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Ambedkar’s Philosophy: Path To Access Social Justice In South Asia

Manjula Pradeep

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“Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person, whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave,
not a free man. One, whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man.
One whose mind is not free though alive is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is proof of one’s existence.”
– Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

The most famous quote of Dr. Ambedkar is “Educate – Unite – Agitate” which means that to access the path to social justice, people who have been discriminated against for the past several centuries due to their social origin have to first get ‘Educated’ then ‘United’ and finally they have to ‘Agitate’ for their rights. As a human rights activist, striving for human rights of one of the most discriminated communities in the world and in South Asia, I see Education as the first and foremost path toward social justice.

For thousands of years, Dalits were kept deprived of education; in Manu’s code of Law, it’s written that “If  Dalits listen to the Sanskrit chants, then hot lead should be poured in their ears“. We have come a long way from being humiliated, disregarded, oppressed, and denied our rights as human beings. At one time we were considered untouchables, unseeable and unapproachable. Though this practice is not as rampant as it used to be in the past, we still face untouchability and discrimination in varied forms.

Ambedkar strongly believed that education is the key to empowerment of the oppressed. Due to the provisions laid down in the majority of the Constitutions of the countries in South Asia, Dalits and so-called socially excluded communities have been able to attain literacy despite all odds. But is being literate same as being educated. From my personal experiences, I say that that one has to lead oneself to the path of education, shown by Dr. Ambedkar. This path is the path towards knowledge and where the knowledge becomes power. Through the work done by Navsarjan, we are trying to redefine the entire terminology of power in the caste-based society.

We say that power comes from knowledge and not by being born in a particular caste, ethnicity, class, gender or religion. But the point to consider is that when I attain knowledge, I do not behave or treat others like what I have
been treated in the past. Many times, the oppressed communities, when they attain power, tend to forget their past ordeals and start mistreating others. Dalits are also not a homogenous community and there is vertical inequality amongst Dalits, as they follow the mindset of caste-based society, that according to Dr.Ambedkar is a graded hierarchy.

India has the largest population of Dalits in South Asia, which is around 200 million or 20 crores. There are more than 6000 castes in India and within that, there are over 1000 sub castes amongst Dalits. Due to the graded hierarchy, the Dalit sub-castes also differentiate amongst each other. A similar situation must be prevailing in other south Asian countries affected by caste-based discrimination. So on one level, Dalits are getting literate and educated, but on the other level, they themselves do not wish to intermingle.

A study titled “Understanding Untouchability” was conducted by Navsarjan Trust in Gujarat, where we identified 98 forms of discrimination practiced against Dalits and within Dalits. The most striking part was that 99 percent of Dalits do not believe in inter-caste marriages. So how can we say that the Dalit communities are educated? Isn’t their mindset similar to the dominant castes/ communities? Similarly, the patriarchal order amongst Dalits also highlights the issue of inequality amongst them based on gender. A community, which has been historically oppressed and discriminated, how can they treat their women and girls in the same deploarable manner?

Majority of the so-called literate Dalit men behave just like men from dominant communities. Hence, the vulnerability, that a Dalit woman faces due to her identity based on caste and gender is unimaginable. She goes through all forms of caste and gender discrimination. She is forced into inhumane caste-based occupations, like manual scavenging, temple prostitution, bonded labor, child labor etc. She also suffers from caste and gender violence like domestic violence, unnatural death, human trafficking, mass/gang rapes, forced conversion, etc. One of the famous quotes of Dr. Ambedkar is “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved”. Hence, there is a need for the Dalits in caste-affected countries to introspect and reflect on the situation of women in their communities, and how it can be improved to achieve social justice.

To be united and to remain united is a crucial pillar for Dalit empowerment and uprise. The question is that can Dalits forget their national, religious, biological, caste and class identities and come together as a united and uniform
force? The truth is that within the Dalit rights movement, there is no single ideology. There is also a division between the elite Dalit mass and the grass root activists. In India, there is a sharp divide between northern Dalits and southern Dalits. We come together on one platform very rarely within our own country on a particular issue or aspect, so it’s a bit challenging for the Dalit rights movement(across South Asian caste-affected countries) to overcome these barriers and unite as one strong front.

One of the best examples of Dalit assertion was during the preparation of the United Nations World Conference on racism, xenophobia and related intolerance, which was held in Durban, South Africa in the year 2001. Many Dalit rights organizations, led by Dalit leaders, joined the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, with one mission, which was to ensure inclusion of caste in the UN agenda. This campaign brought many non-political and political leaders together and it was able to show strong visibility at the conference, which was attended by more than 200 Dalit rights defenders both women and men from South Asia.

The united force ensured debate on the issue of caste-based discrimination and now it is very much part of the discussion in the Human Rights Councils treaty bodies and special procedures. Despite few achievements, the issue of caste-based discrimination and annihilation of caste as raised by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar has not received adequate
space and recognition, because the term social justice has a different meaning for those who are affected by caste-based discrimination. Many of us who are part of the discriminated communities are not even talking or discussing social justice and we are contented with reservation and few benefits being received through certain government schemes and programs.

Countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, where the population of Dalits is minute; hence their existence as part of a religious minority itself makes them vulnerable. Non-recognition of their issues and rights in their
countries constitution does not give them adequate space to speak out against the forms of discrimination or violence they face, due to their caste identities.

Also read: Why The Ticket Collector Thought It Was Okay To Ask My Caste

The entire struggle for social justice gets strengthened, when we agitate and that’s the word coined by Dr. Ambedkar to demand one’s rights and to get the recognition as human beings in the South Asian society. To agitate means
to assemble peacefully, to voice out, to show physical strength, but ensuring that the principle of respect and non-violence is adhered to. One can very well see the form of agitation having taken place in each of the caste-affected
countries, where India is much ahead followed by Nepal and then Bangladesh. Agitation is almost not present in Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the issue of caste-based discrimination, as the two countries are very much diverse in each of their context and the movement to eliminate caste-based discrimination is also not much prominent in these countries.

The message of Dr. Ambedkar, to Educate – Unite – Agitate is not popular in other caste-affected countries in South Asia except India. Hence following needs to be done to spread “Ambedkar’s Philosophy: Path to Access Social Justice in South Asia”:

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