In the recent period, there have been lot of debates and heated exchanges in the academic as well as political circles over the issue of a cartoon of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar (well known for stewarding the drafting of the Indian constitution and one who radically articulated and fought for Dalith social and political rights) in the Standard XI NCERT political science textbook. The said cartoon which has been used in the textbook since 2006 and had largely remained unnoticed, until Thirumavalavan, leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (a small petty bourgeois party from Tamil Nadu) and Ramdas Athavale of the Republican Party of India (Athavale) raised the issue in the parliament, demanding its immediate ban. Almost overnight, all the political parties of every hue and colour jumped on the bandwagon to not only to ban the said cartoon on Dr. Ambedkar, but a demand for removal of all cartoons in the NCERT textbooks.
The cartoon by the political cartoonist – Shankar Pillai, itself generated no controversy at the time it was published more than 60 years ago. Authors of the NCERT textbook have argued that the cartoon was merely trying to depict the times that India was living in soon after independence. The entire episode can only be interpreted as a gross political interference in the academic freedom of expression. And the latest recommendations by the Thorat committee (constituted by the NCERT) marks a watershed in the whole affair.
Other Controversies
Notwithstanding the merits of whether the cartoon actually denigrated Dr. Ambedkar vis a vis India’s most oppressed communities – the Daliths, the issue should also be seen in the light of other similar disturbing trends in the past period. One is the wanton grooming of lumpen culture by opportunistic individuals and political parties to whip up opposition to their ulterior political agendas. The other question is the right of the political classes in banning or removing anything that it sees as having an impact on its vote bank politics and its political authority. In this utterly undemocratic right-wing posturing all political parties of the establishment, irrespective of the colour or political ideology, are guilty.
Last year, for instance, saw the most ridiculous fracas at the Delhi University (DU) involving the youth wing of the BJP/ RSS – ABVP, which demanded the removal of AK Ramanujan’s essay (Three hundred Ramayanas, Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translations) from BA History Hons syllabus, saying it hurt Hindu sentiments. Most scandalously, against all oppositions including academic, DU recommended the essay’s removal purely on political grounds. Similarly, Roshinton Mistry’s novel – Such a long Journey was taken off from the Mumbai University syllabus in 2010 after Shiv Sena (the Marathi chauvinist, pro Hindutva party) demanded its removal on grounds that the novel was critical of Shiv Sena, especially its leader – Bal Thackeray!
And the issue is not restricted to academics alone. This year saw major controversy at the annual Jaipur Literature Festival over the issue of Salman Rushdie (the author of the infamous The Satanic Verses) attending the event. Protests and intimidating threats by the conservative Darul Uloom Deoband and other right wing Islamic groups saw the author cancelling the visit. But behind all this was the petty electoral calculation of the Congress (in the then upcoming UP elections) that saw to it that Rushdie never attended that festival.
There are many more such instances of blatant political interference by the government against freedom of expression in order to suit its political ends. What this clearly reveals is the growing intolerance, which is an offshoot of the failure of Indian capitalism enmeshed with all the muck of feudal practices, which has historically failed to lift the masses out of poverty and misery that breeds all such reactionary trends.
Ban On All Political Cartoons?!
Coming back to the cartoon controversy itself, now as a spin off, we now have this ridiculous recommendation by the S K Thorat panel that was constituted by the NCERT to look into the whole issue. Not only has the cartoon on Dr. Ambedkar and the other cartoon on the anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu in the 60’s been axed, but also a host of other cartoons that were critical of the political establishment have been marked for deletion.
The NCERT political science textbook, for one, was a marked departure from the past. Not only was the text not just another drab rote learning exercise, which Indian children/ students are normally subjected to, but definitely based on a new approach. Based on the pedagogical method, with lots of visual and new innovative learning techniques, the textbook was aimed at fostering critical thinking which has never been the case in the past. Even the case of upper caste/ class political bias by the authors holds no water as nothing in the text seems to suggest an anti-Dalith and pro- upper caste bias. The whole argument by many Dalith intellectuals and many political organization was mostly based around how the cartoon could be interpreted.
As the cartoon itself shows, with Nehru holding the whip and Dr. Ambedkar sitting on the snail (that represented the Indian constitution), the cartoon can definitely be misread as if Nehru (an upper caste Brahman) is trying to whip Dr. Ambedkar (a Dalith) and the obvious caste interpretation. It can also be counter argued that Dr. Ambedkar also held a whip in hand and so both the whips held by Dr. Ambedkar and Nehru was directed at the slow pace in the drafting of the Indian constitution in the early years after Indian independence. The cartoon does in a way satirically depicts the upper class-caste power inherent during those time. While the whole laborious task of drafting the Indian constitution was laid on Dr. Ambedkar’s shoulders, both his work and political legacy was merely appropriated by the ruling elite later. All the same, there is no denying the fact that the cartoon (or any other cartoon for that matter) can be interpreted in different ways.
As for the demand on removing the cartoon on the anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu in the 60’s by mainstream Tamil political parties, this was totally uncalled for. This had nothing to do with the cartoon itself, but everything to do with gaining political mileage. The anti-Hindi agitation exploded when the then Union government tried to impose Hindi all across India and which in turn brought out the simmering national question especially in Tamil Nadu, that is felt even today.
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar and his Legacy
But having said that, it is very important to take into account especially in today’s context, the heightened Dalith political consciousness and assertion of Dalith political rights, which has really unsettled the ruling political elite. It should be noted that this controversy did not see any major eruption of Dalith anger onto the streets. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish between the real political/ socio-economic aspirations as sought by the Daliths and other oppressed classes on the one hand (which is welcoming) and the false image of Dalith identity being cooked up by the mainstream Dalith political parties on the other.
It goes without saying that Dr. Ambedkar was in his own way a revolutionary of his times and sought genuine political reforms for the India’s most oppressed communities – the Daliths. Thus, given the socio-economic backwardness of majority of Daliths in India and the total failure of Indian capitalism to uplift them, the figure of Dr. Ambedkar is held with great reverence by Daliths even today. It is this legacy that has been appropriated and exploited by the mainstream Dalith political parties like Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP or Athavale’s RPI in Maharashtra to enrich the small section of the Dalith elite. Even mainstream political parties like the Congress, BJP and other regional parties have ingeniously been exploiting Dr. Ambedkar’s stature, without even representing an iota of his political principles, to only further oppress the Daliths and other backward castes.
As Anand Teltumbde, the radical intellectual/ activist has correctly pointed out “Without going into whether such a cartoon was necessary to be included in the textbook, given the proclivity of society to negatively interpret it, the fact remains that it was there for the last six years. If it had not caused any problem until now, it was unlikely to do so in the future.” And further on “Such is the power of the Ambedkar icon that for dalits Mayawati spending Rs 86 crore to renovate her residence or Athawale building a palatial house in a prime location in Mumbai have become non-issues. Even the rising incidents of atrocities which dishonour their women every day and devour their lives have become non-issues!” (Anand Teltumbde, Bathani Tola and the Cartoon Controversy).
So, the issue was primarily used to drum up support and establish political authority of these so called Dalith/ backward caste parties. It is also a matter of great shame that these same Dalith/ backward caste parties that are today talking of insult to Daliths, have remained totally silent on the real issues affecting Daliths in everyday life and the caste related atrocities that is constantly being perpetuated against them.
What Next?
One thing that has become quite clear in the whole affair is that all political parties (including the left parties!) have been speaking in one voice on removing the cartoons (as if there were no other immediate issues at stake!). This issue only marks a new low in this so called largest democracy where a tiny minority, instigated and remote controlled by one wing or the other of the political elite, really decide what is good for the public. Be it curbing freedom on the internet, education or challenging the political establishment, all these have been met with more and more regressive laws, which does not bide well for the basic democratic rights of the Indian people.
What is also important is to link these issues with the greater challenge which is the lack of quality universal education system in India. Innovative techniques like the pedagogical method and modern software tools can definitely help, but in itself cannot solve the real issues at stake. Lack of quality universal education on the one hand and mushrooming of private educational institutions on the other, are all products of the kind of unequal society that we live in presently. And the much touted Right To Education (RTE) bill is definitely not going bridge that gap.
New Socialist Alternative (CWI-India), as an organisation fighting for Democratic Socialism, we would categorically oppose the sectarian demands, especially the lumpen, right wing culture of banning and removal of written texts and material. This intolerance as a growing trend smacks and stinks with fascistic thinking of the crisis ridden capitalist class and their system. All this once again points out to the democracy deficit in the so called largest democracy and how the ruling political dispensation manipulates genuine democratic rights and aspirations of the people in the name of democracy.