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If we trust the glorification of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar by the RSS-BJP rulers on his birth anniversary, it would seem as if there have never been more loyal followers of him than them. According to PM Modi, he was the “architect of the Constitution of India” and “Messiah of Scheduled Castes.” The UP government has announced a grand celebration of ‘Ambedkar Jayanti,’ beginning with a series of programmes from the morning of April 13 (2025), leading up to the main celebrations on April 14 in Lucknow, which will be attended by Hindutva icon CM Adityanath. These programmes “aim to acquaint the younger generation with Dr Ambedkar’s remarkable life, visionary leadership, and his unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and social reform.”
Dr. Ambedkar is receiving fulsome praise now that he is no longer alive. When he was alive, the RSS and its allies, including VD Savarkar-led Hindu Mahasabha, never missed an opportunity to denigrate him—often going so far as to burn his effigy. If Dr. Ambedkar were to reappear today in a BJP-RSS ruled India, it's certain he would either be lynched or jailed under terror laws for opposing casteism, the denigration of Shudras and women, upper-caste hegemony, and Hindutva.
1. Dr. Ambedkar Supported the Burning of Manusmriti
The RSS has long advocated replacing the Indian Constitution with the Manusmriti or Manu Code, which is infamous for its derogatory and inhumane references to Shudras, Untouchables, and women. When the Constitution was finalized on November 26, 1949, the RSS was discontent. Its mouthpiece, Organiser, in a November 30, 1949 editorial, lamented:
“But in our Constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia… But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.”
By demanding the promulgation of the Manu Code in independent India, the RSS was echoing its ideological guru VD Savarkar, who stated:
“Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worship-able after the Vedas for our Hindu Nation… Today Manusmriti is Hindu Law.”
It is notable that Dr. Ambedkar publicly burned a copy of Manusmriti at the historic Mahad Satyagraha on December 25, 1927, and called for it to be burned annually on that date.
2. Dr. Ambedkar Held High-Caste Hindus Responsible for the Miserable Condition of the Masses and Hatred for Muslims
He made it clear:
“[The] high caste Hindus are bad as leaders… They have a monopoly of education and wealth, and with wealth and education they have captured the State… They take every move to exclude the lower classes of Hindus from wealth, education and power…”
“This attitude… is sought to be extended by them to the Muslims. They want to exclude the Muslims from place and power, as they have done to the lower-class Hindus. This trait… is the key to the understanding of their politics.”
[B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or the Partition of India, Bombay: Government of Maharashtra, 1990, p. 123]
3. Dr. Ambedkar Renounced Hinduism
In his historic speech in Nagpur on October 15, 1956, the day after converting to Buddhism, Ambedkar declared:
“The movement to leave the Hindu religion was taken in hand by us in 1935… I am happy; I am ecstatic! I have left hell — this is how I feel…”
If he were to try converting today, we can only imagine the terrible fate he would meet.
4. Dr. Ambedkar Fought for Equal Rights for Women
For the RSS, Hindu women are considered inferior. It upholds Manusmriti, which denigrates women in statements like:
a. "Day and night woman must be kept in dependence…"
b. "A woman is never fit for independence."
c. "They give themselves to the handsome and to the ugly…"
d. "They become disloyal to their husbands…"
e. "Impure desires, wrath, dishonesty… bad conduct."
f. "Women are as impure as falsehood itself…"
In contrast, Ambedkar believed:
“We shall see better days… if male education is pursued side by side with female education.”
“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress women have achieved.”
He advised Dalit women:
“Never regard yourself as Untouchables… Attend more to the cultivation of the mind… Education is as necessary for females as it is for males…”
5. Dr. Ambedkar Opposed the Hindu Nation and Hindutva
A sharp analyst of communal politics, Ambedkar highlighted the eerie agreement between Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League on the Two-Nation Theory:
“Strange it may appear, Mr. Savarkar and Mr. Jinnah… are in complete agreement… there are two nations in India.”
He denounced the idea of Hindu Rashtra:
“If Hindu Raj becomes a fact, it will be the greatest calamity… It is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity… Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.”
6. Dr. Ambedkar Advocated Socialism
Responding to Nehru’s Objective Resolution in the Constituent Assembly (December 17, 1946), Ambedkar stated:
“… I should have expected some provision… for social and economic justice… I expected the resolution to state… there would be nationalisation of industry and land…”
7. Dr. Ambedkar Rejected Bigoted 'Patriots' and 'Nationalists'
In 1931, he said that when he demanded equality for the oppressed, he was branded anti-national. He declared:
“India is a peculiar country, and her nationalists and patriots are a peculiar people… The patriot's one cry is power… I belong to that class which takes its stand on democracy… Our aim is to realise… one man, one value in all walks of life.”
[Plenary Session, Round Table Conference, London, 8th Sitting, January 19, 1931]
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Links to S. Islam's writings (English, Hindi, Urdu + translations): http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam. Facebook: https://facebook.com/shamsul.islam.332. Twitter: @shamsforjustice. http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/. Books in English, Hindi & Urdu: https://tinyurl.com/shams-books
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