Ram Puniyani
(Asian independent) As we will celebrate Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on 14th April (2026), it is also time to think as to what is the status of major teaching of Babasaheb about ‘annihilation of caste’. Caste-Varna system has been central to the practices of Hindu society, even before the term Hindu started being used. Our Holy scriptures did mandate strict Varna-Jati rules, starting from Vedas to Manu smriti and many other scriptures, respected here. Lord Gautam Buddha was the first major voice against this system. This was called a ‘revolution by Babasaheb. Following this starting from Pushyamitra Shung, Buddhism was opposed along with the values it preached. This period called counter-revolution led to restoration of caste-varna in an aggressive way. Buddhism was wiped out from India, while it did flourish in many South and East Asian countries.
The next major opposition to caste was from the saints of the genre of Kabir, Raidas, Dadu and the likes of them. These saints upheld humanism in contrast to rituals and primacy of priestly class and talked of equality in the society. Their articulation was very powerful but they met strong opposition from the priestly class in alliance with the feudal lords, the major beneficiaries of the caste system. During the British colonial period, despite all the fallacies, the opposition to this inhuman system started coming up with a modern education system. The articulation of equality in modern times begins with Jotirao Phule who took on the prevailing opposition to education for the low caste and succeeded in initiating putting forward the education and equal status for Dalit-OBC. This got a boost from Modern industrialization and the struggle for society with equality got rooted here.
The education for women initiated by Jotirao and Savitribai Phule was the ideal foil to the struggle against the rigidities of the system which saw women as subordinate to men. Fatima Sheikh stood rock solid with Savitribai to promote this process. The major leap in this march towards this process of striving for social justice came from Babasaheb Ambedkar. All his efforts; the movements for public drinking water (Chavdar Talav) and temple entry (Kalaram Mandir). Opposition to the religious sanction of caste was in the form of burning of Manu smriti. Periyar Ramasamy Naicker’s movement for self-respect was a powerful one to shake the conscience of the society. All these efforts ran parallel to the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, culminating in the process of discussions in the Constituent Assembly for Indian Constitution. Ambedkar becoming Chairman of the Drafting committee was not just symbolic, it reflected the core role of this great leader for values of equality.
The seeds of opposition to this process of social change towards equality were present in the society. They were reflected first in Hindu Mahasabha and then in RSS. Dalit-OBC movement was the major step which shook the rooted hierarchy of caste and gender, core of RSS ideology. RSS came up in opposition to Dalits striving for equality in society, it found an external enemy in Muslims , to consolidate its power in a gradual manner. Manu Smriti was its central core and opposition to Islam and Muslims was the cover for its growth. It kept consolidating itself through its training module being reached to young boys who became Pracharak’s (full time workers and celibate) and Swayamsevak’s.
While the Constitution did provide for reservation for SC/STs the subtle propaganda against it continued through word of mouth. This culminated in anti-Dalit violence in 1980 and anti OBC violence in 1985, both around Ahmedabad. The implementation of Mandal supplemented the journey towards social justice. The Hindu nationalists responded through strengthening their Kamandal, Ram Temple, Holy cow and love jihad in particular to distract from the process of Mandal implementation. Youth for Equality type organizations supplemented the opposition to Mandal.
This process of affirmative action was not accepted by the entrenched elements as the land reform process remained incomplete and clergy and landlords kept changing their form, they did not disappear . To dilute the process of reservations, caste based, they did bring in economic criterion for the same. The reserved posts in academia went unfilled by the biased selection committees stating, ‘no suitable candidate found’. With the rise of Hindu Nationalists ideology and thinking newer and newer elements are cropping in to halt to march towards social justice.
There was opposition to the long pending demand for caste census. It has been accepted now and with its results we will come to know about the status of caste and their plight. Another issue has been operating at a subtle level. This is the humiliation of SC/ST in educational institutions in particular and in society in general. This subtle insults to deprived sections of society have manifested in increasing number of suicides of Dalit/ST candidates. The institutional murder of Rohit Vemula had shaken a large number of people with humane values. A Dalit boy wanting to be a science writer was subjected to worse type of treatment in Hyderabad Central University, leading to his suicide. Rohith act was formulated but remains unimplemented. The case of Payal Tadvi in Nair Hospital in Mumbai shook us as Dr. Payal Tadvi was subjected to humiliation by her superiors on a regular basis, forcing her to take her life. Darshan Solanki in Mumbai IIT was mocked by other students on various occasions, again leading to his committing suicide. These are just a few examples; there are dime a dozen such cases.
In this light The University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, notified on January 13, 2026. It mandated strict anti-discrimination measures in all Indian Universities. This was to ensure equality, targeting caste, gender, and disability discrimination. Key mandates included establishing Equal Opportunity Centres (EOC), Equity Committees, 24/7 helplines, and appointing Equity Ambassadors. There was a massive opposition to this, massive protests against this and the matter was taken to the Court, which struck down this UGC’s mandate.
Today when we remember Dr. Ambedkar, we need to be aware that the major and subtle opposition to the process of march towards social equality comes from the well-entrenched RSS, which is spreading its retrograde agenda through multiple mechanisms. While RSS’s anti Muslim agenda is more than visible, its anti-Dalit agenda is much more subtle and needs to be countered for the dream of annihilation of caste.
