will prove the present apathy of the government towards Dalits and the immorality of the majority Hindu society.

On August 13, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, announced in just a tweet that a compensation of Rs 5 lakh would be given to Indra’s kin. Gehlot attributed the killing of Indra to a “battle” by the teacher. He did not even mention caste or untouchability. In the month of June, when Kanhaiyalal, a non-Dalit Hindu, was murdered by Islamic fundamentalists, Gehlot called an “all-party meeting” at his residence the very next day. The same day he also conducted a “high-level review” of the incident with police officials. Gehlot also promoted the five police personnel who arrested the fundamentalists. Then two days later he himself went to Kanhaiyalal’s house and met his family members, paid tribute to his photo. The Gehlot government gave compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Kanhaiyalal’s family members and government jobs to both his sons. Gehlot was making Hindus feel in every way that he was with them. He left no stone unturned in providing justice to Kanhaiyalal and giving confidence to the Hindu society. Even the Gehlot government handed over the case to the National Investigation Agency or NIA, the Anti-Terrorism Wing of the Centre, calling the case an international conspiracy.

On August 14, when Indra’s family members demanded 50 lakh compensation from the government, government job for one family, cancellation of school license and fair investigation, the state police lathi-charged them. Indra’s father Devaram was also injured in the attack. The police put pressure on the family for the early funeral of Indra. Seeing the gathering of Dalit society, the Gehlot government also stopped the internet service of Jalore. The strangest thing was the silence of the ruling Congress Party’s opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party. No leader from the state to the center even said anything to the Congress government on Indra’s murder. From a political point of view, the assassination of Indra was a golden opportunity for the BJP to corner Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. In September 2020, when a Dalit girl was gang-raped by four Thakurs in Hathras under the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh, both Gandhis went to meet the victim. He constantly surrounded the BJP by making this issue a matter of women’s safety. The Congress has sometimes based its opposition on Dalit identity. But BJP remained completely silent. He neither called the state government a threat to children on Indra’s murder, nor called Rahul Gandhi anti-Dalit. At the same time, seeing the trend of political wind, Rahul Gandhi in a tweet in the evening called the murder “brutal”. Gandhi also did not take the name of untouchability or caste. One reason for the BJP’s silence may be that its ideology does not consider the caste system to be bad and believes in propagating the Hindu scriptures which are the basis of untouchability. His speaking would have been like acknowledging inequality within Hinduism. However, after the elections in West Bengal last year, the BJP tried hard to corner the Trinamool Congress by making political violence a matter of Dalit security. whatever the reason,

Leaving aside the governments, the Hindu society in Jalore also appeared to be standing on the side of Indra’s killer. 36 fraternities, who considered themselves Kshatriyas, held meetings and challenged the administration that if the proceedings against Chail Singh were not stopped, then they too were not wearing “bangles”. Jalore District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police present in this meeting were applauding. Talking about the constitutional arrangements, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes did nothing except advising the state police to take strict action. The commission also has its own court and its own independent investigative agency. The commission did not use them in the murder of Indra. After 75 years, hardly any institution takes the commission seriously, because the upper caste governments at the center never allowed them to become strong. The constitutional guardian of Dalits and Adivasis is the President of India himself. Meaning the President himself can take cognizance of the atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis. But the irony is that the President, Draupadi Murmu, who is also the first tribal President of India, did not say anything on the murder of Indra.

If we talk about government figures, then in 2020 alone, 50291 cases of violence against Dalits were registered. In non-official figures, according to the National Association of Dalits and Tribals, between 1991 and 2020 alone, there were more than 7 lakh incidents of violence against Dalits, of which 38,000 cases were of rape of Dalit women. Keeping this condition of Dalits in India in mind, now let us understand how their political identity as a Scheduled Caste was formed on the national stage.

Scheduled Castes Existence OfficiallyThe census of India came for the first time in 1911. However, the census was done on the basis of caste from the beginning. The first census of India’s population was started in 1881 under the rule of the British Government. In this census people’s castes and creeds were counted but no classification was done. Only by adding all the total population was derived. Dr Ambedkar, in his article, “From Millions to Fractions” [From Millions to Fractions], writes that the first attempt to classify the population on the basis of caste was in the second census in 1891. However, it was the third census of 1901, writes Ambedkar, when the principle of classification was adopted in the census. This was the principle: “Classification on the basis of social preference” [Classification by Social Presidency]. He further writes that “upper caste” Hindus were always “against” caste-based census. “He would always insist that the caste and tribe column be removed from the census list”. Ambedkar writes that at the time of the 1901 census, the upper castes opposed it by making a resolution against the caste census. The premise of the proposal was that the distribution of castes and tribes in India’s population varies over long intervals, so their census is not necessary every ten years.

Fortunately, his proposal had no effect on the then census commissioner. He believed that the caste census was very important. The commissioner argued in favor of the caste census:

Whatever may be the idea of ​​caste as a social institution about its shortcomings or advantages, but it is impossible to think of any discussion on the question of population of India without taking the basis of caste. Caste is still the foundation of the fabric of Indian society and registering caste is the best way to bring about changes in different social classes in Indian society . Every Hindu is born in a caste and his caste determines his religious, social, economic and domestic life, from cradle to graveyard. In Western countries, the factors that determine one’s social status, such as wealth, education, and employment, are fluid (without any social strata) and Catholic (a branch of Christianity) that determines one’s birth or family status in society. The associated shortcomings are easy to become. Whereas in India the spiritual and social community and traditional employment disregard all other factors. So where in western countries,

The commissioner completed the census in 1901 according to his social classification theory.

Ambedkar writes that this was the fourth census, of 1911, when special questions were put in the census list. These questions were mainly 10 criteria on the basis of which the “ Depressed Classes ” were to be classified. These criteria were: “caste and tribes” that 1) do not accept the supremacy of Brahmins 2) who have not taken any mantras from Brahmins or Hindu groups, 3) who reject the authority of the Vedas 4) who have ever lived with a Hindu god. 5) Those who have not been served by any Brahmin 6) Those who do not have any Brahmin priests 7) Those who have the inner part of any temple beyond their reach 8) Which are considered to be the cause of pollution 9) Those who bury their dead lives 10) Those who eat beef and do not believe in cow. depressed classesIn 1935, after a constitutional reform, they were called Scheduled Castes and only then they got the identity of a political minority.

Ambedkar writes that those ten criteria were very important in determining the population of untouchables. He writes that no “judicial definition” of untouchability or untouchability existed. “Untouchability is not expressed in the hair of one’s head or the color of the body. It is not even a matter of blood. We see glimpses of untouchability in celebrating our different practices and special customs. An untouchable is a person whose Hindus behave in a particular way and follow certain customs which are different from Hindus. There are certain fixed methods according to which Hindus treat untouchables, in social matters. There are certain customs What the untouchables observe. Therefore, there can be only one method of determining the untouchables, that is by taking their practices, customs as the basis and understanding how these communities are kept under them. That year, the untouchables were counted for the first time by adopting those ten criteria.

But all this did not happen so easily. Ambedkar wrote, “Hindus held protest conferences across the country and strongly condemned the Census Commissioner’s plan.” Ambedkar wrote, “The Hindus said, ‘The Census Commissioner’s effort is a result of a conspiracy between the British Government and the Muslims, whose purpose is to break and weaken the Hindu society.’ The Hindus also alleged that, ‘the motive behind this move was not to know the population of the untouchables but to break the Hindu society by separating the untouchables from the untouchables’.

Actually, behind the skepticism of Hindus was also the political situation of that time. This was the time when Muslims were claiming their political representation in the leadership of the Muslim League. He started raising the demand for his separate representation around 1907. At the same time he had a meeting with the British Government. Hindus considered the separate count of untouchables to be part of a “conspiracy” hatched in this meeting. In 1909, the British accepted the words of the Muslims and, considering them as a separate electoral unit, made a provision in the colonial constitution to elect their representative by their own community. Separate electorate this system of electionThey say. This facility was first given to the Muslims in British India and they got the benefit of this facility for 40 years before independence. The same system was also given to Sikhs and Christians in 1919. It is only through this system of election that for a minority, their real representative can be elected in the government. However, after independence, India adopted the system of Joint Electorate , in which the majority elects the minority representative, and vice versa. However, when the British government was providing facilities to Muslims, Sikhs and Christians by making constitutional reforms one after the other, it was still too far for the Scheduled Castes to claim these facilities. Till 1911, Hindus were not even ready to accept that the depressed classes should be counted separately.

The existence of Scheduled Castes officially came for the first time in the Census of India in 1911. However, the census was done on the basis of caste from the beginning. The first census of India’s population was started in 1881 under the rule of the British Government. In this census people’s castes and creeds were counted but no classification was done. Only by adding all the total population was derived.

After 1911, the Depressed Classes were counted regularly every decade. The 1911 figures were also confirmed in the 1921 census. In 1921, the Census Commissioner wrote, ” Class consciousness has come among the depressed classes , especially in South India. They are also getting organized.… It is therefore necessary to accept the fact that a statistical estimate of their number is ours. Have a pass available.” Before the 1921 census, there was a constitutional reform in 1919, also known as the Montagu-Chelmsford Reform. Montagu Chelmsford in his report Depressed ClassesBut the administrators of India at that time ignored them. Later the British government reprimanded the administrators and asked them to ensure their representation by nomination. The British government wrote, “The untouchables constitute one-fifth of the entire population but they were not given any place in the Marley Minto councils for representation”. The Marley Minto Reform was done in 1909, after which Muslims got a separate electorate . The council that the British government was talking about was the supreme decision-making body in the administration.

The Simon Commission came to India about three years before the 1931 census. The commission had come to see how much effect the constitutional reforms made in 1919 have had and whether other reforms are needed. The Simon Commission was the one to decide how to entrust self-government to the Indians. This was going to be the foundation for the biggest constitutional reform before India became independent. This report itself would lay the basis for which community should be represented in the upcoming legislative elections. Before the commission came there was no direct election in India. Provincial elections were held in India for the first time in 1938. But before that, the Scheduled Castes still had to win many matches with their own people. The Hindus tried their best that the Scheduled Castes should not get any separate place in the legislature.

When the commission was set up in March 1927, the Secretary of State for India was the link between the Viceroy and the British Government; He expressed his grief over not being given a place in the commission to any member of the Depressed Classes . The Secretary of State said in the British Parliament:

There is a very large population of Depressed Classes in India , about six crores. Their situation is not as terrifying and poignant as before, but still quite terrifying and poignant. They are kept separate from every social activity. If they ( depressed classes members ) also come between sunlight and the person (Hindu) who dislikes them, then the sun also becomes ugly for that person (Hindu). He cannot drink public water. They have to walk many miles to quench their thirst. It is very sad that such people are called untouchables. Am I in favor of having a representative of the depressed classes in the commission ? I or my allies sitting in opposition will never, ever, in a democratic country constitute any such commission in which Depressed ClassesDon’t be. The ones you have set aside need the most representation.

In 1928, the commission in its report talked about ensuring their representation in the legislature through reserved seats for the depressed classes . He recommended against representation in proportion to their population. This was probably because the commission members believed that “poverty” and “illiteracy” were so high in the depressed classes that it would be difficult to choose the right representative on the council. He wrote in his report,

Unless a special provision is made, there is no hope that the Depressed Classes will be able to elect their representatives from the General Constituency .…We do not recommend that the Depressed Classes be allotted seats in proportion to their population. We can increase the number of representatives of Depressed Classes through reserved representation .”

In the matter of representation of different communities, the report of the commission was in a way preliminary. The matter of representation was later to be settled by a separate committee, which was called the “Franchise Committee”.

In 1930, the British government started the Roundtable Conference (Round Table Conference) with Indian leaders. This conference was organized by the British government to know the side of Indian leaders before bringing the Government of India Act of 1935. The conference was held in three sessions between November 1930 and November 1932, in which representatives of Congress, Muslim League, Depressed Classes , Sikhs, Christians, besides Raja-Maharajas also attended. The first session of the conference was boycotted by the Congress, which represented the Hindus at that time. Ambedkar was representing the Depressed Classes in this conference. He strongly favored this class and proved that the depressed classes are a separate independent population from the Hindus. He requested the British Government for Depressed Classes .He was also successful in getting a separate electorate .

On 20 November 1930, in front of the President of the Round Table Conference, he put forward the side of Depressed Classes as follows:

My side is for 40 million people, that is to say, one-fifth of the total population of British India. Depressed classes are a distinct and distinct group in themselves, which is different from Mohammedan. Although he is included in the Hindus but he is not a part of the Hindu society in any way. Not only do they have a separate existence but they have been given a separate social position which is different from the rest of the members of the society. There are some communities in India whose social status is below or subordinate. But the space given to the depressed classes is completely different. It can be defined in such a way that it falls somewhere between bonded labor (serf) and slave (slave). In fact, people could come in physical contact with bonded laborers and slaves too, but depressed classesNo one can come in contact with. What is worse is that their imposed slavery and restriction from contact with people, because they are untouchables, are not only limited to their public life but this untouchability deprives them of every equal opportunity and fundamental rights Which is necessary for the existence of a human being.

depressed classesHow socially and politically different from Hindus, Ambedkar had proved in this way. He said that the untouchables can be considered as Hindu in the limited sense that they worship sects like Krishna, Rama, Shiva like Hindus. But his worship is different. Untouchables do not enter Hindu temples. Ambedkar said that by worshiping the same God, two different communities do not become one. If this were so, then the people of French, German, Dutch and many European countries who believe in Christianity would not have a separate political identity in themselves. In this case, he also gave the example of India. In India at that time Indian Christian, Anglo Indian and European, these were three different communities and all three had different political identities. Each had also got separate constitutional facilities. Despite all of them being Christians, they had the status of a separate political minority. Ambedkar said that for any community to be united, there should be no discrimination in the social relations among its members. But in Hinduism, everyone is bound by their caste.Hindus do not marry or eat with untouchables. Hinduism itself is unequal and separate. Ambedkar’s debate was irrefutable and it was certain that the British Government Separate electorate will give in the new constitution for the depressed classes.

The debate of representation was over when Mohandas Gandhi came to London in 1931 to attend the second session of the Round Table Conference. Gandhi said as soon as he came that the president of the conference should do such a thing to give time to the leaders of India to consult themselves and then they all together would hand over a memorandum of understanding to the British. This was an attempt by Gandhi to prevent a separate political identity of the depressed classes . He knew that everything had been decided and if he spoke in front of everyone, he alone would not be able to stop that decision. But if Gandhi somehow gets the rest of the leaders of India on his side on the pretext of internal discussion, then perhaps depressed classesCould put pressure on. Gandhi wanted the British government to postpone the Round Table Conference till internal discussion. Ambedkar said that he is not averse to internal dialogue. But he put the condition that Gandhi should tell the first conference publicly that he had no problem with the separate political identity of the depressed classes . Ambedkar told the Speaker that he would join Gandhi’s internal discussion on the same condition if no question would be raised about the Separate Electorate of Depressed Classes and he would not be the subject of that discussion. Ambedkar’s premise was that the debate on the separate political status of the Depressed Classes was over and it would be decided only by the British government and not by any Mahatma of India.

However, the British government postponed the conference for some time and allowed Gandhi to have an internal discussion. When the conference started again, Gandhi apologized to the Speaker for not being able to bring the people together. But he adopted a new method of snatching the political identity of the depressed classes . He took a dig at Ambedkar and said that those who are representing the Depressed Classes in the conference are not actually elected leaders but nominated by the British Government. After this, he called himself the real representative of Depressed Classes and said that there is no one in India of Depressed Classes more friendly than him. Gandhi told the assembly that he should be a separate electorate for the untouchables at any cost.And don’t support reserved seat. They said,

This [separate political identity] will bring division in Hinduism which I never want to see. I would not mind if the untouchables convert to Islam or to Christianity, if they so desire. I will tolerate that, but I will not tolerate what is certain for Hinduism in the future that the village will be divided into two. Those who talk about the separate political identity of the untouchables do not know India. Don’t know how Indian society is made. That’s why with all my strength, even if I were the only person to oppose this thing, I would have opposed it with all my life.

Ambedkar objected to Gandhi’s assertion that he was describing himself as a representative of the depressed classes . He ended his talk by saying,

My only request is that if you transfer power [to Indians], do that transfer with such conditions, with such provisions so that the power is in any case a particular faction, feudal or group of people, whether Muslim or Hindu. Yes, do not remain confined in the hands of him. Find out such a solution that every community in power is equal share in proportion to its numbers.

In August 1932, the British government gave the Depressed Classes the status of an independent political minority separate from the Hindus and their representation was also accepted by the Separate Electoral . It is also called Communal Award. But only after this decision Gandhi sat on hunger strike. He could not defeat Ambedkar’s debate in the Round Table Conference, but as soon as he came to India, he challenged the depressed classes with his familiar strike politics . Ambedkar writes that as soon as Gandhi went on strike, “all eyes” were on him and he was made the “villain” of the whole event. Ambedkar wrote that on the one hand the responsibility of saving Gandhi’s life as a human being fell upon him, and on the other hand he was given the Depressed Classes .It was also to save the rights from ending. Seeing the deteriorating condition of the country, Ambedkar agreed to compromise with Gandhi. Under the agreement, the seats of the depressed classes were increased in advance but their separate electorate was taken away. Gandhi was against the separate electorate of Dalits from the very beginning .

Later, in 1935, when the Poona Pact was debated in the British Parliament on the Government of India Act, many MPs were against the agreement. He put before the House that Gandhi had compelled Ambedkar for this agreement and therefore no change should be made in the Communal Award given to the Dalits. But the government’s side was that any agreement in which Indians have reached their own consent is bound to be accepted by the government. The Poona Pact was adopted and changes were made in the Communal Award. As soon as the Act was passed in 1935, new constitutional reforms came into force in India.

The Poona Pact was going to prove to be suicidal for the Dalits in the coming decade. Gandhi had uprooted the Dalits through the Poona Pact even before the political wing was established. The result of Poona Pact is visible even after 90 years. The Dalits who get elected and go to the Parliament or the state legislature are less dependent on the Dalit voters and more on the votes of the upper caste Hindus. The result is that they do not care about the social, economic and political status of Dalits. Like a puppet, they blindly support the leaders, parties and governments of the upper castes. They go on supporting the law being made against their own people. Ambedkar was already aware of this dreadful situation to come. He tried again several times to separate electorate from the British government for the Dalits.But now it was too late. In the next ten years, the situation changed so much that Ambedkar became politically isolated. He was also betrayed by the leaders of the Muslim League, with whom he often made political alliances as a minority. The British also used the Scheduled Castes and finally left them to the Hindus.

Ambedkar said that the untouchables can be considered Hindu in the limited sense that they worship sects like Krishna, Ram, Shiva like Hindus. But his worship is different. Untouchables do not enter Hindu temples. Ambedkar said that by worshiping the same God, two different communities do not become one. If this were so, then the people of French, German, Dutch and many European countries who believe in Christianity would not have a separate political identity in themselves.

But before that, the Second World War had started in 1940. And along with it the haste of Britain to leave India. By March 1942, the condition of Britain was starting to weaken. Japan occupied the British colony of Singapore and Burma with the help of the Azad Hind Fauj. The northeastern states of India were under threat. In such a situation, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a minister from his cabinet, Stafford Cripps, to India. Cripps’ job was to garner support for the war from Indian leaders and promise an independent India in return. This support was necessary because the soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj were once part of the British Army. The British government had a large number of Indians in the army; And Britain could challenge Japan only if it got the loyalty of its soldiers. The support of Indian leaders was needed to win this loyalty. And the support of Indian leaders means the support of every community here who were fighting separately for their rights with the British government since the beginning of the 20th century. By the way, the biggest side in this fight was the Congress on one side which represented the Hindus and on the other side the Muslim League which led the Muslims. But along with these there were also many small communities in terms of numbers likeDepressed classes , which came to be called scheduled after 1935, and Sikh, Christian, Anglo Indian and others. And the biggest among them was the Scheduled Castes.

After meeting Indian leaders in 1942, Cripps made this offer to him. He promised the Congress to make a new constitution through a Constituent Assembly formed by himself after the war. On the other hand, Cripps gave freedom to the Muslims to stay out of this constitution. He also allowed the Muslims to make their own constitution in future. But Cripps did not say anything in his proposal for Scheduled Castes or other minorities. Ambedkar called this neglect of Cripps “munic mentality”. Means sacrificing the other to save one. While addressing the Scheduled Castes, Ambedkar said that now neither you have any guardian nor any political partner in the form of Muslims. He said that now you are on your own and that is why it is necessary to stay organized. He reminded the Scheduled Castes in that rally that the biggest legacy and principle of his politics has been that the Scheduled Castes are an independent political group separate from the Hindus. Although Cripps did not make any special provision for Scheduled Castes, he proposed to make all minor minorities the subject of a bilateral treaty. Meaning all religious and political minorities, in the event of independence, would have been part of a treaty between India and Britain which would have protected their rights. The British government could take action on any violation of this by India. But it just sounds good. Its jurisdiction was to be left to the new constitution framed by the Congress. Ambedkar said that if Cripps really wanted the welfare of minorities, then keep the proposed treaty above the purview of the new constitution, otherwise Hindu India can abolish or weaken the treaty as soon as a new constitution is made. Ambedkar said that without this condition the treaty would have no power.

Both the League and the Congress rejected Cripps’ proposal, saying that all promises were to be fulfilled in the future. After Cripps, the British government sent a cabinet mission in March 1946. However, from the point of view of Scheduled Castes, the situation had changed a lot in both the countries. There was now a Labor government in Britain with Clement Attlee as its prime minister. The same Attlee who supported Gandhi during the Poona Pact debate in the British Parliament and was in favor of a change in the Communal Award. While his predecessor Winston Churchill was sympathetic to the demand for depressed classes . He did not like Gandhi at all. Two months before the arrival of the Cabinet Mission, elections for the Provincial Council were held in India in which the Depressed ClassesIts political party, the Scheduled Castes Federation, fared badly. Not many of their members came by election. Later on Ambedkar also tried to explain this shortcoming to British Prime Minister Attlee, how to separate electorate .Due to not being there, his representative was not elected, but Attlee did not accept this debate of Ambedkar. Due to poor performance in the elections, the cabinet mission did not give any heed to Ambedkar and his demands. The mission proposed to divide the power of India between Hindus and Muslims. However, this division was not of land but of the federal system. Hindus run their state by their own laws and Muslims by their own laws. In both these debates, the rights of Scheduled Castes and all other minorities were ignored. The British were not ready to listen to him. However, this mission also failed due to the rivalry between the Muslim League and the Congress. But, the British had decided to leave India. Now was not the time to send another mission to persuade the Indian leaders. India was partitioned on land. Hindu India and Muslim India (Pakistan) were given the right to make their own constitution, their own country.

The Scheduled Castes on both sides were forced to join them only with whom they kept fighting. In India, Ambedkar accepted the advice of the Congress and joined the government in the capacity of Law Minister. The new Constituent Assembly was formed by electing the elected representatives in the provincial elections, so apparently Ambedkar did not have many allies in this assembly. He put his demands in front of the assembly but he was defeated one after the other.

Whatever constitutional benefits SCs and STs got in independent India were a compromise, not a victory. And we are still seeing the result of this agreement in the murder of Indra. separate electorateDue to the absence of Scheduled Castes, they are not able to send their true representative in the Parliament, and due to not having their rightful representative in the Parliament, there is no keeper of their constitutional provisions. They are all just paper laws in name. Despite this, the hatred against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes among Hindus has not diminished. Constitutional facilities have been so erroneously inserted into the consciousness of Indians for decades that Hindus think that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes got this entitlement in the form of a dole. He was kept away from the history that this constitutional provision is the basis for the union of Dalits and Adivasis with the Indian Union. This is evidence of the consent on the basis of which these two communities had agreed to be part of India. This is a provision that was part of the Indian governance system for 40 years before independence.

Dalits were born with a separate political identity in the national life and also joined India on the same condition. Indians should respect that condition.

Now, in those pages of history, when the Dalits in independent India for the first time perhaps became aware of the hollowness of constitutional protections. They understood that these protections were effective only when their government was formed, but the separate electorateOtherwise, they became a permanent minority. Far away from power, they were not even able to become a sufficient political force to influence the politics of the majority Hindus. In December 1956, Dalit legend B. R. Ambedkar left this world and went away. The name of his party Scheduled Caste Federation was now changed to Republican Party of India. This was the party that represented the Dalits of the entire country for three decades under the leadership of Ambedkar before independence. People had high hopes from Ambedkar. But within a decade of Ambedkar’s death, his party disintegrated. The party split into several factions, such as Khobragade, Gaikwad, Kamble and several sub-castes. Their leaders started fighting against each other. In the words of Kanshi Ram, who gathered the Dalits and the exploited in independent India, the leader of the Republican Party shattered Ambedkar’s dream. his party ahead of dalit, Instead of making it a party of all societies persecuted by Brahminism in India, he made it a party of Mahars. They didn’t stop there.

By the end of the 1960s, many of Ambedkar’s allies had joined the Congress party, the same Congress against whom Ambedkar had played politics throughout his life. This was the time when Kanshi Ram left the Republican Party in Maharashtra and came to Uttar Pradesh to make a new experiment in the politics of Bahujan Samaj. Three decades later, in the 1990s, Kanshi Ram’s experiment touched the peak of its success. Dalits came to power on their own terms for the first time under the leadership of Bahujan Samaj. This was the most successful experiment in Dalit politics. I have discussed this usage earlier in my English article. Whereas in the East, in Bihar, against the exploitation of the dalit landlords, Maoists were mobilizing under the leadership of Maoists. Where political power was the goal of the Dalit movement in Uttar Pradesh, the Dalits of Bihar were mobilizing for their prestige and land. I will discuss the movement of Dalits in Bihar some other time.

In the West, however, Dalit youth were increasingly becoming uncomfortable with the break in the leaders of the Republican Party in Maharashtra and their joining the Congress. He could not see any way on which he could maintain his identity. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was socialist and communist ideology to form the basis of any protest among the youth. The Shiv Sena, a regional party on the Hindu identity in Maharashtra, was also rapidly recovering from the inclination of Dalits. In such a situation, some Ambedkarite writers and poets by profession and hobbies, who were either associated with the Republican Party in some way or with the socialists, created an alternative platform, the Dalit Panthers. It had three main founders: Namdev Dhasal, Raja Dhale and J. V. Pawar. Pawar in his book “Dalit Panthers, The Authoritative History”

Describing the political and social environment of Maharashtra at that time, Pawar writes that, “Decentralization of power had begun according to the Constitution. But this decentralization benefited only those castes which traditionally controlled the society. ” He wrote that after the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi, the Marathas had snatched the social power of the Brahmins. But in the early 1970s, the Marathas had now replaced the Brahmins. The traditional chieftains in the village were Marathas who were called Patils. Pawar writes that when the post of Sarpanch came into existence, it was also won by the “Patils” of the village. Pawar writes, “Speaking of the political environment, after the creation of Bangladesh, Indira Gandhi’s political stature had increased so much that she was constantly tinkering with the Constitution. Congress had 350 seats at the center,

At the same time, in April 1970, the Elayaperumal Report was placed in the Parliament. Ale. Elayaperumal was an MP under whose chairmanship a committee was constituted in 1965 to document the atrocities against Dalits and suggest measures to prevent it. This was the first attempt in the country to document the exploitation of Dalits. Today the National Crime Records Bureau documents these crimes every year. The Elayaperumal Report recorded 11,000 cases of exploitation against Dalits in the last one year, of which about 1977 were murders of Dalits. Pawar wrote that the revelations of this report had made even educated Dalits think. They started thinking whether by writing their writings, the atrocities on Dalits would end, would their writing be enough? The report had not yet gone from the Dalit consciousness that in 1972 two horrific incidents of Dalit atrocities were published in the newspapers in Maharashtra.

By the end of the 1960s, many of Ambedkar’s allies had joined the Congress party, the same Congress against whom Ambedkar had played politics throughout his life. This was the time when Kanshi Ram left the Republican Party in Maharashtra and came to Uttar Pradesh to make a new experiment in the politics of Bahujan Samaj. Three decades later, in the 1990s, Kanshi Ram’s experiment touched the peak of its success. Dalits came to power on their own terms for the first time under the leadership of Bahujan Samaj.

Pawar writes that one of them was in Bavda village where Dalits were boycotted by the upper castes. The boycott was announced by none other than the brother of a minister of state at that time. The second incident was of Brahmangaon which was in Parbhani district. There the upper castes had taken two Dalit women naked and roamed the whole village. In the meantime, they kept beating his bare body with acacia branches. The fault of those women was so much that they drank water from a public well. In July 1972, the Panthers took out the first rally in protest against this incident. In this rally, Panther Dhale suggested that atrocities against Dalits should be opposed by celebrating the coming Independence Day as Black Day. Everyone supported this suggestion. This method of protest was symbolically revolutionary in itself. Dalit youth wanted to send a message to the government that their exploitation has not stopped in independent India.

This was no ordinary annual freedom festival. In 1972, 25 years of India’s independence were being completed and the Indira government decided to celebrate it as the biggest occasion to serve patriotism. The legislature of every state was ordered to convene a session at midnight of independence. This order was also for the Parliament of the Center. On the night of August 14, the state and central legislatures of the country were going to celebrate independence by convening a special session. There was an order to decorate all government offices with lights.

Earlier in May 1972, the then Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Nandini Satpathy had given a government order that everyone in the theater will have to stand when the national anthem is played. He said that if any person contempt of this order, then action will be taken against them. It was against this background that the Dalit Panthers gathered at Azad Maidan on the night of 14 August as part of their planned plan. From here he was going to march to the Vidhan Bhavan with a black belt on his arm. Pawar writes that Dhasal forgot to bring the patta. Then Pawar went to his house and brought his black umbrella. The Panthers cut the umbrella into small pieces and tied it to the buttons of their shirts because it was so late in the night that they found it difficult to even find pins to hang the black clothes. Pawar writes that from there all the Panthers again reached the Vidhan Bhavan. According to the government order, the session of the Legislative Assembly had started at midnight. The Panthers started a mock session of the legislature with their members in front of the building. One after the other the speakers in their speech demanded to stop the atrocities on Dalits. In this way, the Panthers celebrated the Silver Jubilee of Independence Day as Black Day and sent the message that nothing had changed for them in independent India.

On the day of Independence Day, a composition of Panther Dhale was published in a newspaper named “Sadhana”. Dhale argued in his article that in the eyes of the Government of India, the respect of a Dalit woman is less than the respect of the Indian flag. This article spread like fire. In his writings there was anger of the Dalit society which was prickling the upper castes. Dhale wrote, “The Indian flag is just a piece of cloth, a symbol of a certain colour. Yet there is a heavy fine for its contempt. If it is robbed, the fine is only Rs 50. What is the significance of such a national flag? Is it to be worn on its hood? A nation exists only because of its people. Is the pain of insulting a symbol an insult to a human being? Is greater than the sorrow of? What more than that? The price of our respect is not more than the cost of a saree. Following this article by Dhale, party members of Congress and Shiv Sena planned to attack the office of Sadhna Press in Pune. On knowing this, the Pune team of Panthers decided to stop them. On the one hand, the people of Congress and Army were raising slogans of “Sadhana Press ko Jaldaalo” and on the other hand the Panthers team had opened the front. Clashes took place between the two, but seeing the strength of the Panthers, the members of Congress and Army ran away. Pawar writes that he did not expect the support of so many people in Pune. Following this article by Dhale, party members of Congress and Shiv Sena planned to attack the office of Sadhna Press in Pune. On knowing this, the Pune team of Panthers decided to stop them. On the one hand, the people of Congress and Army were raising slogans of “Sadhana Press ko Jaldaalo” and on the other hand the Panthers team had opened the front. Clashes took place between the two, but seeing the strength of the Panthers, members of the Congress and the army ran away. Pawar writes that he did not expect the support of so many people in Pune.

An essential method among the various methods of resistance to the Panthers was the continued attack on Brahmanism. They believed that the atrocities on Dalits could not end without ending Brahmanism because the Brahminical scriptures give religious recognition to the Varna system. Varna system is that social system which makes Dalit untouchable and advocates discrimination against them. At the top of this social category are Brahmins, then Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, and finally Shudras. These different Dalits have been called Pancham or Avarna, in which their shadow has also been described as polluted. The Panthers were perhaps the only resistance in the history of the Dalit movement that continued to challenge Hinduism. By doing this he was taking forward Ambedkar’s campaign. Ambedkar has described Hinduism as a symbol of inequality and an ideology against the republic. In March 1973, the Panthers announced that they would publicly burn the Hindu scripture Gita at Shivaji Park. This was the same park where Shiv Sena had started and it used to hold all its rallies there. His announcement came at a time when the Mumbai municipal elections were about to take place. The Republican Party was supporting Shiv Sena in the election. That is why the army had to worry about its Dalit voters as well. The army was dependent on the vote base of the Republican Party. That’s why she was not able to openly speak against the announcement of the Panthers. Maybe that’s why he handled the matter legally. That’s why she was not able to openly speak against the announcement of the Panthers. Maybe that’s why he handled the matter legally. That’s why she was not able to openly speak against the announcement of the Panthers. Maybe that’s why he handled the matter legally.

According to the plan, writes Pawar, on March 6, 1973, the Panthers gathered at the Lalit Kala Bhavan. In the meeting, he decided to boycott the municipal elections. Pawar writes that Police Intelligence was already present in this meeting. He was aware of the announcement of the Panthers. Pawar writes that to mislead the intelligence officers, he told them that the Panthers were not going to Shivaji Park but to Chaityabhoomi. Chaityabhoomi is the samadhi site of Ambedkar in Mumbai which is like a pilgrimage center for Dalits. Pawar said that he had publicly told this to his cadre so that the police should be confident. The Panthers were a bit annoyed because the plan was to march to Shivaji Park, but they headed towards Chaityabhoomi. Pawar wrote that some 500 Panthers marched from Tilak Bridge towards Dadar West where both Chaityabhoomi and Shivaji Park are situated. The Panthers reached Shivaji Park around midnight where the police were already packed. He surrounded the park by making a human chain. Pawar wrote that after a short speech, Panthers Dhale took out a copy of the Gita from his pocket and set it on fire with a match. As soon as the fire broke out, the police broke down on the Panthers mold and arrested them. That night, 264 Panthers were arrested by the police and charged with inciting religious sentiments. There were reports of burning of Geeta in the newspapers in the morning, but only the police version was printed in them. Journalists wrote that the Panthers’ plan to publicly burn the Gita was stopped by the police. But the truth was that the Gita was burnt. Pawar writes that, “It was a symbolic protest of ours against the religious rules which were the reason for the exploitation of the Dalits”. Pawar wrote that after a short speech, Panthers Dhale took out a copy of the Gita from his pocket and set it on fire with a match. As soon as the fire broke out, the police broke down on the Panthers mold and arrested them. That night, 264 Panthers were arrested by the police and charged with inciting religious sentiments. There were reports of burning of Geeta in the newspapers in the morning, but only the police version was printed in them. Journalists wrote that the Panthers’ plan to publicly burn the Gita was stopped by the police. But the truth was that the Gita was burnt. Pawar writes that, “It was a symbolic protest of ours against the religious rules which were the reason for the exploitation of the Dalits”. Pawar wrote that after a short speech, Panthers Dhale took out a copy of the Gita from his pocket and set it on fire with a match. As soon as the fire broke out, the police broke down on the Panthers mold and arrested them. That night, 264 Panthers were arrested by the police and charged with inciting religious sentiments. There were reports of burning of Geeta in the newspapers in the morning, but only the police version was printed in them. Journalists wrote that the Panthers’ plan to publicly burn the Gita was stopped by the police. But the truth was that the Gita was burnt. Pawar writes that, “It was a symbolic protest of ours against the religious rules which were the reason for the exploitation of the Dalits”. There were reports of burning of Geeta in the newspapers in the morning, but only the police version was printed in them. Journalists wrote that the Panthers’ plan to publicly burn the Gita was stopped by the police. But the truth was that the Gita was burnt. Pawar writes that, “It was a symbolic protest of ours against the religious rules which were the reason for the exploitation of the Dalits”. There were reports of burning of Geeta in the newspapers in the morning, but only the police version was printed in them. Journalists wrote that the Panthers’ plan to publicly burn the Gita was stopped by the police. But the truth was that the Gita was burnt. Pawar writes that, “It was a symbolic protest of ours against the religious rules which were the reason for the exploitation of the Dalits”.

Two weeks later, on March 18, the Panthers registered their protest by throwing slippers at the Shankaracharya of Jagannathpuri Niranjan Teerth. Shankaracharya is at the top of the ranks of the priests of Hinduism. He is considered the caretaker of the religion. There are mainly four Shankaracharyas in India who follow orthodox Hinduism. In the same year Niranjan Teerth had said that even if a Chamar becomes educated, he will remain a Chamar and an untouchable will remain an untouchable. This speech of Shankaracharya had agitated the Panthers. According to Article 17 of the Constitution, untouchability is illegal. Then on March 18, when Shankaracharya was attending a yatra, a panther threw a slipper at him. In today’s era, when there is a Brahminical government at the center which is supported by the Brahminical extremist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh itself, no one can imagine such a protest. In such a situation, the history of Panthers is inspiring. Only the Panthers had the power to tell the truth, to oppose the inequality inherent in religion. This protest was a symbol of the fact that no person is above the Constitution.

An essential method among the various methods of resistance to the Panthers was the continued attack on Brahmanism. They believed that the atrocities on Dalits could not end without ending Brahmanism because the Brahminical scriptures give religious recognition to the Varna system.

The Panthers were fearless. One aspect of his opposition was that he was not afraid of any political power, no matter how big a dictator it was. In April 1974, the Dalit Panthers forced Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to change her official route. That year the Pune University decided to confer on him a doctorate. The Panthers were opposing Indira against the increasing atrocities on Dalits. Pawar writes that on both sides of the road, members of the Dalit Panthers were raising slogans against Indira Gandhi at various places. At one place they even tried to close the road. In response, the police not only beat up the Panthers, but also entered the Dalit settlements and vandalized the houses and shops of the Dalits. However, the effect of his protest was that Indira Gandhi changed her route in return.

Many such exploits are in the name of Panthers. After the Emergency, many members of the Panthers started working with different political parties, and that’s when its founders decided to end it. The history of Panthers presents the path of extremism as a successful remedy in the Dalit consciousness. It is only a matter of time when Dalit society will have no other option. The Government of India and the majority of Hindus should remember the constitutional promises and ensure their safety. Dalits were born with a separate political identity in the national life and also joined India on the same condition. Indians should respect that condition.