Focus on Prakash Ambedkar

Shiv Kumar

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Last week’s Maharashtra bandh over the New Year Day assaults on Dalits observing the bicentennial of the ‘defeat’ of Pune’s Brahmin Peshwa rulers at the hands of the Mahar troops under the East India Company flag has again turned the spotlight on Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar.

The soft-spoken lawyer, who was eclipsed by brasher rivals from among the Dalits over the years, worked hard to bring members of the community together to observe the 200th anniversary of what is seen by them as the first struggle against Brahminical discrimination in Maharashtra. The run-up to the Vijay Diwas, as the event is called by Dr BR Ambedkar’s followers, saw his grandson organise a meeting of the community at Shaniwaar Wada in Pune.

The event at the old Peshwa stronghold had Jignesh Mewani, recently elected Dalit MLA from Gujarat, and student leader Umar Khalid addressing the audience.

By some accounts, more than three lakh members congregated the following day at Bhima-Koregaon on the outskirts of Pune for the bicentennial.

The event would have gone unnoticed in the mainstream media but for the attacks on groups of Dalits who were returning home on January 1. According to the police, men carrying saffron flag threw stones at cars sporting the blue colour of various political parties that have sprung from the remnants of Ambedkar’s Republican Party. Prakash Ambedkar’s bandh call saw the divided Dalit leadership sink their differences and hit the streets in various cities of Maharashtra.

Now, the big question is whether Ambedkar will be able to use his new-found popularity to improve his prospects at the hustings.

Hamstrung by caste

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has a big problem — his Brahmin caste. In a state which is seen as the cradle of the social reform movement which spread across the country, the ascendency of a Brahmin to the top job has renewed old fears about the re-emergence of the dreaded caste hierarchy.

The Brahmin Peshwas of Pune are seen as usurpers who gradually overshadowed the Marathas and took control of their kingdom. Reviled by the Marathas and the Dalits alike, it was only a matter of time before an anti-Brahmin coalition crystallised against the CM.

NCP strongman Sharad Pawar was the first off the mark when he likened the entry of a descendent of the legendary Shivaji Maharaj into the BJP to a Chatrapati (or king) bowing before a Peshwa (prime minister). Prakash Ambedkar, who called last week’s Maharashtra bandh, too claims that Marathas and Dalits have sunk their differences to come out against the BJP government.

Now Fadnavis is under pressure to arrest Brahmin leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, who allegedly instigated the attack on Dalits returning home from the Vijay Diwas celebrations.

Sena tiger tamed!

For decades, violent bandhs in Maharashtra were the monopoly of the Shiv Sena, whose cadres ran amok while the state machinery watched silently. The Thackerays never took kindly to anyone threatening to steal their thunder and few had the guts to bring Mumbai, forget the rest of the state, to its knees. Till last week, that is.

Now even Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna is treating the Dalit leadership with respect and restricting its attacks to Chief Minister Fadnavis.