16-04-2021 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Dr Mama Deshmukh is a veteran
Bahujan historian. In a conversation
with me he informed me that only
Ambedkarite Buddhists are capable to
lead the Bahujan movement and asked
them to get united. An interesting part of
his discussion was the advise to
Ambedkarites to be sensitive towards
the 'egos' of the Marathas, Kunbis and
other Bahujan communities. This is a
wonderful idea but there is a fact that no
leadership can be imposed on people
without the attempt by the leadership to
reach the communities and people. Egos
are part of political culture these days
and many time but some time they are
created and some time we over react to
a situation. It is essential for us to get
into political realism and not to judge
people just because their tweets or statement
have offended us. The said
'offense' may not be against the people
but may be it shows the ignorance of the
person or his advisers.
I am writing this with a tweet by
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh
Yadav that called April 14th to be celebrated
as #dalitdiwali. Akhilesh Yadav's
tweet does not have the negative intents
against Dalits but definitely show lack
of understanding of the entire Bahujan
perspective. If this was his father's
tweet, I would have some how felt the
mischief but I personally feel that
Akhilesh Yadav has been making efforts
to reach to all the communities but as
happened with a majority of the #bahujanleaders
depending on the 'professional'
advisers, public relation officers who
have very little understanding of the
Bahujan movement and icons who
shaped our destiny.
Calling for April 14th as #dalit
Diwali is insulting to
the memory of Dr
Ambedkar as it mischievously
limit Dr
Ambedkar, his struggles
and achievements to Dalit community.
As a political leader, Akhilesh
Yadav should have been careful with the
words and utterings. World over,
#AmbedkarJayanti is being celebrated
as #knowledge day or Social Justice
Day but our Bahujan leader want him to
confine to #dalits alone. That is where I
say, important for us to the point being
raised by Dr Mama Deshmukh that
unless Bahujan leaders and social
movement embrace Ambedkar-Phule-
Periyar's basic principles about debrahminsation
of society, they will not succeed.
There are examples in front of us
why the Mahars in Maharastra and
Jatavs and Chamars in Uttar Pradesh
have shown the world that change has
to come from with in and the success
NEWS
stories are unprecedented whether in
business or education or self employment.
Dr Deshmukh himself says that
most of his books are actually read by
the Mahars and not by his own community.
Dr Ambedkar Phule and
Periyar's vision is inclusive for all
and it will strengthen the ideological
frame work of the Bahujan
communities and make them
understand the culture of dominance
and appropriation.
Why dont our leaders understand
how the RSS and Narendra Modi use Dr
Ambedkar. They are working regularly
on the issues and have team which provide
them inputs. It is not merely professional
but also community leaders. It
is essential for Akhilesh and other leaders
hailing from Bahujan communities
to give spaces to Bahujan intellectuals
and activists, atleast listen to them.
Keep some professionals in your team
who have understanding of these issues
and shape the proper tweets so that people
dont get offended.
I have issues with those who started
campaign against Akhilesh Yadav. I
dont think he has bad intention. His
intentions were right. At the time when
Modi is speaking about Ambedkar and
vaccination festival, he wanted a big
celebration like Diwali but yes he must
be careful about the usage of symbolism
but to start a campaign
against him is deeply
distressing. It is the
same kind of people
who were lauding him
when Samajwadi Party
had alliance with
Bahujan Samaj Party.
We all know that the
role of SP-BSP important
in the coming elections in Uttar
Pradesh. Both the parties represent fairly
large number of Bahujan Samaj and
that is why they need to come together.
Even if they are not, they should not do
things where the future alliance is
impossible.
The Bahujan intellectuals have bigger
responsibility at the moment. Please
dont demonise leaders who can be your
ally in future. Keep the option open for
negotiations. Whether Tejasvi Yadav or
Akhilesh Yadav, both of them can not be
ignored in the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh politics
in the coming days. Both of them
need to have more and more Bahujan
orientation and understanding of social
justice which does not mean antagonising
the other groups. Important to keep
16-04-2021 to 30-04-2021
Bahujan leaders need to understand the sentiment of the
people but demonising them wont help at the moment
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
social and human rights activist
21
everyone with you still the basic preamble
of Bahujan Politics should be social
justice and fair representation. Bahujan
politics in the north India need to go
beyond Lohiaism and need to embrace
Ambedkar-Phule-Periyar as cultural ideology
and only then they will be able to
counter the brahmanical hegemony of
the Sangh Parivar and BJP. Fighting
against Sangh forces will need strong
intellectual strength of the great Bahujan
movement and our liberators. It is time
for introspection from all so that we do
not damage the existing political leadership.
The RSS-Savarna narrative is
clearly against established political leadership
such as Ms Mayawati, Akhilesh
Yadav and Tejasvi Yadav so that they
can create an impression that these leaders
are non existence and hence they can
promote their own people as Bahujan
leaders. Speak to the leaders, ask
uncomfortable questions but be careful
and dont demonise them unless they
have categorical intent to hurt the movement.
This is not the right time to deepen
the 'contradictions' but to look for
meeting points with a futuristic vision.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social
and human rights activist. He blogs
at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
twitter @freetohumanity
Email: vbrawat@gmail.com
NY based non-profit
names Indian-American
Executive Director
ISRO spy case :
SC orders CBI
probe in framing
of Narayanan
New York : Akanksha
Education Fund, a New Yorkbased
non-profit that supports initiatives
to improve access to high
quality education for the disadvantaged
children in India, has
named an Indian-American as its
new Executive Director. "The
Akanksha Education Fund is
thrilled to announce that Sejal
Desai, of Dallas, Texas, will be
the new Executive Director of the
Akanksha Education Fund," The
American Bazaar quted the
organisation's Board of Directors
as saying in a statement on
Wednesday. According to the
organisation, Desai's 30-year
career includes work in sectors
like venture capital, M&A,
accounting, entrepreneurship,
non-profit and corporate social
responsibility. Most recently, she
worked at Communities
Foundation of Texas, where she
led a strategic initiative focused
on engaging businesses in the
community. She also started a
social venture, SevaYatra, focused
on engaging US-based universities
and multinational corporations
with India-based NGOs.
Desai had lived in Mumbai for
almost 20 years. Ramesh
Srinivasan, the Fund's Board
Chair noted that Desai's combined
roots in Dallas and Mumbai are
perfect for this moment in the
non-profit's growth. "This is an
exciting venture for all of us, as
our future outreach depends in
part on growing our presence well
beyond the New York, New
Jersey and Connecticut area. We
have some terrific seeds planted
already and Sejal is poised to
make them grow."
In response to the announcement,
Desai said: "I am excited
to embark on this new chapter in
my life and work together with
individuals, corporates and foundations
across the US to advance
educational outcomes for underserved
children in India."
Established over 23 years ago,
the Fund has raised and granted
millions to the Akanksha
Foundation (a registered Indian
charity), which currently operates
21 best-in-class schools for
under-resourced children in
Mumbai and Pune.
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday
ordered a CBI probe into the role of Kerala police
officers in framing ISRO scientist Nambi
Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case.
A bench headed by Justice
A.M. Khanwilkar accepted
the report of a panel headed
by former top court judge
D.K. Jain, and asked the CBI
to carry out further investigation.
The top court said the
matter is very serious and it
requires a CBI probe.
The bench asked acting
CBI Director to take charge
of the case and treat the
report by Justice Jain panel as
a preliminary inquiry report
to conduct further investigations
into the matter.
The bench also comprising
Justices Dinesh
Maheshwari and Krishna Murari also asked the
CBI to file status report on its investigations in
three months. The top court has ordered that
panel's report should be kept confidential in a
sealed cover. The 79-year-old Narayanan waged a
legal battle against the Kerala police officers who
accused him of being a Pakistan's spy in 1994.
Besides appointing the panel, the top court had
directed the Kerala government to pay Rs 50 lakh
compensation to Narayanan for causing him
immense humiliation.
In 2018, a bench of the then Chief Justice
Dipak Misra decided to appoint a committee
under Jain and asked the
Centre and the Kerala government
to name one person
each to the committee. While
the Centre appointed a top
official -- D.K. Prasad, the
Pinarayi Vijayan government
appointed former Additional
Chief Secretary V.S. Senthil.
The ISRO spy case surfaced
in 1994 when
Narayanan was arrested on
charges of espionage along
with another senior official
of ISRO, two Maldivian
women and a businessman.
The CBI had held that the
then top police officials in
Kerala were responsible for Narayanan's illegal
arrest. The panel examined the circumstances
leading to Narayanan's arrest. It was alleged that
confidential documents on India's space program
was allegedly transferred to foreign countries.
Narayanan had maintained that Kerala police
fabricated the case and the technology he was
accused to have stolen and sold in 1994 case did
not even exist at that time.