HYDERABAD: Observing the 60th death anniversary of father of the Constitution of India Dr BR Ambedkar in the city on Tuesday, Dalit scholars and activists noted that what Babasaheb had fought against continues to exist and that the country is far from becoming casteless.
Recalling the revolutionary leader who campaigned for a casteless society, V Srinivas Rao from the ‘Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch’ talked about how his organisation was working towards the goal of elimination of discrimination. However, nothing has changed, he said. “Today, Hindutva followers are hijacking Ambedkar’s ideology, one that this great leader dismissed ages ago. Today, anyone who questions the system is being labelled as a desh drohi,” he said at a session held by
Kula Vivaksha Vyathireka Porata Sangam (KVPS) on ‘Religionism’ and its effects on the Nation at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram. Sharing an instance from the recent past, where 50-year-old, Mohammed Akhlaq was beaten to death, while his son was seriously injured, in Uttar Pradesh. Srinivas said Dalits are also being attacked in the name of protecting cows by Gau Rakshaks, citing beating up of Dalit men in Una, Gujarat.
“And today, in the name of demonetisation the poor are being subjected to difficulties while the big corporations are being protected. We want a casteless society, not a cashless one,” he added.
Post-truth
Rao also touched upon how the global trend of politics being dominated by emotions rather than truth or facts.
“Look at Donald Trump, there are no facts to back up anything he says, but he won the election. Our PM too is doing the same. It has been proven that emotions have a bigger role to play than facts or truth,” he said.
Dominance and resistance
A memorial lecture on “Dominance and resistance of Indian society” was also held on Tuesday and delivered by retired history professor from Osmania University Adapa Satyanarayana. He said, “Ambedkar’s framework is essential. The urgent growth and mechanism of caste system symbolises the patterns of dominance and resistance. The sources of dominance vary from age.”
Babasaheb remembered
Death anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar was observed at NMDC Corporate office where technical director Dr Narendra K Nanda, commercial director Dr TRK Rao, production director PK Satpathy, personnel director Sandeep Tula and senior officials paid homage to the leader by garlanding Amedkar’s photo and observing two minutes of silence. G Sivaramakrishna, general secretary lauded the contribution of the downtrodden and Ambedkar’s contribution to struggle for equality.