"Veda, Shruti, Purana, Ramayana, or Mahabharata is not having the term Hindu" — Waman Meshram

Lucknow— The Mooknayak meets Waman Meshram the National President of BAMCEF at the sidelines of the 39^th convention of the organisation. Meshram spoke on various issues like the Mulnivasi Concept, Caste Census and the recent scrapping of OBC reservation in the Municipal Polls by the High Court.

Tellus something about the convention and why did you choose Lucknow?

The convention in Lucknow is the 39^th convention, which means that there have been 38 conventions before this. When in 2000, I became the National President, I started the work of geographical networking and social networking. The branch of our organisation is active in 567 districts of the country. It is customary for us that we take the convention every year in the month of December and in adherence to that it is taking place in Lucknow. Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and if we are able to increase the influence of our organisation in Lucknow that will have an impact at the national level keeping that in mind, we have organised it in Lucknow.

You keep on harping about Mulnivasi (Native) but the view of Babasaheb (Dr B.R. Ambedkar) on not clear on this. What do you think?

We are not sticklers. We change according to circumstances and needs. DR B.R. Ambedkar made Scheduled castes as the base of his organisation but by 1948 hestarted saying that SC/ST/OBC minorities should come together. He said this in Kanpur on 24^th April 1948. Why did he do so? it is because the change in circumstancesforces one to make changes in strategies and the ideologies are evolved keeping this in mind. Most of our people, who believe in DR B.R. Ambedkar are sticklers, they don’t have to run any movement.

There are so many organisations in the name of Bahujan. Are you doing something to organise those groups?

We do not organise the leaders, we organise the people. And the hordes of organisations that are there …. recently 100 or 200 organisations collaborated and even these organisations could muster up only 200-300 people and I said this over there and see this here (in Lucknow) people from 31 states have been called and have called by one (organisation) only. There are a lot of organisations on the paper. Ask them about the books written by Babasaheb Ambedkar, they don’t know anything. They sit in a lane and call themselves National President after naming their party Rashtriya (National). Ask them who made you the National President… (they say) I am the lone member of the party. Ask them about their office (they say) it is in my home at the moment. Ask them about the telephone number (they say) my mobile number is there. You are talking about such people ……are you not a journalist? Running an organisation is not a child’s play I have completed 65 years (of age) now, have been working for 18 years and 3 or 4 months have invested my whole life. People make organisations and on the basis of that go to Congress or the BJP, seeking tickets. We don’t go to anyone for the tickets.

Some speakers said that they are Hindus and the Brahmins are not Hindus……?

I also said that this suggestion is not correct and the reason for that is that after the Muslims attacked India, they called Hindu. No brahmin text be it… Veda, Shruti, Purana, Ramayana, or Mahabharata is not having the term Hindu. In India, this was first used by the Muslims. “Hindu” word is not there before the arrival of Muslims.

The High court has quashed the reservation in municipal polls. What is your take on this and what action will you take?

We don’t accept the high court’s decision, the people should challenge this in the Supreme Court and if they donot do so, we will do it.

Do you think that the OBC reservation has been targeted and now SC can also be targeted?

Our people are a bit timid.

Some of the Scheduled caste people are saying that OBCs deserve this?

No, it is foolish to say such things.

What do you think about the figures of the caste census not being released?

We started the movement of the caste census in India. It is because of us that the issue is a matter of discussion and we are going to organise a Bharat Bandh in 2023 over this issue and will also carry out a yatra.