Bhagwan Das, Close Associate of B.R. Ambedkar
Dalit politics was very young, divided and orphaned. The Republican Party of India was Ambedkar’s final political creation, but without him to lead it, people were so divided that within four years it had split into two separate factions. This proved disastrous and the RPI won no seats in the 1962 elections.
Doctor is in: Dalit rally in Bombay
This was partly because they were ignorant of Dalit issues and how people like Ambedkar and Gandhi had addressed them. Nobody had compiled Ambedkar’s speeches and writings and that became my main project. This helped Ambedkar’s legacy survive, spreading from Maharashtra to UP, Punjab and the South. This is the crop that Kanshi Ram and Mayawati harvested.
