IIT Madras row: Modi and Rahul must stop shaming Ambedkar

Five years ago when the Congress-NCP alliance ruled Maharashtra, I wrote a cover story in Tehelka titled "Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar are no longer national icons. You can be arrested for reading them". The cover followed brazen arrests of four Dalit youth in Nagpur who were on their way to Diksha Bhoomi to commemorate the day Ambedkar embraced Buddhism along with 15 lakh Dalits. They and many others , mostly youth, men and women were charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA); that listed as evidence in the FIR, books by Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar and Maxim Gorky. The four Dalits were students who in the past had protested against atrocities on tribals in the name of Naxalism. The then Congress led government looked the other way while the ATS picked them on charges of dissent.

Last week when the IIT Madras derecognised the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) for its criticism of Narendra Modi, a smile escaped me. In April this year, both Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah began their election campaign in Bihar on the same day as the 125th birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Ambedkar keeping in mind the significant Dalit votebank in the state. Not long ago, on December 6, 2013, Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, marked Ambedkar's death anniversary by writing "under the inspiration of Dr Ambedkar, our Constitution guarantees every citizen of India the freedom of speech and expression. Yet, those in power are not only insensitive to public opinion but have also brazenly attempted to silence negative opinions, while doing precious little to encourage diversity in opinion. Ironically, it was two years ago, on this same day that an enlightened UPA Minister had ‘warned’ social media sites. Any shade of opinion, any voice that speaks against the rulers of Delhi is methodically silenced. From opinion polls to adverse media reports, nothing is spared. One sincerely hopes that this mindset among those ruling in Delhi changes. Let us remember Dr. Ambedkar, join hands and strive to create the India he dreamt of!"

Irony isnt it? The IIT-Madras banned the APSC following an anonymous complaint to the ministry of human resource development alleging that the group was trying to spread hatred towards the prime minister by distributing provocative pamphlets and posters in the campus. The institute alleged that the students were vocal in their scathing criticism of Modi, and that this was uncalled for.

The HRD ministry led by Smriti Irani, however, claimed that it had no role in banning the group and had merely forwarded the complaint letter to the dean of IIT Madras.

Within a day of this, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi invoked Ambedkar's "Annihilation of Caste" and made a strong pitch to end social discrimination while taking potshots at the BJP. How conveniently Rahul forgot the atrocities committed by his government on Ambedkar's children in Maharashtra.

Do we need more proof? Kancha Ilaiyah, Dalit rights activist who called the beef ban communal and spoke against the derecognition of the Ambedkar Periyar group had to face humiliation when a national daily discontinued his column of 12 years. The action is followed by a case filed against him for writing a piece asking if God was a democrat in a Telugu newspaper. The article in which Ilaiyah was equally scathing of all religions led to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad filing a case against him and silencing his voice.

So where does this leave Ambedkar and his children, where does this leave the promised freedom of speech that Ambedkar had enshrined in the Constitution of India. Must we remind the Indian polity the famous words of Ambedkar: "How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has so laboriously built up.”

Perhaps its time, that our leaders instead of quoting selectively, read the complete works of Ambedkar who had promised to burn the Constitution should he ever find it being misused. Ambedkar is dead and we being true to our love for him continue to burn the essence of our constitution every single day.