Ambedkar’s pact with a Hindutvadi

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with his wife Savita and over three lakh followers in Nagpur on October 14, 1956

Political leaders jousting to prove their love for Ambedkar should read Anand Teltumbde's Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In this book, they will discover that Ambedkar was a man of contradictory parts. Nothing illustrates this more vividly than his decision to enter into a pact on religious conversion with Hindu Mahasabha leader B S Moonje, whose disdain for the Depressed Classes, as the so-called ‘Untouchables' were then classified, was revolting. A February 1936 entry in Moonje's diary bears this out: "Any money spent on untouchables is like feeding a garden-serpent."

The genesis of their pact dates to October 13, 1935, when, at Yeola, Ambedkar declared that though he was born a Hindu, he shall not die as one. Hindu nationalists panicked at the thought of Ambedkar and his followers leaving Hinduism, for in that era, the population of every religious community determined representation in the legislatures. For this reason, there ensued a scramble among leaders of other faiths to woo him.

Thereafter, Ambedkar explained at several public meetings why the Depressed Classes should exit Hinduism but never explicitly stated to which religion they should convert. For instance, in April 1936, he attended the Sikh Mission's conference in Amritsar, where a conversion ceremony took place, sparking speculation whether Sikhism was to be his new faith.

But then, on May 30-31, 1936, at the Bombay Mahar Provincial Conference, Ambedkar seemed to suggest yet another "path for salvation." He said the Untouchables' plight stemmed from three factors - they were numerically inferior everywhere; they were financially strapped; they were spiritually debilitated as they had internalised their demeaning status as fated and, therefore, lacked confidence.

Muslims too, Ambedkar said, were a numerical minority and financially weak, but they were spiritually strong, the reason why violence was seldom visited on them as casually as it was on the Dalits. To overcome the three factors behind their plight, they should convert to an existing religion, he advised. Teltumbde writes, "The manner in which he referred to the Muslim community…indicated his preference for Islam over other religions."

Hindu nationalists were alarmed, for the conversion of Ambedkar's followers to Islam would have ballooned the Muslim population and upset the communal balance of power. They sent Moonje to meet Ambedkar on June 18, 1936.

Ambedkar took just three days to agree on a pact with Moonje, whom he had dubbed as "communalist" in 1932. The pact stipulated that the Hindu Mahasabha would not object to Ambedkar converting to Sikhism; nor to the inclusion of neo-Sikhs in the list of the Scheduled Castes for whom government jobs were reserved; nor to them contesting seats reserved for the Depressed Classes in the joint electorate. The Depressed Classes were, thus, not to forfeit their rights on abandoning Hinduism as long as they embraced Sikhism, not any other faith.

In exchange for these gains, academic Keith Meadowcroft points out in his article on the pact, Ambedkar agreed to assist the Mahasabha in "countering Muslim and Christian proselytising and in propagating Hindu culture." Sounds incredible today, doesn't it?

For Moonje, the Sikh population was so small that its augmentation because of Ambedkar's conversion to it could not have posed a threat to the Hindus. By contrast, Ambedkar's motivation to sign the pact was bewildering, for its purported gains to his followers on conversion could have been guaranteed by the British and perhaps Gandhi, not Moonje.

The pact was to be a secret till such time the Mahasabha leadership endorsed it. However, Moonje wrote about the pact to another Depressed Classes leader, M C Rajah, who made it public, triggering a furore that ultimately nixed the pact. Yet, as the controversy over the pact raged, Ambedkar made statements saying conversion to Sikhism suited even Hindus. How?

Ambedkar explained, "If the Depressed Classes join Islam or Christianity, they not only go out of the Hindu religion, but they also go out of the Hindu culture…" It would "denationalise the Depressed Classes." This statement implied Muslims and Christians were not national. On the other hand, their conversion to Sikhism would retain them within the Hindu culture, "by no means a small advantage to Hindus," he said.

Ambedkar's statements testify to his belief in the Hindutva ideology, which claims that there exists a cultural unity among the followers of faiths born in India. This ‘truth' constitutes the foundation of cultural nationalism, of which Muslims and Christians cannot be a part as their religions were birthed outside India. Even a decade later, Ambedkar's idea on this count did not change, Meadowcroft says, citing from his book, Pakistan Or The Partition Of India, published in 1945-46, as evidence: "Islam can never allow a true Muslim to adopt India as his motherland."

That he did not believe India had evolved a truly syncretic culture, which was the basis of its nationalism, was evident from his explanation for converting, in 1956, to Buddhism: "Buddhism is part and parcel of Bharatiya culture. I have taken care that my conversion will not hurt the tradition and culture of this land."

Yet, in the same Partition book, Ambedkar also warns, "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." He was instrumental in enshrining the rights of the minorities in the Constitution, and deepening the meaning of liberty, equality and fraternity. Ambedkar lived a life of contradictions, as did Gandhi and Nehru, as much to be admired as critiqued.

The writer is a senior journalist and author of Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste
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