Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University: Remembering the martyrs on Namantar Diwas

Pochiram Kamble was burnt alive by a mob of rioters on the night of 4^th August 1978 in Tembhurni village of Nanded District. His crime was that he supported the demand for renaming the Marathwada University after Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He was the first martyr of a 16-year-long struggle, which later came to be known as NamantarAndolan (The Renaming Movement)

Precursor: Just few days before the brutal lynching of Kamble, the Progressive Democratic Front government of Maharashtra had conceded to the demands of Dalit Panther and tabled the Namantar Resolution in Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) and also managed to get it passed. This step of the government enraged the non-Dalits, particularly the Marathas, who were vehemently opposed to the idea of tampering with the word “Marathwada”.

The blowback to the renaming unleashed massive violence that went unreported and unpunished- More than a 1000 villages in Marathwada were affected by riots, it adversely affected over 25,000 Dalits, mostly the Mahars, who spearheaded the movement and most vocally supported it. Ironically, the first martyr of this movement, whose death touched off the campaign was a Mang, also a Dalit sub-caste.

In the resultant violence, the Dalits were not only subject to lynching but the upper castes adopted a scorched earth tactic to terrorise them by boycotting them from access to essential services and jobs and polluting drinking water wells. They were forced to move out of the village as their houses were set on fire and their essential items were damaged. The Dalits were targeted all over the Marathwada region. The most affected districts included Aurangabad, Nanded, Parbhani Akola, Nashik and Osmanadbad.

Shiv Sena, the party which swears by Marathi Asmita openly opposed the Namantar Andolan. Shiv Sainiks were also allegedly involved in attacking the Dalits.

The violence made the government succumb to the pressure of anti-namantars and withdrew the Namantar Resolution. But the decision only re-energized the movement and the resultant violence.

Professor Jogendra Kawade, a professor in Dr. Ambedkar College Nagpur organised a long march, which started on 19^th November 1979 and traversed from Nagpur to Aurangabad: a distance of 470 Km. Kawade was arrested, but what stopped the march was killing of 11 boys in police firing at Nagpur.

The decade of 80s saw a hiatus in the movement. The renaming movement gathered steam when Sharad Pawar was appointed the Chief Minister again in 1993. Various demonstrations were held but it was only after the self-immolation of Gautam Waghmare, Dalit Panther activist from Nanded outside the gate of the Marathwada University on November 25, 1993 that a massive wave of demonstration was triggered.

Sharad Pawar, who had earlier tabled the Namantar Resolution in 1978, agreed to add the name of B.R. Ambedkar to the name- Marathwada University. Pawar took into confidence various Dalit leaders like Ramdas Athawale and also some Maratha leaders for this cause.

However, the middle path adopted by Pawar was only reluctantly acquiesced to by Dalit community and Marathas as while the former demanded complete name change, and not naam vistar (name extension/addition), the latter were opposed to any tampering with the name Marathwada.

Leaders of the Dalit panthers were aggrieved by the surrender of Ram Das Athawale. Later in 2011, Bal Thackrey in a interview denied opposing the naming of University after Ambedkar and said that he only wanted that the name “Marathwada” should be intact.

On January 14^th, 1994, the name of the University was eventually altered as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. The university also adopted the Ajanta arch, with elephants as its primary logo, which reflected the Buddhist cultural significance of the Ajanta Caves.

Every year 14^th January is celebrated at Naamantar Naamvistar Andolan Diwas.

In 2013, a Namantar Shahid Smarak was dedicated to the martyrs of the movement. The monument was erected at Nagpur and  carries the name of the people who sacrificed their lives in the Naamantar Movement including a child Avinash Dongre, who died in police firing in 1978  at the location of the monument.

The struggle of those who fought for the campaign deserves this monument and hopefully will prevent them from falling into oblivion. Jai Bhim.