Will mainstreaming of Ambedkar benefit Dalits?

The right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has greatly benefited from the ineffectiveness or absence of impressive political parties that often advocate for social justice. Specifically, the decline of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as the main mobilizers of the Dalit-Bahujan masses has allowed the BJP and other parties to appropriate Ambedkar’s name and image as effective tools to mobilize the emotional support of Dalits. However, these tactics have mainly mainstreamed Ambedkar as a leading nationalist figure, while the Dalits only benefit from calculated cultural performances. Consequently, Ambedkar has been deliberately divorced from his revolutionary legacies that portray him as a crucial symbol in the fight against Brahmanical domination and as a key figure in the anti-caste movement.

The BJP portrays Ambedkar as a great social reformer and an important Hindu nationalist leader, aiming to advance Hindutva’s social engineering formula among the Dalit masses. Additionally, the Modi government has announced the establishment of the ‘Ambedkar Tourist Circuit,’ which connects five popular ‘pilgrimages’ related to Ambedkar, including Deekshaboomi in Nagpur, where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in 1956. These strategies aim to establish Ambedkar as an integral part of the Hindu cultural project, thereby elevating him to a god-like status.

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Furthermore, the BJP-led Maharashtra government facilitated the purchase of Ambedkar’s house in London and established the first international Ambedkar Museum in that house. On certain occasions, the current Prime Minister has claimed to be a true disciple of Ambedkar and pledged to protect his ideals. However, such performances are often celebratory or rhetorical, as the Right Wing often remains silent when multiple cases of caste discrimination, rape, and violence against Dalit women occur. Moreover, BJP-led governments have not implemented impactful policies to increase Dalit representation in key institutions of power or implement effective measures for their social and economic transformation.

Over the past decade, other mainstream political parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in New Delhi and Punjab, and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Telangana, have also employed effective cultural strategies and welfare programs utilizing Ambedkar’s iconography to position themselves as strong supporters of the social justice agenda. The newfound affinity for Ambedkar is largely driven by electoral considerations, especially in states where Dalits have significant influence.

AAP has declared Ambedkar (along with Bhagat Singh) as its leading ideological symbol and prominently features Ambedkar’s portrait in its campaign. Although the Delhi government has announced only a few welfare policies dedicated to the economic and educational well-being of Dalits, it has successfully made inroads among the Dalit population by leveraging Ambedkar’s name. Delhi Government’s ‘Babasaheb: The Musical,’ a two-week-long mega-stage event, showcases significant episodes from Ambedkar’s socio-political life and portrays him as a legendary secular-nationalist leader. To promote the event, a comprehensive 360-degree campaign was launched, including big hoardings, TV commercials, and social media campaigns featuring Ambedkar.

In April 2023, the TRS-led government in Telangana surprised many by its newfound commitment to promote Ambedkar as the primary symbol of the state. It inaugurated a majestic 125-foot-long statue of Ambedkar in Hyderabad and renamed the newly built state secretariat building in his honour. The state government also highlighted its achievements in improving the socio-economic conditions of marginalised communities through effective welfare measures for their social empowerment and economic development in full-page advertisements in major national dailies.

Such campaigns have elevated the TRS’ impression as a committed party to the values of social justice and helped it to build a strong social base amongst the marginalised communities.

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Further, in the Congress party’s National Convention in Raipur a couple of months ago, there was a visible tilt towards the social justice agenda, bringing back Ambedkar in its political campaigns. It realised the crucial need of engaging with the Dalit-Bahujan masses and minimising the trust deficit they had towards the old party.

Rahul Gandhi on occasions showed deeper intimacy towards Ambedkar’s ideas and claimed that his party would be more committed to the constitutional ideals and the values of social justice. Earlier, the elevation of Mallikarjun Kharge as the national president of the party, also showcased that the Congress will not hesitate to bring crucial Dalit leadership at the national level, thus rebuilding its image as the party dedicated to the welfare of marginalised sections. It has surely helped the party in the recent Karnataka Assembly elections, as the Dalits offered an overwhelming support to the Congress party.

Ambedkar and symbolic issues related to the Dalits have gathered new attention in the political strategies of the mainstream parties. He appears more popular, nationalist and an acceptable public figure in this new development. However, such instrumentality can detach Ambedkar from the core Dalit constituency as under the nationalist/secular rhetoric the actual concerns and claims of the Dalit-Bahujan masses will be sidelined.

The big public celebrations and grandiose state-sponsored performances often bewitch the Dalit-Bahujan masses and divert their attention from the crucial issues of caste atrocities, growing poverty, unemployment and their marginalisation in the major institutes of power. His new popularity only offers a swift solace that there is a growing democratisation of the public spaces as Ambedkar and the Dalit cultural symbols are becoming integral part of the mainstream civic life.

(The writer teaches at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU.)