“Democracy will not work for the simple reason we have got a social structure which is totally incompatible with parliamentary democracy.” These were Babasaheb’s exact words in a 1955 BBC interview that is available on YouTube at present. Babasaheb warned us several times about Democratic India ultimately becoming an autocracy if there is no Annihilation of Caste in every way, including his last speech in the Constituent Assembly.
He said it at a time when the Sangh did not have a powerful political outfit like the present BJP but India was in a wave of Socialism. Just after the Congress the biggest political outfit were the Communists and the Socialists. But many like Ambedkar and Periyar pointed out that all these parties despite being “Socialist” overall were ruled by the dominant castes from the apex to the very grassroot level.
The mainstream parties held to the status quo of Caste which had created such a hegemony. Ambedkar’s greatest debate against Gandhi which pointed out the same including the very important fact that only representation of the caste marginalised would only lead to scapegoat Dalit leaders and simply reject issues oppressing them. From education to commerce to administration would be run according to the interests and norms set by the dominant castes if the hegemony continued despite representative parliamentary democracy.
Cut to present, Sangh has a political outfit, the BJP, which has amassed enormous power and capital. The mainstream Communists have disappeared. Some of those “Socialist” factions are minor partners of the BJP and some are still considerable Anti-BJP regional forces. The Congress has undergone massive evolution (just like it has always had) with Rahul Gandhi trying to revive some basic structures of Gandhian Struggle. The Congress without a doubt is the largest electoral competitor for BJP also largely ideologically.
2024 elections are seen as a possible threshold for India’s entry into the autocracy that Ambedkar had warned us about in 1953. We can very well describe it as a “Hindu Rashtra”, a Hindutva based Fascist State which bases itself under one faith and is run by global corporate friends of the State.
Whatever the corporate friends want they can acquire and the citizens must happily give them away to protect their faith and help their state become an imperialist competitor with the n-number of Islamic countries. The marginalised majority need not feel marginalised but they must feel “Hindu” enough. This is actually the dream that BJP has deeply instilled among the masses and (not so) surprisingly the Dalit and Adivasi masses. A dream that makes the “marginalised majority” feel democracy is a curse and a dictator would save them from people of other faiths.
The very aim of RSS’ Hindutva is to make the oppressed forget their pursuit to get freedom from their hardships and unite them under the umbrella of a communal identity. This project of RSS-BJP has succeeded also with the help of enormous capital as they have created systems that help party workers run their livelihood by just being Karyakarta for BJP’s syndicate. This is the shortest way to describe the model of the Sangh which has been heavily successful by now with the dream of their “Hindu Rashtra” some months away.
But we must ask what led to this success. Did the marginalised majority knowingly become foot-soldiers of the Sangh, even knowing their hardships will grow?
The marginalised majority by 2014 understood that “politics won’t end up giving me justice but it will surely give me a Mandir”. Literally the entire political system being run on caste hegemony and scapegoat Dalit Adivasi leaders, from Lok Sabha to Panchayats, had ended hopes of the marginalised for getting a India free from caste in all circles.
Even Bahujan movements and parties which rose between 1953 and 2024 had imploded under this very deeply ingrained system. So, the marginalised majority lost the consciousness of being marginalised but brainwashed by the communal hate and syndicate culture with a manufactured Fascist Nationalism that is polar opposite of the Indian Nationalism born out of the Constitution.
RSS’ goal of uniting the oppressed under the umbrella of a mere religious identity of “Hindu” was challenged by Ambedkar who proved Hindu Society is a myth as long as everyone within it does not gain social justice. The Indian Communists’ long stand of “you aren’t Dalit but you are a proletariat” has been utilised by RSS to form “you aren’t Dalit but you are a Hindu”. Congress’ hegemonial structure has made it extremely difficult for Bahujan issues to become key ones despite it being an evolving and decentralised platform.
In the wake of 2024, we must turn to Ambedkar. We must learn to use the spectacle of social justice he gifted us. We must understand that the fight is “Identity vs Social Justice”. Rahul Gandhi’s push for Caste Census with “Jitna Haq Utni Abadi” slogan and “Bharat Nyay Yatra” does show that he is turning to Ambedkar’s spectacle which Congress hasn’t utilised yet. But Ambedkar’s spectacle must reach the marginalised to prove Ambedkar’s prediction of the death of Indian Democracy wrong.