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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Ambedkar, NCERT Textbooks and the Protests-Harish Wankhede

Ambedkar, NCERT Textbooks and the Protests-Harish Wankhede

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published Published on Jun 5, 2012   modified Modified on Jun 5, 2012

The cartoon controversy provides the possibility of interrogating the functioning of the academic system to understand its relationship with the downtrodden masses. A new deliberation is needed in order to make the academic world more sensitive and responsive towards the issues and concerns of the subaltern-oppressed communities. This will be an ethical incentive for the present-day dalit movement in India and can bring greater democratisation to the education system.

Harish Wankhede (enarish@gmail.com) teaches political science at Ram Lal Anand College (Evening) of Delhi University.

The merit of the contemporary dalit movement lies in its moral capacity to claim justice and ­fairness for the most disadvantaged sections of the society. However, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbook cartoon controversy mainly presses a “symbolic-emotive” argument without dealing with the structural norms that ­produce such controversy. The oppo­sition to Shankar’s cartoon by sections amongst the dalits is a subtle attempt to showcase the normal “disliking” of Ambe­dkar pertinent in academic circles. While there is concrete merit in such ­opposition, the aggressive protests by the dalits are constructed in the mainstream media as their opposition to the rights of intellectual creati­vity and freedom of expression.

In addition, the attack on Suhas Palshikar in Pune University by four activists of the little known Republican Dalit Panthers has been further utilised to belittle the movement as rowdy and ill-informed. At a stage when the greater influence of the dalit political movement is on the decline (the Bahujan Samaj Party’s recent election debacle in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections being an example), such trivialisation of the issue has the potential to portray the dalit movement as devoid of concrete political issues, and as infantile and aggressively lumpen in its approach.

During the African-American civil rights movements in the United States, Martin Luther King stated that the ­protest marches were not the cause of racism but merely exposed a long-term cancerous condition in society (Ture and Hamilton 2008: 242). On the cartoon controversy, my attempt here is to ­unfold the greater merit that is hidden in the dalit protest which has been ­overlooked because of its persistent ­trivialisation. The dalit movement in Maharashtra in the recent past had made claims for radical structural changes by evoking the identity question. The claims and protests are supplemented with rigorous articulation on a possible alternative system, based on the values of equality, social justice and representation. I argue that in the absence of concrete sociopolitical movements and an ideological programmatic understanding to question the elitist hegemony over the education system, such passionate attempts will be identified as “intolerant rage” by some irrational beings. In contrast, the cartoon controversy provides the possibility of interrogating the functioning of the academic system to understand its relationship with the downtrodden masses. A new deliberation is needed in order to make the academic world more sensitive and responsive towards the issues and concerns of the subaltern-oppressed communities. This will be an ethical incentive for the present-day dalit movement in India and can bring greater democratisation to the education system.

Ethics of the Dalit Protest Movements

Ambedkar is not just a political figure but adored by a large mass in India as a prophetic icon. For the dalits, their transformation from “walking carcasses” into right bearing citizens is mostly due to his sociopolitical struggles (Guru 2009: 222). His iconic presence among the dalit psyche has provided an inspirational impetus to new social movements and has substantively democratised intercommunity living. In the post-Ambedkar period the Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra radicalised dalit consciousness and brought up vital questions of caste atrocities, violence and unemployment among the dalit youth in mainstream political discussions (Omvedt 2006: 73). The dalit sociocultural movements in Maharashtra are known for their rooted materialism, revolutionary potential and the capacity to alter the sociopolitical cultures. They have utilised the most modern and progressive values while mobilising the dalits and have championed the struggle for equal human rights and dignity. Further, the movement has ridiculed the conservative fundamentalism of brahminic cultural iconography as regressive and has adopted a humane version of Buddhist symbolism in construction of social capital (Beltz 2004: 245-61).

The distancing of dalit social life from their political representatives in Maharashtra is a well-known development. However, even in the absence of mainstream political representation, they have democratised the social atmosphere by continuously engaging themselves in constructing visible landmarks in religious, cultural and literary circles. The alternative forms of social mobilisation by forming numerous local sociocultural organisations in the name of Buddha, Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule, their massive participation during the festivals named after dalit icons, the presence of a robust emerging dalit middle class and continuous engagement of dalit intellectuals in raising pertinent questions of social justice in the mainstream media have established dalits as important actors in shaping the sociopolitical public reason in Maharashtra. The foremost character of these assertions is its promising allegiance to democratic norms, peaceful coexistence with other social groups and creative utilisation of social capital to raise day-to-day questions that affect the normal lives of dalits. Such active participation of the dalits in moulding social spheres at different intervals has also been marked by aggressive protests.

In 1997 11 protestors were killed in the police firing at Ramabai Nagar in Mumbai. They were protesting against the desecration of Ambedkar’s statue. The protest against the desecration and killings spread to all of Maharashtra paralysing the law and order situation (Narula 1999: 127). Similarly, in 2006 the Khairlanji massacre case witnessed the rape and brutal murder of a young Buddhist girl and her mother. Her two brothers were also killed by the caste Hindus of the village (Vij 2006). Maharashtra witnessed another round of angry and violent protest by the dalits. This time they were protesting against inhuman caste violence and criminal negligence of the state in delivering justice. Recen­tly, in December 2011, hundreds of dalit activists forcibly captured the Indu Mill in Mumbai for 32 days as a reaction to the state government’s apathy towards implementing its promise of building a national memorial for Ambedkar. The government had to give in to the growing pressure and on the promise of an early resolution to the problem by the prime mini­ster; the “occupied” space was vacated.

These alternative sociocultural sites and spontaneous struggles by the dalits were justified and supported by common people and progressive intelligentsia outside Maharashtra because of their moral appeal and righteous claim for justice. The motive force behind the aggressive assertion is people’s deep sense of the injustice that the normal sociopolitical culture is embedded with. Further, all the above-mentioned assertions were not manipulated or controlled by any political bosses but, in contrast, were independent dalit upsurges against concrete issues of police brutality, the feudal-brahmanical village order and the need for dalits to voice dignified claim on public spaces. Within such spontaneous protests, the dalits have evoked fundamental questions against the nature of the Indian state, democracy and constitutional rights. The aim of the movements was not to accept symbolic-superficial adjustment with the ­issue of the time but was to demonstrate the rising capacity of the dalits to counter and articulate ideological and programmatic issues, result in a greater ­democratisation of the social sphere.

The political merit of the dalit movement in Maharashtra thus lies in the conscious and radical gestures that the dalit masses have adopted without falling prey to any petty political agenda. In contrast, the cartoon controversy is ­creating an impression that the dalits in the state are obsessive about Ambe­dkar’s iconography and devoid of his philosophical mantras. The current attempt to politicise the cartoon controversy in Maharashtra and outside is to reduce the assertive dalit challenge to a trivial emotive issue, dangerous enough to kill the courageous spirit of the earlier progressive movements.

The Right-wing Characteristic

The popular struggle by the dalits in Maharashtra over the demand for changing the name of Marathwada University during the “Namantar Movement” in the early 1980s was based on a conscious demand to provide legitimate space to Ambedkar in the democratic space of institutional nomenclatures. The popular mobilisation of the dalits over this ­demand witnessed an impressive parti­cipation by women, social groups, Dalit Panther activists and also the committed efforts by certain leaders of the Republican Party of India (RPI). This mobilisation democratised the sociopolitical spheres and converted the dalits into a militant force against the upper caste hegemony (Rao 2009: 214). Even at the apogee of its militancy, the dalits ­maintained their democratic credentials and pressurised the state with a zealous and non-compromising solida­rity against anti-dalit violence and its state protection. The two-decade-long struggle is empirical evidence of the ­dalits categorically exposing the treacherous, insensitive and violent nature of the governing class.

Cultural resources are potent instruments in politics based on Identity. The icons, cultural and religious sites and exclusive group identities are politicised on the ground of defending one’s dignity and to provide equal space in the debate of reconstruction of the nation. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the most successful champion of such aggressive ­manipulation of the “Hindu Identity”. Based on the populist communal jingoism created over the Hindu deity Ram against the Muslims (Davis 1996), the party successfully mobilised sections among the Hindu population in northern India and periodically captured power at the centre in the 1990s. As mentioned above, the dalits have also utilised symbols and cultural artefacts for mobilisation. However, here the assertions based on alternative iconography are concretely different from its right-wing counterpart. The dalits ­utilised the identity question by supplementing it with crucial issues of dignity, representation and social justice. It has a higher political objective, away from electoral benefits and is related to bringing progressive and radical changes in the socio­economic and religious domain.

The current dalit political leadership in Maharashtra has a poor track record when it comes to the vital question of ­envisaging a sociopolitical struggle which can challenge the structural roots of the establishment. Recently, one of the important factions of the RPI led by Ramdas Athawale, went against all ­ethical considerations and formed a ­political alliance with the rabidly conservative and parochial, Shiv Sena (Wankhede 2012). This new alliance has the capacity to influence the dalits to adopt unconventional modes of protests (resembling the campaigns of the Shiv Sena-Bajarang Dal) and highlighting emotive and symbolic issues. The latest controversy over the cartoons, led by Athawale, radically challenged the general assumptions about the fundamental nature of dalit activism in Maharashtra. It should be understood that it is to no more than maintain the exclusive clout over dalits that such emotive hyperbola is created without touching any structural anomalies which are responsible for such crises.1 Such a decision will be marked as “non-democratic” or “unethical” because of the narrow petty political objective that it carries. Importantly, such an attempt reflects the incapacity of the dalit leadership to imagine new ways of forming political correctness and an inability to chart an independent path through political struggles and mass mobilisations. The dalit consti­tuency will probably be identified with right-wing fundamentalist groups and as misfits in a vibrant and tolerant ­democracy.

The current episode is explicitly without people’s participation and democratic credentials. The strict engagement with the merits and demerits of the caricature and “its impact on young minds” mis­represents the pressing concerns which should have entered the public discourse. Ambedkar is heralded as a ­canonical figure, protected from blasphemous attempts and thus even a fictional narrative (cartoon) is judged ­almost literally here. Further, the growth of such narrow fundamentalism within the movement can be used by the political elites mainly to divert the common dalit masses from their day-to-day struggles of livelihood towards a sentimental uproar over a non-material ­value. The media, on the other hand, has utilised this attempt to paint the entire spectrum of dalit activism as irrational, aggressive and obsessive about hero worship. The need to utilise this parti­cular opposition to the non-serious attempt of the “creative” curriculum writers in order to expose the general apathy and distance of the intelligentsia towards the cause and issues of the dalits and other oppressed groups is missing.

Ambedkar, Textbooks and the Intelligentsia

The academic environment has not yet been democratised enough to be able to adopt the versions and alternatives proposed by the subaltern identities. The populist liberal nationalist view remains deeply imbibed by the humanities and social sciences. Further, the normal maladies of nepotism, authoritarian exclusivity, an infatuation with certain western ideological projects and an indifference to advance modes of academic learning have downgraded the overall character of higher and university studies in India. Barring one or two examples, in most of the social science institutions caste/dalit/gender/queer and other subaltern questions are still treated as alien concepts and unfit for study. Thus, it is difficult here to have creative academic sensitivities, sensible enough to deal with the issues of concern to dalits, tribals and other suppressed identities. And, hence, expecting that the mainstream intelligentsia will depict historical facts with an open concern for dalit sensitivities is to expect a lot.

Modern history writing has always been a powerful tool of the social elites to appropriate or denigrate certain legends of the past for political reasons. In this mode, Ambedkar was generally ­appropriated by the political and intellectual elites as a token representative of dalits within the category of “Nationalist Reformers” and many denigrated him as an exclusive “leader of the Untou­chables”. The other celebrated leaders among the dalit-backward sociopolitical circles – Jyotiba Phule, Shahuji Maharaj, Periyar Ramaswamy, Narayan Guru, Jagpal Singh – etc, are yet to find any ­respectable space in academia. The ­cultural and religious values of the dalits and the tribals are relegated to the ­rubric of “marginalised sections” and the modern upper caste sensitivities and cultural values are promoted as ­the mainstream.

The inclusion of the cartoon with Ambedkar in the NCERT textbook is therefore understood as the reflection of a dominant academic psyche which, on most of the occasions, has degraded Ambedkar as a second rung leader below Gandhi and Nehru. The only positive side of such evocation is that it has brought Ambedkar into the classrooms in particular and in public discourses in general. However, Ambedkar’s entry into academic curriculum and textbooks should not be understood as reflecting an increase in the sensibilities of the ­intellectual class, rather it is the product of widespread dalit consciousness which has continuously questioned the hege­mony of the brahminic educational system in India. It is because of the visible presence of the dalit movement in India that the ruling elites now contemplate and discuss the dalit question in the academic milieu. However, the democratisation of education is still at a nascent stage and hence expecting a radical shift in the temperament of the policy and ­curriculum builders is a utopian view.

Any analytical discussion of this ­cartoon strip will show it has a passive humour element and was drawn in a peculiar political context in which Ambedkar was a prime actor. Surprisingly, the NCERT book on many instances is appreciative about Ambedkar’s untiring ­efforts to integrate the progressive elements of social justice into the Constitution, which the protesters have randomly ignored but the critics of the protest have categorically mentioned. However, this is just half the story. In the psyche of the general curriculum writers it is an acceptable fact that the place for Ambedkar cannot be on the same footing as ­Nehru or Gandhi and hence, subconsciously, by evoking this cartoon it seems that they have shown Ambedkar his place in history. The cartoon reflects the hidden contempt of the intelligentsia ­towards Ambedkar which they normally do not publicly demonstrate in order to vouch for their political correctness. In reality, outside the NCERT textbooks, the school and university syllabuses of social sciences are yet to endorse possible alternative modes of teaching sensitive to the assertions of the dalits, tribals and other oppressed communities. Their history, legends, cultural values and ­political aspirations are yet to find ­respectable space in the mainstream ­academic environment.

Ambedkar is the only leader who was born with a subaltern identity and has made a forceful entry into the normal academic contents of social sciences. He is utilised by other suppressed groups like women and tribals to make claims for greater democratisation of every ­aspect of social relationships. With Am­bed­kar’s public stature, mass following and visionary legacy, it is difficult to ­ignore him at any level while drafting public policy for education. Hence his inclusion is obvious in the texts. However, one has to understand that this is just a passive inclusion or can be read as only a programmatic concern to appease the dalit groups to legitimise the upper caste hegemony in the academic world. The battle for educational reform should not end with a demand for a respectable place of Ambedkar in the curriculum but should be for democratising the structural values in favour of the oppressed and marginalised groups.

Conclusions

The social and political elites have periodically manipulated the emotive-sensitive relationship between Ambedkar and dalits with symbolic gestures but have hardly set any concrete agenda for a comprehensive dalit emancipation. The cartoon controversy very much ­reflects this phenomenon. The generic questions related to the issues of the ­dalits in academic circles are yet to find required space in mainstream debates. Hence, the issues of dalit representation in academic bodies, non-implementation of reservation policy in the universities, growing cases of harassment of, atrocities against and suicides of dalit students in the institutions of higher learning, and absence of any political will to encourage and support dalit participation in the academic world have hardly became the subject of deliberation. In such a situation, the name of Ambedkar is in flames, not to propose a concrete road map for a future struggle to democratise the entire academic structure but mainly to re-endorse the view that the ruling caste elites still maintain prejudices against the dalits and their leaders. It seems that the campaign against the cartoon is to build a passionate rhetoric that its exclusion from the textbook will bring justice and thus an end of the story. The dalits and the other oppressed groups will be able to reap the benefits of democracy only if they become the equal participants in the active political struggle with a categorical consciousness about their pri­mary ideals. Such a sensational attempt by the dalit groups and its equal legitimisation by the ruling elites are antithetical to the democratic credentials which Ambedkar had envisaged while writing the Constitution.

Note

1 An identical issue has been proposed by the same set of political actors for the renaming the Dadar railway terminus in Mumbai after Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Maharashtra Navanirman Sena has opposed it and thus produced ample ammunition to wage a political battle on such symbolic issues.

References

Beltz, Johannes (2004): “Contesting Caste, Hierarchy and Hinduism: Buddhist Discursive Practices in Maharashtra” in Surendra Jondhale and Jphannes Beltz (ed.), Reconstructing the World: B R Ambedkar and Buddhism in India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).

Davis, H Richard (1996): “Iconography of Rama’s Chariot” in David Ludden Making India Hindu (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).

Guru, Gopal (2009): “Rejection of Rejection: Foregrounding Self-respect” in Gopal Guru (ed.), Humiliation: Claims and Context (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).

Narula, Smita (1999): Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s “Untouchables”, A report by ­Human Rights Watch, New York.

Omvedt, Gail (2006): Dalit Vision (New Delhi: ­Orient Longman).

Rao, Anupama (2009): The Caste Question: Dalits and Politics of Modern India (London: Univer­sity of California Press, London).

Ture, Kwame and Charles V Hamilton (2008): “Black Power: Its Needs and Substance” in Martin Bulmer and John Solomos (ed.), Racism (New York: Oxford University Press).

Vij, Shivam (2006): “Dalits, Like Flies to Feudal Lords”, Tehelka.

Wankhede, Harish (2012): “Dalit Politics in Maharashtra”, Economic & Political Weekly, Vol XLVII, No 16, 21 April, pp 21-23.

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XLVII, No. 23, June 9, 2012, http://www.epw.in/commentary/ambedkar-ncert-textbooks-and-protests.html


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