The “competitive politics” by the BJP and the Congress to appropriate Bhimrao Ambedkar’s legacy have prompted some academics and rights activists to cite a 1951 speech by Babasaheb that cautioned the depressed classes against aligning with forward caste-controlled mainstream parties.

These Ambedkarites suggested that Babasaheb’s followers should reject parties like the BJP and the Congress that are dominated by people from the upper castes and chart out an independent course.

They also argued that the recent Constitution debate in Parliament, where the Congress and the BJP vied to project themselves as the true followers of Ambedkar, ignored essential components of Babasaheb’s philosophy, such as a casteless and fraternal society.

Their criticism of the mainstream parties comes amid a battle between the Congress and the BJP over an alleged “insult” to Ambedkar by Union home ministerAmit Shah.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress on Saturday announced nationwide protests against Shah’s remark in the Rajya Sabha that “it has become a fashion to take the name of Ambedkar”. The BJP has denied that Shah insulted Ambedkar, and accused the Congress of never respecting the architect of the Constitution.

B.D. Borkar, secretary of the Peoples Party of India (Democratic) and an Ambedkarite, accused the mainstream parties of trying to emotionally exploit the socially disadvantaged classes in Ambedkar’s name.

He underlined how Ambedkar had warned the depressed classes against joining hands with Brahmins or parties dominated bythe upper castes.

“On 29th October, 1951, Ambedkar delivered a political speech in Patiala. Ambedkar said that if depressed classes joined Brahmins or formed any political party with them, they would not be protected. The forward castes would suppress the backward castes. If you see the debate on the Constitution, no one has touched upon the views of Ambedkar,” Borkar said.

Ambedkar had said: “You should not be caught in the net spread by the Congress. If you think that by joining hands with high-caste people you will be better off, then you are mistaken. The high-caste people will always suppress the backward classes.

“(The) high-caste (people) will enjoy freedom whereas our people will remain as they are. Poor people can never flourish under the rich and must unite separately to achieve their purpose.”

Borkar said his party would apply to the President to dismiss the home minister for his comments. By insulting Ambedkar, the RSS and the BJP are trying to test the people’s mood, he said.

He argued that the mainstream parties had deliberately ignored the views of Ambedkar, who held the institution of caste as anti-national and sought its obliteration.

“Ambedkar said India should not be a Hindu Rashtra. He said, ‘If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country’,” Borkar said.

He added that Ambedkar wanted the Public Service Commission to secure --- subject to the test of efficiency --- adequate representation from all the communities.

“Successive governments, whether by the BJP or the Congress, have been playing the politics of caste and religion. (The BJP) is openly adopting policies towards a Hindu Rashtra. The Congress is not opposing the BJP on this plank,” Borkar said.

“As against fraternity as the cardinal principle of governance, the BJP is openly spreading hatred against the Muslim minority.”

Ganga Sahay Meena, associate professor of Translation Studies at JNU, said the deprived classes should not be driven by political power but work towards building their own social and cultural movement.

“We have seen the downfall of Mayawati and Ramdas Athawale because they were driven by political power. The thinking that political power is essential to addressing the issues of the deprived classes is flawed. Rather, such a drive leads to opportunism and compromises on the social and cultural movements of the backward,” Meena said.

“There is an effort by the RSS to encourage tribal people and Dalits to follow the caste-Hindu culture. (But) they should create their own culture, such as celebrating the birth and death anniversaries of great leaders and philosophers like Ambedkar, Periyar, Mahatma Phule, Savitribai Phule, Jaipal Singh and Ramdayal Munda and spreading the values of equality, freedom and fraternity.”

Whenever there is discrimination, atrocity or exclusion, these sections should stand united and protest, and this is possible only through a social and cultural movement,he said.

Y.S. Alone, an Ambedkarite scholar and JNU professor who specialises on caste studies and interpretation, said true Ambedkarites should “sow the seed of the Ambedkarian consciousness”, marked by an adherence to the principles of equality, liberty and fraternity.

“Successive governments in India have kept the masses away from Phule and Ambedkar…. This has been very strategic and part of a project of protected ignorance. There has been resistance to sensitising the masses on the lines of the Ambedkarite consciousness,” Alone said.