School books, film on Dalit icons
NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government wants secondary school children to know more about India’s first law minister and Dalit leader BR Ambedkar and is making a film on the life of former deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram, another Dalit leader (apart from getting states to introduce a chapter on him in history books) in what analysts see as an attempt by the party to showcase its commitment to the Dalit cause.
Union minister for social justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot has written to human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar, requesting him to instruct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to include ‘Panchteerth’ in the school curriculum.
In 2016, the Centre had taken the decision to develop five places associated with Ambedkar into ‘Panchteerth’. Ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the BR Ambedkar International Centre in the national capital and accused the Congress of trying to undermine his legacy.
“Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram played a crucial role in the freedom movement and also as part of the gov- ernment worked for the uplift of the marginalised people. Their thinking was all inclusive. They wanted equality and social harmony, what we need even today. And if to fulfil the need for harmony and equality, we use their names and propagate their work, they (Congress) should be happy,” Gehlot said on the sidelines of a function on Friday.
The Opposition Congress, however, says the BJP is trying to appropriate Dalit icons.
“The BJP cannot hoodwink the people of this country by mere symbolism. From Saharanpur to Una and from Rohith Vemula to the various insensitive anti-dalit remarks by ministers like Gen VK Singh and recently by Ananth Kumar Hegde, (it) cannot be all undone by such gimmicks. If the Modi government was so serious about Dalits it would not have cut down the budget in the SC sub-plan,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said. The SC or Scheduled Castes sub-plan is a scheme aimed at the betterment of Dalits.
The past year has seen significant political mobilisation of Dalits. In Gujarat’s Una, the community rallied behind activists such as Jignesh Mevani, now an MLA in the assembly, to protest against the flogging of a Dalit family by alleged cow vigilantes.
This was followed by clashes that erupted in Maharashtra’s Bhima Koregaon, and other events.