Caste barrier: Where Ambedkar and Savarkar were on the same page

Bhimrao Ambedkar and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the two luminaries of India’s freedom movement whose legacies continue to be contested even as 2024 draws to a close, represented two sides of the political divide.

Yet, as fellow Maharashtrians, with an age difference of 8 – Savarkar was born in 1883 and Ambedkar in 1891 - they did find common ground on a few local occasions, without compromising their antithetical views on the question of Hinduism or Hindutva, as the case may be.

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With a political row erupting over the remarks of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Ambedkar during his address to the Rajya Sabha on December 17, and the attempts by the BJP in the immediate past to “appropriate” the father of the Indian Constitution by citing his anti-Congress statements, it is worth looking at how India’s leading Dalit icon saw Hindutva, now pretty much the lifeline of Indian politics.

Hindu Raj will be greatest calamity for country: Ambedkar

In his seminal book, Pakistan or the Partition of India (1946, pages 354-355), Ambedkar pulled no punches.

“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country.… Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.”

In the introduction to the book, he noted, “The Hindu Provinces are by no means a happy family. It cannot be pretended that the Sikhs have any tenderness for the Bengalees or the Rajputs or the Madrasis. The Bengalee loves only himself. The Madrasi is bound by his own world. As to the Mahratta, who does not recall that the Mahrattas, who set out to destroy the Muslim Empire in India, became a menace to the rest of the Hindus whom they harassed and kept under their yoke for nearly a century. The Hindu Provinces have no common traditions and no interests to bind them.’’

In today’s atmosphere, such views would be considered a sacrilege.

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Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste, widely considered a classic critique of the Hindu upper-caste-dominated social system, is an undelivered speech written by him in 1936. The speech was intended to be delivered at an anti-caste convention held in Lahore by Hindu reformers. Underlining why he pursued this project in a 114-page pamphlet, Ambedkar was, as ever, upfront: “I shall be satisfied if I make the Hindus realise that they are the sick men of India and that their sickness is causing danger to the health and happiness of other Indians.”

Then again, in the same pamphlet, Ambedkar noted: “Hindu society seems to be in need of moral regeneration, which is dangerous to postpone. And the question is who can determine and control this moral regeneration.”

Ambedkar’s views on majoritarianism

His views on majoritarianism continued to resound even as Independence Day closed in.

Ambedkar wrote in a Memorandum on the Rights of States and Minorities, dated March 24, 1947, which he submitted to the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights set up by the Constituent Assembly’s Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities, etc.: “Unfortunately for the minorities in India, Indian nationalism has developed a new doctrine which may be called the Divine Right of the Majority to rule the minorities according to the wishes of the majority. Any claim for the sharing of power by the minority is called communalism, while the monopolising of the whole power by the majority is called nationalism. Guided by such political philosophy, the majority is not prepared to allow the minorities to share political power, nor is it willing to respect any convention made in that behalf as is evident from their repudiation of the obligation (to include representatives of the minorities in the Cabinet) contained in the Instrument of Instructions issued to the Governors in the Government of India Act of 1935. Under these circumstances, there is no way left but to have the rights of the Scheduled Castes embodied in the Constitution.” (Select Documents, volume 2, page 113).

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Savarkar campaigned aggressively against untouchability

Despite the divergence of views between Ambedkar and Savarkar on the question of low castes, there was common ground. Savarkar, the man who patented the word Hindutva, campaigned aggressively against untouchability and in favour of inter-caste dining and marriage.

“A national foolishness that created eternal conflict among Hindus, the caste system deserved to be thrown in the dustbins of history,” he wrote.

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His aim was to dissolve barriers enough for Hindus to realise political unity; caste discrimination, not caste itself, was his target.

When Savarkar was at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, his movements, as well as participation in political activities, were both restricted. Yet he championed the cause of the Dalits and presided over the Mahar conference held there.

Ambedkar’s appreciation of Savarkar’s work

In his letter to Savarkar, expressing his inability to visit him owing to previous engagements, Ambedkar wrote: “I, however, wish to take this opportunity of conveying to you my appreciation of the work you are doing in the field of social reform. If the Untouchables are to be part of the Hindu society, then it is not enough to remove untouchability; for that matter, you should destroy ‘Chaturvarna’. I am glad that you are one of the very few leaders who have realised this.” (From letter quoted by Dhananjay Keer, Veer Savarkar, 1950)

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Savarkar’s biographer Keer notes in Savarkar and His Times: “At that time, he had said that untouchability should not only be condemned, but now the time has come to root it out as a mandate of religion. It is not a question of policy or propriety, but issues of justice and service to humanity are also involved.”

“Savarkar declared that it is a sacred duty of every Hindu to protect the human rights of people who follow their religion. The concept of purifying oneself with the urine of an animal is far more ridiculous and condemnable than the concept of becoming impure from the touch of a human being.”