Indian Americans to Amit Shah: 'Want to Know Who's Ambedkar? He Gave India Its Constitution and Identity'

Dallas, Texas- Around 100 protestors gathered at the Frisco City Council in Dallas, Texas, under the banner of the Texas Coalition Group to express outrage over Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. Shah’s comments, made on December 19, 2024, during a parliamentary session commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Indian Constitution, have been widely condemned as flippant and derogatory.

The protestors accused the BJP-led government in India and its ideological parent, the RSS, of consistently undermining the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Indian Constitution. They noted that this demonstration was the first international protest following extensive protests across India, which spread to over 500 districts and lasted more than two weeks.

Each of Us Equals 100: In the Chilling US Winter, We Are 10,000 Ambedkarites Voicing Against Amit Shah, Says Protestor

A protestor remarked, "Each one of us is equal to 100, and if we have gathered here in the chilling US winter, it means we represent 10,000 Ambedkarites voicing our opposition to Amit Shah."

The event began with a tribute to former Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is credited with liberalizing India’s economy and paving the way for its global economic standing.

During the protest, speakers voiced concern over the divisive strategies of the ruling BJP and emphasized the importance of solidarity among marginalized communities.

A speaker remarked, "Amit Shah is frightened of the power of the Blue Flag because he knows its capability to unite 80 percent of Indians. We are Moolniwasis, while they are Manuwadis. The haters are just few in numbers. They are trying to divide us because we are not united. When we unite and fight together, they have to recede."

The protestors criticized the RSS and its political wing, the BJP, for promoting the Manusmriti, a Brahminical text that they claim is the guiding principle of the current Indian government. They contrasted this with Dr. Ambedkar’s vision of an inclusive and progressive society, citing his efforts to reform Hindu personal laws through the Hindu Code Bill.

The group highlighted how the RSS and its affiliate organizations opposed Ambedkar’s progressive reforms, including equal inheritance rights for women and the abolition of caste discrimination.

The protestors referenced Ambedkar’s mass conversion to Buddhism in 1956 as a rejection of the caste system, and his statement from Pakistan or the Partition of India (1946): "If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country… Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost."

The demonstrators vowed to continue raising awareness and fighting against caste-based discrimination and efforts to marginalize Ambedkar’s contributions. The protest concluded with calls for Amit Shah’s resignation and solidarity among Ambedkarites worldwide.

About the Texas Coalition Group

The Texas Coalition Group, formed in 2018, is a multi-faith organization with volunteers from various Indian political parties. The group has actively raised concerns about the rise of Hindutva ideology, which they describe as a separatist and fanatical movement, both in India and in the United States.

A statement from the group read: "Hindutva, a separatist ideology practised by Hindu fanatics, has been on a rise since BJP leader Narendra Modi, a lifelong member of the RSS, became the prime minister of India in May 2014. The RSS which has been nurturing Hindu fanaticism since its inception in 1925, along with its political wing the BJP, is a complete anti-thesis of Dr. Ambedkar’s inclusive social and political beliefs, rooted in democracy.

RSS and its sister organization the Hindu Mahasabha, have been spewing venom against Dr. Ambedkar for decades, ever since he was chosen to draft the Indian constitution in 1949, the progressive and secular contents of which were an antithesis of everything that RSS professed. To RSS, a ‘shudra (untouchable)’, belonging to the lowest rung of the caste system drafting the Hindu Code Bill, considered progressive with reforms in the Hindu personal law, was ‘sacrilege’.

For the RSS “Manusmriti’, a reactionary brahminical text, is its guiding principle, which, among other things, says that the killing of a cow is a capital crime without pardon, the killing of a Shudra was not. This is also the guiding principle of the present day Indian government led by Modi.

The Hindu Code Bill proposed reformist laws against conservative practices like polygamy, endogamous marriages, patriarchal inheritance laws among Hindu communities advocating equal inheritance rights for women, providing equal educational opportunities for women, ending caste discrimination and so on, aiming to create a modern and progressive Hindu society.

This was strongly opposed by Hindutva groups and leaders like Veer Savarkar, (a self professed guru of Modi), resulting in the Bill’s defeat in Parliament in the 1940’s. The bill was later reintroduced by Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1950’s and became the basis of very progressive acts like the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act among others.

Dr Ambedkar, who swore that even though he was born a Hindu, he would not die a Hindu, to break the shackles of the caste system, converted to Buddhism, in October 1956, along with 600,000 of his followers, in the very heart of RSS headquarters in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Ambedkarites which include the SC (Scheduled Caste) and the ST (Scheduled Tribes) and the OBC’s (Other Backward Class) who make up anywhere between 75% of the ‘Hindu” population to 90 % in Central India, in states like Madhya Pradesh, and over 90% in Chhattisgarh.

The entire south is dominated by over 90% of the SC+ST+OBC vote bank, which pose a severe threat to Modi’s rise as an extreme Hindu nationalist leader. BJP/RSS lives in constant fear that the war cry of the Ambedkarities “Jai Bhim”, (victory to ‘Bhim’) may very well be an antidote for BJP’s extreme nationalism and its war cry “Jai Shri Ram”, latching on to the Hindu god Lord Ram.

Amit Shah’s uncalled for remarks in Parliament suggesting that constantly uttering Ambedkar’s name constituted a futile exercise and in contrast the invocation of the name of Lord Ram would pave the way for heaven, caused a wave of dismay and anger among millions of Dr Ambedkar’s followers who revere him as their only god.

The widespread protests witnessed in India, demanding Shah’s resignation following the distasteful remarks, sent a shock wave in Modi’s camp, already upset with Modi’s lacklustre performance at the recent parliamentary elections.

Ambedkarities in the US, too, expressed their displeasure at the uncalled for remarks, by holding protests in Dallas. They have in the last few years also intensified their struggle in the US universities and gigantic corporations like Amazon, to curb caste discrimination, which has increased in the US, in direct proportion to the rise of extreme Hindu nationalism in India."