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Remembering Ambedkar’s philosophy of social justice on Mahaparinirvan Diwas

Today, December 6, marks a special day for millions of Dalits and socially backward citizens of India. Exactly 64 years ago, Dr. B.R Ambedkar, a great social reformer, a visionary, an educationist, politician and what not, passed away. The day is commemorated by his followers as Mahaparinirvan Diwas.

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Today, December 6, marks a special day for millions of Dalits and socially backward citizens of India. Exactly 64 years ago, Dr. B.R Ambedkar, a great social reformer, a visionary, an educationist, politician and what not, passed away. The day is commemorated by his followers as Mahaparinirvan Diwas.

His sudden demise, at the relatively young age of 65, created a huge  vacuum in this emerging post-colonial constitutional India and left unanswered so many questions on how he would have carried forward this nascent journey. Lakhs of people across India throng Chaitya Bhoomi to pay homage to him.

Babasaheb Ambedkar has been victim of reductionism practiced by mainstream media. As a result, his entire identity and life of public service has been reduced to being a ”Dalit Leader” or “Chief Architect of the Indian Constitution.” These reductionist attempts have obscured his contributions in the spheres of understanding caste, Hindu Social order, problems of Hindu women, Indian minorities, his contribution in the field of education, vision of nation building etc.

Two months prior to his death, on 14 October 1956, Babasaheb Ambedkar ceremeniously led some 500,000 followers to Nagpur to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism. This mass conversion was both unique and historic.

Speaking about the necessity of conversion, Ambedkar in a public address in 1935 said, “After giving deep thought to the problem, everybody will have to admit that conversion is necessary to the Untouchables as self-government is to India. The ultimate object of both is the same. There is not the slightest difference in their ultimate goal. This ultimate aim is to attain freedom. And if the freedom is necessary for the life of mankind, conversion of untouchables which brings them complete freedom cannot be called worthless by any stretch of imagination.”

Ambedkar described to his followers that how their struggle over all these years had failed to secure basic human rights and a life of dignity. Within the Hindu society has failed. He made this remark in the backdrop of failed public public agitation of untouchables demanding to drink water from a public reservoir and the Temple Entry Agitation at Kala Ram Temple in Nashik (1930-35).

Why was Nagpur chosen?
Nagpur had been one of the few places from where Buddhism spread in India. Ambedkar explained, “If anyone spread Buddhism, it was the Nag people. The Nag people were fearful enemies of the Aryans. A Fierce and fighting war went on between the Aryans and non-Aryans. Examples of the harassment of the Nags by the Aryan people are found in the Puranas. Agasti Muni helped only one Nag man to escape from that. We spring from that man. Those Nag people who endured so much suffering wanted some great man to raise them up. They met that great man in Gautam Buddha. The Nag people spread the teaching of Buagwan Buddha all over India. Thus we are like Nag people. It seems that the Nag people lived chiefly in Nagpur and the surrounding country. So they call this city Nagpur, meaning city of Nags.

He also refuted the claims of some people that Nagpur was chosen because R.S.S was headquartered there. Some people say that because the great batallion of the R.S.S. was here in Nagpur, we took the meeting to this city in order to lay them flat. This is completely untrue. This program was not brought here to Nagpur because of that. Our work is so great that even one minute in a lifetime cannot be wasted.” said Ambedkar.

Contrary to Marx, he subscribed to the necessity of religion in the society. For him religion is a necessity. Religion is necessary for people in distress. The poor man lives on hope. ‘Hope!’ The source of life is hope. If this hope is destroyed, then how will life go on? Religion makes one hopeful, and to those in pain, to the poor, it gives a message: “Don’t be afraid; life will be hopeful, it will be.” So poor and distressed mankind clings to religion.

Before converting to Buddhism on Mahaparinirvan diwas, Ambedkar tested every big and small, old and new religion available to Indians, probed all the texts and tenets of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, and indeed made himself an entire career as a scholar of comparative religions alongside his enormously busy public life as a mass leader, a politician, and an intellectual.

Social justice was Ambedkar’s mission. He fervently believed that mere equality on paper was not sufficient. What was needed was de facto equality, real equality of opportunity for the millions who had been denied it. He cautioned Indians how to eradicate the conditions of persisting inequality and emerging inequality within this constitutional framework.

“In his own words, “On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social economic life we will have inequality. In Politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man-one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to live this life of contradiction? How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy, which…”The second thing we are want is recognition of the principle of fraternity. What does fraternity mean? Fraternity means a sense of common brotherhood of Indians-if Indians being one people. It is the principle, which gives unity and solidarity to social life. It is difficult thing to achieve”

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Land for jobs scam case: Tejashwi Yadav moves Delhi High Court challenging CBI summons

The CBI has, till now, issued three notices to Tejashwi Yadav.

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Tejashwi Yadav

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday moved the Delhi Court to challenge the summons issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in the alleged land-for-jobs scam.

Tejashwi in a petition said notice can only be issued to a person, who is situated within the local jurisdiction of that police station or is within the adjoining police station.

The plea argued that even though he was a resident of Patna, he was being asked to appear for questioning in Delhi, which is in violation of Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The hearing in the matter is scheduled for today and will be heard before justice Dinesh Sharma.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, via a petition, requested time from the CBI to appear before it after the end of the current Bihar Assembly session. He stated that it was his duty to attend the meeting as the recently appointed Deputy Chief Minister.

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The CBI has, till now, issued three notices to the 33-year-old Yadav. The Bihar Deputy Chief Minister has sought the quashing of the summons.

Tejashwi Yadav requested that directions be given to the CBI so that they may have his advocate(s) present anytime he is questioned about the current FIR in accordance with the rules established by the Supreme Court of India.

Additionally, he requested that a directive be given, preferably in the form of mandamus, to revoke three summons issued by the CBI on February 28, 2023, March 4, 2023, and March 11, 2023, calling for his appearance before the CBI branch in New Delhi.

His family members, including parents and former Bihar Chief Ministers Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi, and his sister Misa Bharti are being investigated in the alleged land-for-jobs scam. The court granted them bail on Wednesday in this case.

The CBI asserts in its charge sheet that applicants who were hired as substitutes in the railways from 2004 to 2009 sold land to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family members, particularly wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti, at extremely discounted rates, sometimes a fourth or fifth of market rates

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Electric scooter explodes inside house in Karnataka’s Mandya district, fridge, TV damaged

Muthuraj said they tried to control the fire but their efforts went in vain. By then the fire had engulfed other household items.

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Electric scooter explodes

In yet another shocking incident, an electric scooter exploded while it was being charged inside a house in Karnataka’s Mandya district on Monday, damaging several home appliances. A family of five was present in the house when the mishap occurred.

According to the reports, the incident happened in Valagerehalli village of Maddur taluk when the owner of the vehicle, Muthuraj, who bought the e-scooter for Rs 85,000 about six months ago, parked the vehicle inside the house for charging at around 8:30 am today.

Minutes after plugging in the e-scooter, the battery exploded and the e-scooter was covered in flames. Due to the mishap, several home appliances including a TV, fridge, two-three mobile phones, dining table, and other items were burnt and the glasses shattered.

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All five members of the family were present at home at the time of the incident. Fortunately, they all had a narrow escape as they were not close to the e-scooter when the incident occurred.

Muthuraj said they tried to control the fire but their efforts went in vain. By then the fire had engulfed other household items.

This is not the first case when the e-scooter had caught fire. Earlier, an e-scooter exploded while it was being charged at home, killing a 7-year-old boy. As per reports, the deceased, identified as Shabbir, and his grandmother were sleeping in a hall at their home, where the electric scooter was plugged in for charging by his father.

While Shabbir’s grandmother suffered minor injuries, the boy suffered over 70 percent burns and was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

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Massive fire erupts in Mumbai’s Oshiwara furniture market, over 100 shops damaged

Normal life was affected after thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the godown of a furniture market engulfed the area.

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fire erupts in Mumbai

A massive fire broke out in the Oshiwara furniture market in Mumbai on Monday morning. A fire erupted in a furniture godown at the relief road in the city’s Jogeshwari west area, resulting in over 100 shops being gutted.

According to the reports, a fire was caused at a furniture godown at around 11 am. Ten fire engines and six jumbo tankers, along with an ambulance, ward-level officers and a police squad rushed to the spot to douse the fire. No casualties or injuries have been reported so far.

A video of the mishap is going viral on social media. Normal life was affected after thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the godown of a furniture market engulfed the area.

Read Also: Man kills father, chops up body over property dispute in UP’s Gorakhpur

Watch!

Reportedly, a total of three small lines of 12 motor pumps are in operation.

A firefighting operation is underway. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, however, the BMC Disaster Control team is investigating the matter.

Earlier, more than 100 shops were gutted in a massive fire in the wholesale market of the Bhagirath Palace area in Chandni Chowk. Five major buildings were also affected during the fire-fighting operations, out of which three collapsed.

The incident happened in the last week of November at around 9 pm. Soon after, 40 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire.

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