Preamble #4: Swaraj for Who

The concept of swaraj in the independence movement annoyed Ambedkar. Aakash Singh Rathore explains why in Ambedkar’s Preamble. With Gandhi leading the movement, the concept of freedom/independence had begun to take almost spiritual tones. For many (usually upper castes), spiritual is different from religious. For someone like Ambedkar, an untouchable, this was a distinction without a difference. What was the point of independence, he asked, if it would only result in the continuance of Brahmanical Hinduism (and oppression of the lower castes)?

 

The untouchables had good reason to be wary. They had hoped that the British would be their liberators. But the British had preserved the old social system and the exclusion of the untouchables from social and civic life continued. Ambedkar was determined that freedom from the British should not mean a continuation of the exclusion of the untouchables by the new (Indian) rulers.

 

Gandhian swaraj, contended Ambedkar, stopped at the destruction of the old political order of British rule. But it kept the old social order intact. In what way then was swaraj a positive for the untouchables then? Unless swaraj created a government of the people and by the people, what was the point? Was swaraj just going to create a system where Hindus would try to dominate not just Muslims but also the lower castes? Too many of the senior Congress leaders were upper caste men, and Ambedkar doubted their sincerity to the cause of upliftment of the untouchables. He quoted what Bal Gangadhar Tilak had once said on the lower castes:

“Their business was to obey the laws and not to aspire for power to make laws.”

Therefore, argued Ambedkar, the untouchables had to fight for swaraj to create a government by the people, not a government by the upper castes.

 

The endless pressure from many upper caste Hindus to stop criticizing Hinduism led Ambedkar to publicly abandon Hinduism. But he was acutely aware of the politics of such things. Should he convert to Islam or Christianity, he knew his opponents would tar him with the brush of converting to the religion of those who had invaded and ruled India. Which is why he picked Buddhism.

“It was swarajist insofar as the religion originated on Indian soil… Its holy sites were located in the Indian subcontinent.”

 

Ambedkar could make a point without shooting himself in the process. A skill that explains why he had such an outsized impact on the constitution.