Skip to main content

Ambedkar called Gandhi Mahatma, praised 1932 Poona Pact on Dalit reservation as much better deal: Patwardhan

Taking issue with “hardline” Ambedkarites who have been strongly critical of Gandhiji, top expert and documentary film-maker for 40 long years, Anand Patwardhan has revealed that India’s undisputed Dalit icon Baba Ambedkar in 1932 not only highly praised Gandhiji but called him “Mahatma”.
Pointing out that this is contrary to the popular belief, Patwardhan, who made a highly acclaimed film on various aspects of the lives and politics of Dalit people in Mumbai, “Jai Bhim Comrade” (2011), says in an interview, Ambedkar referred to Gandhi as “Mahatma” for offering “a much better deal for Dalits in terms of reserved seats than Ambedkar himself had asked or hoped for”.
Other notable films by Anand Patwardhan, a secular rationalist and is a vocal critic of Hindutva ideology. include “Bombay: Our City” (Hamara Shahar) (1985), “In Memory of Friends” (1990), “In the Name of God” (Ram ke Nam) (1992), “Father, Son, and Holy War” (1995), “A Narmada Diary (1995), and “War and Peace” (2002), which have won national and international awards.
Patwarthan rejects the “popular theory”, according to which “Ambedkar was blackmailed by Gandhi’s fast-unto-death into accepting a bitter compromise”, insisting, “Ambedkar’s statement in 1932 after signing the pact was totally different in tone.”
A leftist who is known to have maintained a distance from the Communist parties, Patwardhan says, this is what “pleasantly shocked” him after he “read what Dr Ambedkar had to say in 1932 immediately after concluding the now infamous Poona Pact, where the idea of separate electorates for Dalits was abandoned in favour of reserved seats for Dalits.”
According to Patwardhan, “I have always felt that the affinities between Gandhi and Ambedkar are greater than their differences. They were both egalitarian humanists at heart. It may not win me any popularity contest today but I think those who are ready to set prejudice aside and undertake a proper historical study will come around to this point of view.”
He adds, “Take the act of ‘Satyagraha’, a term coined by Gandhi. Ambedkar used this very term and form of struggle to launch his Mahad Satyagraha to claim drinking water rights. There are many other examples of common ideas and action.”
“There is no denying”, admits Patwardhan, who has studied Ambedkar through and through, that “that Ambedkar did get disgusted with the Congress in later years”, but adds, “How much of the blame for the failures of Congress are attributable to Gandhi is a matter of discussion and debate.”
Underscores Patwardhan, “We know that Gandhi’s writ did not work in preventing Partition or the bloodshed that preceded and followed it and that Gandhi did not attend the Independence Day flag hoisting at the Red Fort in Delhi. He was busy fighting the communal inferno in the countryside.”
Even while agreeing that “Gandhi had a lot of obscurantist ideas”, Patwardhan insists, “but as time went on he was honest enough to keep evolving. In the end I see him as a great humanist who died for his belief in non-violence and religious universality.”
Calling Gandhiji “inventive anti-Imperialist”, Patwardhan says, he was also “an organic naturalist that today’s madly consumerist, globally warmed world desperately needs”, and which, he adds, today’s Gandhians “not”.
Coining the term “progressive Gandhians” for “dedicated non-violent fighters like Medha Patkar, Narendra Dabholkar, the whole Baba Amte family, Sandeep Pande, S.P Udaykumar, Teesta Setalvad, Aruna Roy, Admiral Ramdas, and so many others”, Patwardhan adds, “It certainly does not include government-fed Gandhians and those Gandhians who jump onto the Hindutva bandwagon as soon as it gathers steam.”

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

Guha plans book to counter Dalit, Marxist, and right-wing critics of Gandhi, recalls Modi’s 'pernicious lie' on Patel

Let me first confess: writing about an event three weeks after it has taken place is no good, especially for a newsperson. However, ever since I attended the public lecture by well-known historian Ramachandra Guha on May 18, organised by Sarthak Prakashan for the release of the Gujarati edition of his book monumental book "India After Gandhi", frankly, I kept wondering if he had said anything newsworthy apart from what had already appeared in the media ever since the book's first edition came out in 2007. Call it my inertia or whatever.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.