BOMBAY: Resentment is growing among Dalit masses over Bal Thackeray’s disparaging remarks against Dr .B.R Ambedkar  He has denied calling Dr.Ambedkar an agent of the Nizam of Hyderabad but he has not withdrawn other scurrilous statements, On the other hand he has reportedly boasted that his statement is “like a bullet, once fired, it is not withdrawn.”

Dalit Pantlers have conveyed a meeting at Mumbai Marathi Grantha Sangrahalaya at Dadar on Dr. Ambedkar and the freedom struggle in the erstwhile Hyderabad state. Another Dalit group is to hold a protest meeting at Dr. Ambedkar college at Wadhla.

R.S.Cavai, RPI leader, has demanded an apology from Thackeray saying even the clarification showed the Shiv Sena’s leader’s bias against Dr.Ambedkar.

Thackerray’s statement is seen to expose his poor sense of history and the freedom struggle. What many people do not know is that Thackeray, a social reformer as far as casteism was concerned, supported some of Dr.Ambedkar’s struggles.

One of the questions posed by Thackeray, al a recent meeting in Sangli was “Where was Dr.Ambedkar during the freedom struggle in Marathwada in the erstwhile Hyderabad state of the Nizam?”

Dr.Narendra Gaikwad, a researcher in the Dalit movement and the Hyderabad freedom movement, points out that’s  many other leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jawaharla -Nehru and Savarkar did not participate in Satyagra his in the Hyderabad state,

Gandhiji and Patel did address meetings in Hyderabad against the Nizam in 1947 directing people to offer satyagraka themselves. Senapati Bapat of Bombay, a hero of many struggles, offered satyagraha thrice along with several supporters but each time he and the others were jailed or sent back to Bombay. Jayaprakash Narayan offered satyagraba in Hyderabad in 1945 and was immediately arrested and sent back by plane to Bombay. No leader was allowed to conduct a mass struggle in a highly repressive state.

Dr.Ambedkar did however, ensure that his supporters from the Schedule Castes Federation took out morchas in Hyderabad state.

Dr.D.N.Sandanshiv, a member of the Law Commission of India, said no greater proof of Dr.Ambedkar’s opposition to Nizam’s rule could be cited than a conference of Dalits held in 1938 at Makranpur in Aurangabad district.

At this conference Dr.Ambedkar attacked the Nizam rule for its atrocities on Dalits and denial of freedom of speech, writing meetings, processions and education. Dr.Ambedkar observed that Muslim rulers had imbibed the same anti-Dalit prejudices as the Hindu elite, Dalits were denied water even in wells constructed by the Nizam government.

Dr.Sandanshiv held a legal aid camp at the same town in 1975 to commemorate the meeting which was attended by Justice P.N.Bhagwati.

S.S. Rege, a close associate of Dr.Ambedkar, said the Dalit leader had supported the police action in Hyderabad against the Nizam in 1948. He had discussions on the issue with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Setu Madhavrao Pagdi, an eminent historian and a civil servant in the Nizam state and later in Maharasthra, said Dr,Ambedkar fought against great odds to introduce college education in Marathwada.

During the Nizam rule all the education was concentrated in Hyderabad city. Only three other towns, Warangal in Telangana, Gulbarga in Karnataka region and Aurangabad in Marathwada had colleges and this too only up to the intermediate level.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 11, 1992