Sharmila Joshi

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The
rain on Tuesday this week turned Shivaji Park in central Mumbai into an
ocean of mud, slippery and precarious to walk on. Sakhubai Khore fell and
injured her leg. But, still smiling through mostly missing teeth, she says, “I
am here to touch the feet of my deva [god].  I will come till I can, till my hands-legs
work, till then, till my eyes can see, till then I will keep coming here.”

Her
deva – as of almost everyone who has congregated at
this venue — is Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, and Sakhubai, a Nav Bauddha Dalit, around 70 years old, has come from Bhusawal in
Jalgaon district to offer her respects on his death anniversary on Wednesday, December
6.  

It’s
a day on which, every year, Shivaji Park – and the nearby Chaitya Bhoomi in
Dadar, a memorial space that marks where Dr. Ambedkar, chief architect of the
Indian Constitution, was cremated in 1956 – turn into a gigantic gathering of
tens of thousands of people from Dalit communities. They come to pay homage to B. R. Ambedkar, the towering figure who was one of the greatest reformers and
leaders of the 20th century and an unwavering voice for the oppressed
everywhere.  They come by bus, by train
or walking long distances to be present on this day. They come – with
reverence, gratitude and love – from within Mumbai, from across the villages
and towns of Maharashtra and from many others states too, some journeying for
days to reach here.

For
42 years, Lilabai Sain has been coming from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, some
1,100 kilometres away. There, she works as a malishwali, a masseuse; her
husband was a barber, she says, from the Nai caste. This time, she has come
with a group of 60 other women, by a slow halting train that took nearly three
days. “We reached at 2 a.m. and slept at Dadar station. We will sleep on this pavement
[outside Shivaji Park] tonight,” she says, cheerfully. “We come because of our
attachment to Babasabeb. He did good work for the country, what no one could
do, he did.”

Lilabai’s
group has stationed themselves on the pavement with their bags, chatting,
laughing, soaking in the sights and sounds. Although it is Dr. Ambedkar’s death
anniversary and a solemn occasion, there is a note of celebration among the
crowd, of celebrating a leader who spoke for them. At every few metres on the streets
that lead to Chaitya Bhoomi, Dalit activist groups are singing songs, some with
revolutionary lyrics, someone is giving a speech, others are peering at the
many items on sale displayed on sheets on the ground – statuettes of the Buddha
and Babasaheb, Jai Bhim calendars, trinkets, paintings and more. Blue Bahujan
flags, banners and posters are fluttering everywhere. Cops are also everywhere, managing the crowd, keeping watch, answering queries, or just resting after a long day at work.

Inside Shivaji Park too are dozens of tents with stalls, though most of them are not selling anything, but offering services — free meals, water, even insurance forms or just solidarity – many of the stalls are of workers’ unions, Dalit political bodies and youth activist groups. The most popular seem to be those that are giving out food items. At each, there are long queues of men, women and children, many with bare feet caked with mud. Among them is Baby Suretal, waiting to receive a packet of Krack Jack biscuits. She’s come from Shirad Shahapur village in Aundha Nagnath taluka of Hingoli district. ‘I came to see all this, the jatra [fair],” she says, pointing to the bustle around, “here I feel joy about Babasaheb Ambedkar’.Sakhubai too has been waiting near the ‘Krack Jack tent’. With her is a red plastic bag that contains just one saree and a pair of rubber chappals. Two bananas given by volunteers at one of the stalls have been placed in the bag too. She has absolutely no money on her. Sakhubai has a son at home, who works as an agricultural labourer. Her husband, also an agricultural labourer, died four months ago. “I have come alone,” she says. “I have been coming every year for long years. I feel good when I come here.”

Like
her, many of the people – from the poorest of communities – who have come to
Dadar-Shivaji Park on December 6, carry little or no money. Train travel on
this occasion is free, and they depend on the food given at the stalls, says
Shantabai Kamble, sitting with her family on the muddy ground, eating a meal of
dal and roti in dry-leaf bowls and silver-foil paper plates. Her elderly,
taciturn husband Manohar has bundled several roti into a cloth to last them
for dinner and the next day. They are a family of agricultural labourers, from Shambal
Pimpri village in Pusad taluka of Yavatmal district, who spent the night
on the road – usually, Shantabai says, they sleep inside the tents in Shivaji
Park, but this year the wet mud has ruled out that option. Ananda Waghmare is also an agricultural labourer; he has come by the Nandigram Express, travelling from Ambulga village in Nanded district with his 12-year-old daughter Neha. Ananda has a BA degree, but cannot find any other work. “We don’t own any land. So I work as a labourer in the fields, earning Rs. 100-150 a day,” he says. “I’ve come here for darshan of Babasaheb. It’s because of him that we [he is Nav Bauddha, formerly from the Mahar community] got so many facilities. He was a people’s Mahatma.”

The
few stalls with items for sale inside the park are not doing good business because
of the damp. M.M. Shaikh has set up two long tables with books, most of them on
social and caste issues. He has come from Beed town in Marathwada, where he
does the same work. "I come every year,” he says, "But today there’s hardly
been any sales. I will wind up soon and go back tonight.” 

Not
far from his stall is a tent offering free health services. It’s headed by Dr.
Ulhas Wagh, who says he brings a team of 12-15 doctors here every year to address the complaints of around 4,000 people in the course of the day –
headaches, skin rashes, stomach upsets. “The class that comes here is very
poor, from villages and slums with few healthcare facilities,” he says. Many
approach the tent complaining of just weakness from the days of travel and
hunger.Walking by, looking in with curiosity, are two young farmers from Kanha village in Jintur taluka of Parbhani district. Nitin, 28, and Rahul Dawande, 25, are brothers, also Nav Bauddha Dalits, who cultivate cotton, soyabean, tur and urad on three acres. They have managed to find accommodation for the night in a college through some volunteers. "We come here as shraddhanjali [homage],” Nitin says. “We feel if we keep coming, our children too will and this tradition will continue.”

By
the time it is dusk, the numbers of people walking towards Chaitya Bhoomi have vastly
increased, and it’s a nearly impenetrable surge. Unable to make his way through,
Sandeepan Kamble from Uti village in Ausa taluka of Latur district has decided to wait
it out, and is taking a nap under a tree. ‘This is my first time here,” says the
agricultural labourer. “My wife and children are with me too. I thought, this
year let me show them December 6.” 

Back
in the park, near Shaikh’s bookstall, a little girl is lost and running back
and forth, wailing loudly for her mother. A clutch of people gather around her,
gently coaxing her to talk; she speaks only Kannada, but manages to give a
mobile number. A young policeman comes along and takes over. The concern with
which her anxiety is handled is evident everywhere – not once in this huge
gathering is there a sense of chaos, any harassment of women, any acrimony. And
not so far from the bookstall, another little girl runs into a tent and stands
for a long while with head bowed, hands folded, before a garlanded portrait of
Dr. Ambedkar.

‘What no one could do, Ambedkar did’

‘ആർക്കും ചെയ്യാന്‍ കഴിയാതിരുന്നത് അംബേദ്കർ ചെയ്തു’

'ਦੂਸਰੇ ਜੋ ਨਾ ਕਰ ਸਕੇ, ਅੰਬੇਦਕਰ ਨੇ ਕਰ ਦਿਖਾਇਆ'

'ಇತರರಿಂದ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲದ್ದನ್ನು ಅಂಬೇಡ್ಕರ್‌ ಸಾಧಿಸಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದರು'

‘அம்பேத்கர்-செயற்கரிய செய்தவர்'

‘ଯାହା କେହି କରିପାରି ନାହାନ୍ତି, ଆମ୍ବେଦକର କରିଛନ୍ତି ’

‘जो काम कोई और न कर सका, अंबेडकर ने कर दिखाया’

’دوسرے جو نہیں کر سکے، امبیڈکر نے کر دکھایا‘

‘যা কেউ পারেনি, সেই অসাধ্য সাধন করেছিলেন আম্বেদকর’

'जे इतर कुणालाच जमलं नाही, ते बाबासाहेबांनी केलं'

Dadar

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‘What no one could do, Ambedkar did’

Babasaheb Ambedkar’s death anniversary on December 6 draws the poorest from rural India to Chaitya Bhoomi in Dadar, Mumbai, every year. It is an astonishing assembly of the exploited and oppressed, there to pay homage and seek self-respect

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