If we delve intoourhistory,we
canfind periodsof hopefor human-
ity,for example,the days of the
Buddhaandhis amazingimpacton
Emperor Asoka.Suchmomentsare
notalwaysrememberedor celeb-
ratedin ourhistorybooks. As I re-
searched into historical archives
whilemakingReason, I cameacross
another, morerecent, momentof po-
tentialhumanrenaissance. I say po-
tentialbecausethe momentwasbrief
andwassoonsidelined by thereal-
politikof theday.Today,thismo-
menthasalmostbeenforgotten.
Whattookme to the archives was
a speech by Comrade Govind
Pansare delivered at a memorial
meetingthatfollowedthe murderof
another rationalist, Dr Narendra
Dabholkar.Pansaresaidthesame
ideologythathadkilledMahatma
Gandhi killed Dabholkar too.He
thenaddeda little-rememberedfact.
Thereweresevenattemptsmadeby
Brahministson thelifeof Gandhi.
Thefirst wasa bombattackon his
motorcadein Puneas earlyas 1934.
Narayan Aptewasinvolvedin that
attempt. Aptewaspartof the attack
thatkilledGandhi in 1948.
In otherwords,Brahministshad
beentryingto killGandhi for well
overa decade.In 1948,Nathuram
Godse claimed that Gandhi was
killedfor favouringMuslims andbe-
causehe wasresponsiblefor Parti-
tionandthe creationof Pakistan.All
Hindutva leadersand even some
non-Hindutva playershave so often
repeatedthiscalumnythatit hasbe-
comethe received wisdom of the day.
But,as Pansarepointed out,in 1934
neitherPartition norPakistanhad
yet beenthoughtof. It wasclearlynot
because Gandhi wasseenas an ap-
peaserof Muslimsthathis deathwas
ordered.So what was it that so
angered the Brahministsapartfrom
thefactthatGandhihadalienated
themthe dayhe publiclybeganto do
manual scavenging, shatteringthe
purity/pollutionprinciplethatlies at
the heartof the castesystem?
In theRoundTableConference
of 1932,whentheBritishgranted
Ambedkar’sdemand for separate
electoratesforDalits (justas they
had conceded the same for
Muslims), Gandhiarguedthatthis
would divide India and begged
Ambedkarfor moretimeto convince
the uppercastesto giveup castedis-
crimination.Whenall elsefailed,
Gandhiwenton a life-threatening
hungerstrike.It is againthe received
wisdomthatin thetalksthatfol-
lowed between Gandhi and
Ambedkar,thelatter was“black-
mailed”by a fastingGandhi into
droppingtheideaof separateelect-
oratesin exchange for reservationfor
Dalits(thendescribed as theDe-
pressedClasses).ADIFFERENTSTORY
Thenewspapersof the daytell a dif-
ferentstory.Headlineshailing the
PoonaPactbetweenAmbedkarand
GandhiquoteAmbedkaras saying:
“I am gratefulto Mahatma:He came
to my rescue.” Indeed, BhagwanDas,
a closefollowerof Ambedkar, inde-
pendently quotes Ambedkar’s
speech:“I thinkin all thesenegoti-
ations,a largepartof the creditmust
be attributed to MahatmaGandhi
himself. I mustconfessthatI was
surprised, immensely surprised,
whenI methim,thattherewasso
muchin common betweenhimand
me.”Whatwascommon wasthat
bothwerefightersagainstuntouch-
ability.Whatwasuncommon was
thatonecamefromthe sufferercaste
andtheotherfromtheoppressor
caste.WhileAmbedkarfoughtfor
universal rights,Gandhiappealedto
the“goodness”in humanbeings to
convincethe uppercastesto giveup
theirunjustprivilege.Gandhifailed
miserably.Theupper castesdidnot
honourhis commitmentto eradicate
untouchability. Morethana decade
later, in 1945, an embittered
Ambedkarwrotethescathingbook
WhatGandhiandCongress have
doneto theUntouchables.
Whilethecritiquecertainlyap-
pliedto mostof the Congressparty,it
wasunfairto Gandhi. As earlyas
1934,Gandhi understood thatthe
promisehe hadmadeto Ambedkar,
askingfor moretimeto change the
uppercastes’heartsandminds, had
beenbroken. In despair, Gandhi
resignedfromtheCongress in 1934
to do constructivework,concentrat-ing in large measure to fighting
untouchability.
Rewind to the archives,however,
andwe see thatin 1932,many parts
of the countrywereindeedrespond-
ing to Gandhi’shungerstrikeandhis
callto enduntouchability. Temple
aftertemple threwopentheirdoors
to Dalits;wellswerethrownopenin
villagesthathaddeniedtheserights
in the past.Gandhi undertooka long
trainjourney acrossIndiatofight
untouchability,andthefilm footage
of thisshowsmasssupport.Laterin
life,Gandhi would advocateinter-
castemarriageas thebestwayto
destroythe castesystem. Perhaps,if
Ambedkar hadcontinued to view
Gandhias an allyrather thanas a
rival,theircombined mightcould
havewrought a realsocialrevolution
in Indiadespitethe entrenchedpres-
enceof casteandclass.
Butthepublicrenaissance that
began in 1932 soon faded from
memoryas otheraspectsof the larger
freedom movement took centre
stage.By the mid1940s, withGandhi
relegatedto thesidelines,India, led
by its elite, headed towards the
bloodbath of Partition.TheHindutvamovementusesicons
of thepastselectively.Forinstance,
it talksof Shivaji,V.D.Savarkar,M.S.
GolwalkarandK.B.Hedgewarbut
stayssilentaboutthegreatkingsof
theGuptadynastyoreventhetime
of mahajanpadas.Ontheotherhand,
it hasstartedpaintingMuslimkings
suchasAkbarandTipuSultanin
shadesof black.Howdoyouconnect
thedots?
Reasondevotesa whole chapter
to the multiplicityof history.Today,
Shivajiis seenas a championof
Hindusin MughalIndia.Comrade
GovindPansarebrought out univer-
salistaspectsaboutShivajiby point-
ingoutthattherewereMuslims in
Shivaji’sarmyandHindus on the op-
positeside,so it wasnevera religious
battlefield. He alsohighlighted Shiv-
aji as the leaderof a multi-castepeas-
ant army. The RSS [Rashtriya
SwayamsewakSangh]andthe entire
SanghParivarare benton distorting
historyto reflectthe gloryof the
Hinduupper castes.Theyhaveeven