Who is Afraid of Dr B.R. Ambedkar?

Statistics suggest that in recent years Scheduled Caste and Dalit Christian communities and individuals are increasingly converting to Buddhism to gain equality.

The conversions are largely inspired by Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s school of Navayana Buddhism. Dr Ambedkar, who belonged to a Dalit caste, had renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism to gain freedom from the scourge of Untouchability.

Tamil Nadu has been a home to the Dalit Ambedkarite movement. However, many feel that the movement is not getting stronger in the state.

A.B. Karl Marx Siddharthar is an advocate and author engaged in promoting anti-caste discussions. As per him, the Dalit Ambedkarite movement in Tamil Nadu is not strong enough because there is inadequate propagation of Ambedkarite literature, and the works by Dr Ambedkar are not available in English in Tamil Nadu.

Every year, hundreds of people— mostly Dalit Ambedkarites— including politicians, gather at Annal Ambedkar Manimandapam in Raja Annamalai Puram to celebrate Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary.

Tamil Nadu has been a home to the Dalit Ambedkarite movement. However, many feel that the movement is not getting stronger in the state.

For the Buddhist community in Tamil Nadu, the intellectual celebration of Dr Ambedkar is incomplete without showcasing Dalit Ambedkarite literature as many believe that it is deeply connected to their identities as ‘Untouchables’.

Siddharthar, who is a converted Buddhist, has now taken the initiative to make Dr Ambedkar’s writings and speeches available in English and Tamil.

The Maharashtra government is credited for publishing the writings and speeches of Dr Ambedkar. Till now, 23 volumes have been brought out by its education department.

The ‘writings and speeches of Dr Ambedkar’ have been translated into six languages by the Union government’s Ambedkar Foundation under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

However, Siddharthar says that these volumes are not easily available to the public as one has to travel to Delhi or Maharashtra to purchase them. Personal visits to government book depots in Tamil Nadu revealed that not all the volumes are available for purchase, he says.

The works have also not been available in Maharashtra. In 2021, the Bombay High Court took suo motu cognisance of a news report about the Maharashtra government stalling the project to publish the writings and speeches of Dr Ambedkar.

A Bench of Justices Prasanna B. Varale and Shriram M. Modar had stated that this reflected a “sorry state of affairs” and that the publications are absolutely necessary and desirable for the present and future generations.

Siddharthar was able to purchase the translated works from Maharashtra and made them available at the Chennai book fair. Since then, he has attempted to make the “rare” works of Dr Ambedkar available, especially during the birth anniversary celebrations.

This year, before Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary celebrations, two petitioners, K. Senthamizhselvi and Niranjan Vijayan, sought permission to display and sell Dr Ambedkar’s literature in Annal Ambedkar Manimandapam from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) government.

Every year, hundreds of people— mostly Dalit Ambedkarites— gather at Annal Ambedkar Manimandapam in Raja Annamalai Puram to celebrate Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary.

Both petitioners happen to be Scheduled Caste and have embraced Buddhism. Senthamizhselvi is an advocate and has published Dr Ambedkar’s writings and speeches through ‘Voice of Buddha Editions’. Niranjan is a person with a disability and has also published works on Dr Ambedkar and Buddhism through ‘Inclusive Dhamma Publications’.

However, government authorities, vide the affidavit submitted before the court, denied these requests on April 10.

The Order of the Madras High Court

On April 12, Justice S.M. Subramaniam passed an Order directing the DMK government to ensure no inconvenience was caused to the people attending the Annal Ambedkar Manimandapam memorial on April 14. He ordered that all basic amenities be provided and that the government comply with the Order scrupulously.

The petitioners, represented by senior counsel R. Vaigai, had informed the court that the petitioners were interested in propagating the speeches and writings of Dr Ambedkar, many of which are not made available to the public.

Vaigai told the court that Dr Ambedkar’s speeches in the Constituent Assembly were not published in their entirety, and certain parts of his ideology, particularly from a Buddhist perspective, are not generally known to the public.

Therefore, the petitioners are making an effort to make available the literature that would benefit the people, Vaigai contended before the court.

In 2021, the Bombay High Court took suo motu cognisance of a news report about the Maharashtra government stalling the project to publish the writings and speeches of Dr Ambedkar.

Further, she claimed that a similar function had been organised the previous year as well, but no basic amenities such as water and toilet facilities were provided to the general public who attended the event.

In an affidavit filed by the petitioners, it has been stated that last year, the police deployed a security cordon for Chief Minister M.K. Stalin because of which the general public, including many persons happening to be Scheduled Caste, were made to wait for three hours to enter the memorial.

It was stated that the celebrations would only start in the afternoon after members of Scheduled Caste communities had arranged dias and chairs and erected shamianas (tents), all of which were self-sponsored.

Despite that, government authorities and police officials interrupted and forced the organisers to give written assurances that the event would be concluded within two hours.

The affidavit points out that free lunch packets were arranged by the patrons but the police did not allow them to be distributed. Representation was made to the police authorities seeking permission to conduct various events including book releases. However, the police did not pass any Orders on that.

Vaigai sought direction from the court to provide all basic amenities along with the permission to display and sell Dr Ambedkarite literature. Additional Advocate General, J. Ravindran opposed the plea of the petitioners.

He first clarified that the government had decided to provide basic amenities and facilities to the people attending the event. He referred to a detailed affidavit of the director of information and public relation secretariat on it.

The affidavit states that the government has provided ramp accessibility, and Arabian tents for the public, including seating arrangements, proper lighting, clean drinking water, toilets and adequate waste bins.

However, Ravindran argued that the government is unwilling to encourage the display of literature by an individual publisher. He claimed that if such permission was granted, it would create an anomalous situation because other similarly situated publishers would seek a space for selling their publications.

Vaigai told the court that Dr Ambedkar’s speeches in the Constituent Assembly were not published in their entirety, and certain parts of his ideology, particularly from a Buddhist perspective, are not generally known to the public.

It was stated that thousands of people would attend the event and individual stalls like that of the petitioner would cause prejudice to the interest of other publishers. Ravindran informed the court that a public library was already available inside the mandapam.

The affidavit states that more than 1,000 books of Dr Ambedkar’s writings and speeches are already available on the campus of Annal Ambedkar memorial.

Ravindran suggested that the petitioners are at liberty to submit their publications to the government which many consider keeping in the library for the benefit of the reader.

Along with this, the petitioners had requested that the government provide basic amenities including for persons with disabilities and the general public gathering.

But it rejected the permission to occupy a separate space for promoting their publications. It reasoned that it is an administrative decision of the government to not allow individual persons to occupy separate spaces for promoting their publications.

The high court has suggested that the petitioners are at liberty to approach competent authorities for displaying the literature in the library, as suggested by Vaigai.

It said: “The authorities competent are bound to take a uniform decision in respect of the requests made for displaying of publications in public places.”

The high court has stated that the administration cannot discriminate between publishers and individual persons willing to participate in displaying their publications.

Last year, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, announced that the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar would be celebrated as Equality Day.

It stated: “Consideration for providing space for individuals must be in consonance with the established principles and to serve the public good and cannot be allowed for the purpose of promoting the individual claims of any person.”

However, it must be noted that the petitioners’ prayer was to permit the display and sale of the literature by Dr Ambedkar, especially the volumes published by the Maharashtra government. Their prayer was not with regard to promoting their own publications.

Aftermath

Despite the affidavit from the government, the authorities failed to ensure basic amenities. In particular, though the authorities erected tents at the memorial entrance for the chief minister, who was paying a visit, they refused to provide any awning to shield the public that annually gathered on the premise of the memorial.

On April 13, an urgent plea was mentioned by Senthamizhselvi and Vijayan seeking directions to the government to fulfil in letter and spirit the assurances made in the government’s affidavit.

Siddharthar, representing the petitioners, informed the court that despite the affidavit, no adequate arrangements had been made.

When Ravindran opposed this claim, Justice Subramanian visited the memorial to evaluate the situation at 11:30 p.m.

Subsequently, the court concluded its proceedings within the memorial venue, directing the government to provide basic amenities, including two Arabian tents in the interior premise of the memorial.

Although these amenities were put in place only after the chief minister had offered his tribute to Ambedkar, the police allegedly denied entry to the public till 10:20 a.m., citing chief minister’s protocols.

Public protest against the government

Last year, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, announced that the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar would be celebrated as Equality Day.

However, this year’s Equality Day celebrations were marked by the police refusing the entry of a Scheduled Caste couple, a retired judge of Madras High Court and the public before the entry of Stalin. The retired judge of the Madras High Court, D. Hariparanthaman, registered a strong protest outside the memorial against the police action.

The couple who was denied entry ultimately married outside the memorial.

Conclusion 

The Tamil Nadu government announced a translation project to translate the works of Dr Ambedkar in 2022. However, two years later, the status of the project remains uncertain.

For the last ten years, no stalls on Ambedkarite literature have been displayed at the book fair in Tamil Nadu.

This poses the question of why the governments are reluctant to ensure the wide dissemination of Dr Ambedkar’s ideas and thoughts.

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi is a staff writer at The Leaflet