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15/04/24 10:09 AM IST

Mahad Satyagraha

In News
  • The Mahad Satyagraha is considered to be the 'foundational event' of the Dalit movement.
  • This was the first time that the community collectively displayed its resolve to reject the caste system and assert their human rights.
Mahad Satyagrah
  • The events that led to the Mahad Satyagraha began to unfold in August 1923.
  • The Bombay Legislative Council passed a resolution moved by the social reformer Rao Bahadur S K Bole, which said “the Untouchable classes be allowed to use all public water sources, wells and dharmashalas which are built and maintained out of public funds or administered by bodies appointed by the Government or created by statute, as well as public schools, courts, offices and dispensaries.”
  • Albeit with reluctance, the Bombay government adopted the resolution in the following month, and issued directions for its implementation.
  • The situation on the ground, however, remained unchanged — upper caste Hindus would not allow the lower castes to access public water sources.
  • Ambedkar at the time was helping Dalits fight against the social evil of untouchability through the Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha, the institution that he had founded in 1924.
  • Ambedkar agreed to More’s proposition, and involved himself in overseeing the preparations for the conference, which was to take place in Mahad town in the Konkan (now in Maharashtra’s Raigad district) on March 19 and 20, 1927.
  • He conducted meetings with local Dalit leaders, stressed on creating “a wave of awakening” among the lower caste people of Konkan, and directed other organisers to conduct meetings to propagate news of the conference
  • The volunteers collected Rs 3 from each of the 40 villages and also collected rice and wheat to feed the participants at Mahad.
  • It took nearly two months of preparations to hold the Conference. Workers and leaders personally met depressed class people and explained to them the importance of the Conference.
Significance
  • The court injunction could dissuade neither the organisers nor the participants.
  • With the resolve to do or die, the villagers decided to come to the Conference.
  • From each village, the Satyagrahis, nearly 4,000 people gathered at Mahad.
  • On December 24, Ambedkar reached the spot, where the police informed him about the lawsuit, and asked him to postpone the Satyagraha.
  • The basic argument Babasaheb Ambedkar put forth before the conference was that their struggle was against the caste Hindus; the objective to demonstrate the strength of their unity and determination was fulfilled; and if they went for the Satyagraha defying the court injunction, it would be direct confrontation with the state, which they ill afforded, particularly when the District Magistrate had assured them of his sympathies.
  • The Mahad Satyagraha is considered to be the “foundational event” of the Dalit movement.
  • This was the first time that the community collectively displayed its resolve to reject the caste system and assert their human rights.
  • Although anti-caste protests had taken place before the Mahad Satyagraha, they were mostly localised and sporadic.
  • The difference between (the) Mahad (Satyagraha) and them mainly lay in the organisation and leadership; they lacked in elements of organisation and the charismatic leadership of Dr Ambedkar.
  • The Mahad Satyagraha was to become the blueprint for organising future movements against the caste system and its practices.
  • It marked an important point in Ambedkar’s political journey, catapulting him to the leadership of the downtrodden and oppressed classes in the country.
Source- Indian Express

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