Monday, March 21, 2011

Indian Abraham Lincoln Dr.Ambedkar, the Real Father of Nation of India!

Assertion By 
Dr.Vivek, Satyaguru.com 
Washington, DC, USA
 
Dear Mr. President,
Indian Lincoln Dr. Ambedkar—father of modern India and the Indian constitution, graduate of Columbia

University, Oxford-educated scholar, and the first law minister of India after its independence—was from a
Dalit community and so created constitutional rights for these poor people. This Indian constitution
guarantees equality, liberty, fraternity, and social justice; however, the subsequent state and federal
governments have utterly failed to protect Dalits by not following the constitutional codes.
 Every hour in India, two Dalits (untouchables of South Asia) are brutally assaulted.
 Every day, three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are
burned.
 37% of Dalits live below the poverty line in India.
 More than half (54%) of Dalit children are undernourished in India.
 85 per 1,000 children born in Dalit communities die before their first birthday.
 45% of Dalits do not know how to read or write in India.
 Dalit women bear double discrimination (gender and caste) in India.
 About one-third of Dalit households do not have basic facilities, such as toilets.
 90% of the villages do not have burial ground for the dead.
 There are more children forced into labor in India than throughout the whole world put together.
 Human trafficking and prostitution of poor people are rampant
(Source: Ministry of Welfare of the Government of India, Annual Report 1992–1993)
Crimes against Dalits increase yearly (135,771 cases were reported in 1999; 137,492 cases were
reported in 2000). More than 28,000 incidents of crime against scheduled caste/scheduled tribe (SC/ST)
Indians were committed in 2005, according to the National Crimes Records Bureau. There are numerous
massacres, and Dalit carnages take place under the nose of state governments and law enforcement
officials.
A recent study of untouchability in rural India that covered 565 villages in 11 states found the following:
 Public health workers refused to visit Dalit homes in 33% of villages.
 Dalits were prevented from entering the police station in 27.6% of villages.
 Dalit children had to sit separately while eating in 37.8% of government schools.
 Dalits did not get mail delivered to their homes in 23.5% of villages.
 Dalits were denied access to water sources in 48.4% of villages.
 Half of India’s Dalit children are undernourished and 21% are severely underweight.
 Literacy rates for Dalit women are as low as 37.8% in rural India.
Untouchability in schools has contributed to drop-out and illiteracy levels for Dalit children far beyond
those of the general population, with the “literacy gap” between Dalits and non-Dalits hardly changing
since India’s independence. Democracy does not mean anything to Dalits, as they are treated below
animals in Hindu society.
Dalit women, who alongside “tribal” women are the poorest of the poor in India, face double discrimination
on the basis of caste and gender in all spheres of life. They are subjected to gross violations of their
physical integrity, including sexual abuse by dominant castes, and are socially excluded and economically
exploited.The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has observed substantial under allocation and under
expenditure of the allocation for Dalit welfare and development under the government’s Special
Component Plan for Scheduled Castes. Dalits are subjected to bonded and forced labor and
discriminated against in a range of markets, including the labor, housing, consumer, capital, and credit
markets. They are paid lower wages and subjected to longer working hours and delayed wages. Verbal
and physical abuse takes place in broad daylight in public, at times in front of the police.
Dr. Ambedkar, who fought for civil rights struggle for abolishing caste and untouchability, made the new
India possible. Imagine an India that has no dalit/adivasi or minority participation in the administrative,
bureaucratic and knowledge structures. Imagine no dalit participation in the higher echelons of the nation
in this century.
As we know about Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Americans should also know about Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar. The Deekshabhoomi does not represent just Ambedkar’s idea of India but also the secular
Buddhist tradition of the nation.
The Bahujan communities (85%, Schedule Castes, Schedule tribes and other backward castes (OBC)
and minorities) would be happy if he also pays homage to Dr B R Ambedkar. This will make his visit a
historic event. As such, they are looking forward to your visit as he symbolizes the hope of freedom for
oppressed people across the world. As you emerged out of the historic struggles of the blacks in the US,
your visit could also inspire the movement for the abolition of caste, the Indian variety of slavery. Dr.
Ambedkar is the best historical link between the Indian oppressed communities and also the blacks of
America.
Dr. Ambedkar was not only the father of the constitution of India but also the liberator of all oppressed
people. The ruling classes do see the similarities between Dalit-Bahujan struggles and the black struggles
the masses can make out that historical linkage.
The religious minorities also look up to Dr. Ambedkar as a Buddhist. Your visit to the Chaityabhoomi will
also attract global attention to Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy, life and philosophy.
India as a nation has the Buddhist cultural & tradition as Buddha was born/grew up and built his spiritual
and social Sangha system in India. No other icon than Dr. Ambedkar can represent that cultural heritage
in the modern period.
On behalf of the more than 260 million Dalits (untouchables of South Asia) who live in India, I plead to the
President of the United States— the leader on human rights issues and pioneer in protecting suffering
humans -— to honor the Indian Lincoln Dr. Ambedkar and to call on the leaders of India including Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and ask them why pervasive human rights violations persist. As the President
of United States, I hope you feel the moral responsibility to protect the innocent and persecuted Dalits. I
am confident the U.S. government can do a lot to change the Indian administration and hope to see an
investigation into the gross violation of human rights. Dalits in India seek justice from the Indian
government under your tutelage.

Thank you.
Vivek Nirala
Washington DC