Speech By Sat Pal Muman,
Secretary Ambedkar International Mission, Chair Caste Watch UKLord Harries in the Chair and distinguished guests,
We have heard powerful contributions. I will speak in ideological terms.
It is a great honour to be invited to share a few thoughts.
These thoughts are not mine. They belong to Dr. Ambedkar, whose birthday we
are celebrating today.
Born into a so-called Hindu religion, Dr Ambedkar found himself relegated to
the social scale of life as an Untouchable. He discovered that a quarter of the
population, over 60 million people at the time, were designated untouchable,
unapproachable, and unseeable.
The British Raj turned a blind eye and did not intervene in the local customs
and cultures.
No country in the world has designated its people in this way.
Dr Ambedkar once remarked that his only reason for picking a fight with the
Hindus was that the Caste Hindus worshipped the wrong ideals.
He launched a scathing attack on the practice of Caste and Untouchability. He
accused the Caste Hindus of committing treason against their country in the
interest of their Caste. He observed that the Indian Civilisation was an infamous
foundation built on Caste and Untouchability.
Today, over 20 million people form the Indian global diaspora. Various studies
show that Caste baggage is also carried over into distant lands.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank Lord Harries and many other British
Parliamentarians for continuing to support the campaign to outlaw caste
discrimination in Britain. Recently, a number of Labour MPs questioned why
the provisions of section 9(5)(a) of the Equality Act have not yet been
implemented.
In his Book Annihilation of Caste, published in 1936, Dr Ambedkar writes that,
the effect of Caste on the ethics of the Hindus is simply deplorable.
Caste has killed public spirit. Caste has destroyed the sense of public charity.
Caste has made public opinion impossible.
A Hindu’s public is his Caste.
His responsibility and loyalty is restricted only to his Caste. There is no
sympathy to the deserving. There is no appreciation of the meritorious. There is
no Charity to the needy. Suffering as such calls for no response.
He writes that Caste is ever ready to take advantage of the helplessness of a
man and insist upon a complete conformity to its code - in letter and in spirit.
A Caste can easily organise itself into a conspiracy to make the life of a
reformer a living hell.
Dr Ambedkar was a free thinker and writes that
A free person is not a slave of usage, customs, of meaningless rituals and
ceremonies, of superstitions and traditions. He does not surrender his free will
nor abdicate his intelligence and independent thinking, and is always prepared
to protect his rights and not afraid of ridicule and unjust public criticism.
In a pamphlet entitled Ranade, Gandhi, and Jinnah, he defines the qualities of a
Great Man.
He accepts that a combination of Sincerity and Intellect makes an individual
eminent. Still, Sincerity and Intellect are not enough to raise him to the dignity
of a great man. A man may be sincere, yet he may be a fool, which is the
antithesis of a great man.
He makes a distinction between an eminent individual and a great man.
He writes that a great man must have something more than what an eminent
individual has.
A great man must be motivated by the dynamics of a
social purpose and must act as the scourge and scavenger of society.
Dr Ambedkar sits easily amongst the world's most significant political and
scientific thinkers and philosophers.
He sits with prophets, rebels and revolutionaries. He is a global icon for the
oppressed and the impoverished. A statue of Dr Ambedkar should be installed
in this hallowed building or outside in Parliament Square.
He owed much to Western thinkers, especially John Dewey, the American
educationalist and pragmatist, who was once his teacher at Columbia
University.
Dr Ambedkar synthesised Western philosophies with his critique of caste to
develop a unique framework for social democracy, constitutionalism, and
human rights in India. His intellectual legacy reflects a blend of liberalism,
pragmatism, socialism, and radical humanism, making him one of India’s most
profound thinkers.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India, observed that
Dr Ambedkar was a symbol of revolt against the oppressive features of Hindu
society.
Today, Dr Ambedkar Occupies public spaces, public conscience, and public
opinion. Scholars, academics, and politicians are inspired by his progressive and
liberal ideas like no other leader.
Jai Bheem
Thank you for your time.
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