AMBEDHKAR VERSUS GANDHI

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-modernday-enlightenment/article5919496.ece?homepage=true

In response to the article above, one commonality that I observed in both Ambedkhar and  Gandhi  are their inclusive approach to their course within the ambit of religion. Gandhi sought to redress the issue of caste inequality within Hinduism, whereby Ambedhkar took refuge in Buddhism for the same.  Both leaders definitely have had created intense debate on the matter at their time, but political agenda then and now merely used their doctrine’s as how one would consume pickle in a meal.

Today India is caught in a crossroad, where the inevitable connectivity has given access to citizens across social order to information. As such, an awareness that used to be within the reach of the elite has cascaded down to the illiterate as well. To top it further, India is also experiencing huge transmigration of people across the country. The intermingling of people is creating a new diaspora of thought and action. The mobility which was once confined to the endowed, today for economic reasons has forced the rest to seek opportunity elsewhere in the country.

To add a personal experience on my family farm in Tamil Nadu, currently there more than 300 workers from Bihar, Assam and MP employed.  According to my cousins most farms in TN employ workers from those states as it is difficult to find local workers. Many of these workers, apparently after sometime bring their families to join them as well and there have been cases where intermarriage also do take place, though not prevalent yet.  

Interestingly one observation I have made in Tamil Nadu over the last few years is the greater acceptance and usage of Hindi especially in urban areas. It is well known that TN politics has always championed Tamil over Hindi, however slowly but surely, socially it is changing.

So revisiting thoughts of Ambedhkar, Gandhi, Periyaar, Vivekananda and the likes would give cue in the shaping of the socio-politico-economic landscape of India. Or perhaps not, organized chaos has always ruled in India whether in thought or action. We will never know because it is evolutionary, both the beginning and the end are mere hypothesized speculation.