Obama should pay homage to Ambedkar
By Kancha Ilaiah and Joseph D'Souza
We need to learn a few things from the US. There are also things that
Americans should learn from us.
When President Barack Obama visits India in November, he is sure to
visit Raj Ghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi whom he often cites as
his inspiration. But the Bahujan communities and minorities would be
happy if he also pays homage to Dr B R Ambedkar. This will make his
visit a historic event. As such, they are looking forward to Obama's
visit as he symbolises the hope of freedom for oppressed people across
the world.
As Obama emerged out of the historic struggles of the blacks in the
US, his visit could also inspire the movement for the abolition of
caste, the Indian variety of slavery.
Ambedkar is the best historical link between the Indian oppressed
communities and also the blacks of America.
As mentioned above, Obama refers to Mahatma Gandhi more than any other
US president. But one is not aware whether he knows much about
Ambedkar who is generally compared with Martin Luther King Jr, to
whose civil rights movement Obama owes his political birth and growth.
This nation considers Ambedkar not only as the father of the
constitution but also as the liberator of all oppressed people. Though
the ruling classes do see the similarities between Dalit-Bahujan
struggles and the black struggles the masses can make out that
historical linkages.
Multi-cultural tradition
There are other facets too. The religious minorities also look up to
Ambedkar as as he was a Buddhist. Obama, while being a Christian,
shares the blood of a Muslim father. If he pays homage to a Buddhist
Ambedkar, apart from Mahatma Gandhi, he will be respecting the
multi-cultural tradition of India. This will also attract global
attention to Ambedkar's life and thought.
Ambedkar, who took out a civil rights struggle for abolishing caste
and untouchability, made the new India possible. Imagine an India that
has no dalit/adivasi or minority participation in the administrative,
bureaucratic and knowledge structures. Imagine no dalit participation
in the higher echelons of the nation in this century. They constitute
16.5 per cent of our population and Obama, as a first black president
to visit India, should ideally take note of this.
Let us not forget the fact that Obama's educational emergence could be
traced back to the affirmative action that blacks were given in the
context of the civil rights movement of America. Likewise, thanks to
the reservation system that Ambedkar worked to put in place, dalits
are now visible in every sphere of life. Jagajjivan Ram could become a
deputy prime minister and K R Narayanan the President of India.
Obviously, there are things that we need to learn from the US and
there are things that Americans should learn from us. As we know about
Abraham Lincoln and Martin King, Americans should also know about both
Gandhi and Ambedkar. Obama has done a lot to popularise Gandhi, and he
could also do the same for Ambedkar if he visits Nagapur
Deekshabhoomi or other sites linked to Ambedkar.
The Deekshabhoomi does not represent just Ambedkar's idea of India but
also the secular Buddhist tradition of the nation. It is a known fact
that Rajghat does not merely represent Mahatma Gandhi alone but the
whole range of secular Hindu tradition that he stood for.
India as a nation must also own the Buddhist cultural tradition as
Buddha was born, grew up and built his spiritual and social Sangha
system here. No other icon than Ambedkar can represent that cultural
heritage in the modern period.
Will our ruling class ensure that Obama at least lays a garland on the
statue of Ambedkar in parliament premises? Such a deviation from
protocol will respond to the changing needs of the nation and will be
positive and desirable.
Obama was keen to learn about the plight of the untouchables during
his student years. And interestingly, both he and Ambedkar were
educated at Columbia University. It could also turn out to be an
occasion for the country to come to terms with the caste and
untouchability problem in the international arena. The stance of
denial taken by the Indian government in the United Nations had done
some damage.
But things are changing. Manmohan Singh is our first prime minister to
admit the caste problem and Rahul Gandhi, took the British foreign
minister to a dalit village in 2009 and Bill Gates to a Musahar dalit
village in Bihar. Rahul Gandhi's recent statement that casteism is
worse than racism shows that old attitudes are changing.
Let this government take one more step in the right direction by
taking Obama to Deekshabhoomi. Let America know that India, too, is a
mature nation grappling with its strengths and weaknesses.
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