By Prof. (Dr.) Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit
Congress and Communists came together to manipulate the defeat of Babasaheb in the 1952 Lok Sabha elections from North Bombay.
We are celebrating 75 years of the Indian Republic and the Constitution of India, especially its greatest modern icon, Babasaheb Dr B.R. Ambedkar, his life and work. Thinking of the way the Nehruvian State treated him is indeed an eye-opener. This makes any objective student ask if the Nehruvian State practise the cancel culture. It did when it came to Dr B.R. Ambedkar and many others. The reasons being several as we read from books written about him and especially the autobiography of Savita Ambedkar, “Babasaheb: My Life with Dr B.R. Ambedkar”. It is heart-rending to read how the Congress and the Communists came together to manipulate the defeat of Babasaheb in 1952 Lok Sabha elections from North Bombay. It took the seventh Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh to confer the Bharat Ratna in 1990 on Babasaheb. It took the Indian State 43 years after Independence and four decades after the Indian Republic to honour the man who gave it all. This is indeed cancel-culture of the Nehruvian State at its best.
Babsaheb did not fit the Congress-Left definition of secularism. For them and the Dravidian parties it is only those whose criticise Hindus who are secular. Babasaheb did not fit that hegemonic definition of who is secular. Babasaheb was not only a strong critic of Hindus in his writings but was equally critical of all religions especially that of Muslims. He wrote, “The allegiance of a Muslim does not rest on his domicile in the country which is his but on the faith to which he belongs. Islam can never allow a true Muslim to adopt India as his motherland and regard a Hindu as his kith and kin.” This was not acceptable to the Nehruvian State and he had to be cancelled, for he was really secular and intellectually a giant.
Another thing that Babasaheb was critical of, was the Congress and its role in uplifting the Dalits. The “What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables” is a book-length study of the politics of the Indian National Congress by Dr B.R. Ambedkar, which was first published in 1945. The book undertakes a detailed investigation of the results of the elections to the Provincial Legislatures which took place in February 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935. Dr Ambedkar offers an insightful account of the lack of political privileges enjoyed by the Scheduled Caste candidates (over the course of the election) in stark contrast to the powerful, bourgeois-dominated Congress party. The work also aims at dismantling the misconceived popularity of Mahatma Gandhi as a “benefactor” of the Dalit population.
Dr Ambedkar challenged the pretensions of the Congress Party as fundamentally representative of a unified India that accords equal respect to all the caste groups by citing the election results of 1937. According to Ambedkar, Gandhi’s social ideal was based either on the model of a caste system or that of Varna. Throughout his career as a political activist championing the cause of the downtrodden, Ambedkar remained strongly opposed to the victory of mysticism over pure reason. He straightforwardly advocated the emergence of modern machinery as tools that would liberate mankind from the brutish condition and open up a world of possibilities for those who have inhabited recesses of darkness and deprivation for the greater part of their lives.
The five reasons as to why Babsaheb gave his resignation from the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Nehru on 27 September 1951 were, one, the promises made by PM Nehru while handing him the responsibility of law minister was that the planning department would be given, which was not, neither was he appointed to any committee of the Council of Ministers. Two, the government was indifferent to the question of the Dalits or their status. Three, his opposition to Nehru’s handling of the Kashmir issue. Four, Nehru’s faulty foreign policy as he predicted India would end up with more enemies than friends. And five, Nehru did not live up to his word on the Hindu code bill. Babasaheb felt let down, for Nehru didn’t show the enthusiasm and the determination to get it passed.
The worst way to cancel a strong leader who is a formidable intellectual was to manipulate and defeat him in the 1952 Lok Sabha elections from the reserved constituency of North Bombay. The Congress made this into a prestige issue and PM Nehru was personally monitoring through S.K. Patil and the communist leader Shripad A. Dange to see that Babasabeb be defeated by an unknown Narayanrao Kajrolkar. The Congress placed its reputation at stake and left no stone unturned that they played all the tricks of Congress and the Communists to defeat the Constitution maker and cancel his legacy. An inconsequential person who was no match in strength or ability managed to defeat the creator of India’s Constitution by a narrow margin [Babasaheb got 123,576 votes against Kajrolkar who got 137,950 votes]. In the defeat of Babsaheb, the Nehruvian hegemonic state in no uncertain terms stated that there was no place for critical, colossal scholarship, calibre or abilities. His role in modern India is unparallelled and yet he had to be cancelled by the hegemonic Nehruvian state.
The Nehruvian State and its cancel culture tried to cancel all those who threatened their hegemony and one such leader was Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar, a legend who finally wrote the book, “The Buddha and his Dhamma” and died in his sleep on 6 December 1956. No one could cancel him, he rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the Nehruvian State. On the occasion of the celebrations of the 75 years of the Indian Republic, it is time for every Indian to strive to fulfill his dreams of a. casteless and equitable society as enshrined in our Constitution to become a reality for a truly inclusive and innovative Vikasit Bharat in 2047.
Originally Published : The Sunday Guardian, 28th January'2024
Posted on SIS Blog with the Authorisation of the Author
Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is the Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.