Dharavi’s Bhim celebrations

The parai drum is sounded and the rally begins. 

A crowd of roughly 60 people shout out: “Jai Jai Jai Jai Bhim, Jai Ambedkar Jai Bhim.” This is the Mahaparinirvan rally in Dharavi, Mumbai, held every year on December 6 for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary.

One by one, people light their candles and assemble in Dharavi’s Periyar chowk and suddenly this pocket of Asia’s largest slum in Mumbai city is alive with celebration. The Mahaparinirvan Diwas (anniversary of his passing) event has been organised by the Jai Bhim Foundation. The rally will go on for roughly two hours and will move from E.V. Ramaswamy (Periyar) Chowk to Ambedkar statue in the Ganeshan Kovil – a distance of roughly 1.5 kilometres.

“Today is more like a festival for us. The whole of Mumbai city celebrates April 14 (Ambedkar’s birthday) and December 6, to remember the great leader and his contributions for the people discriminated against by caste,” says Vennila Suresh Kumar, one of the key members of the foundation along with her husband, Suresh Kumar Raju. “We decorated the route with blue flags and went door-to-door to invite people to come and join us.”

She then goes to put a garland on the statue of Ambedkar – the only one in Dharavi, and later joins a group singing songs in Tamil, dedicated to the contributions of their leader.

Suresh works as a driver for a firm in north Mumbai. The 45-year-old works 14-hour shifts and earns a monthly salary of around Rs. 25,000. Vennila, 41, is a domestic worker who cooks and cleans at an apartment near Dharavi for six hours every day. She earns Rs. 15,000 a month for this work.

The couple have two sons Karthik, 17, and Aran, 12, who study at private institutions in the city. “We too participate in the celebrations at other parts of the city like Chaityabhoomi in Dadar. It is mostly the Parayan (also known as Parayar) community who follow Ambedkar and participate in the celebrations in Dharavi,” says Vennila.

Vennila and Suresh are originally from Tamil Nadu and belong to the Parayan community, listed as a Scheduled Caste in their home state. “My father came to Dharavi from Tirunelveli in 1965 searching for a job,” she says. The family migrated as they were not able to earn enough from agriculture due to the lack of irrigation and other issues.

The couple play a key role in organising Ambedkarites in and around where they live in Dharavi. Suresh says that in 2012, he along with Raja Kutty Raju, Nithyanand Palani, Anil Santini and other members, “started organising collective celebrations in Dharavi on 14 April and 6 December to spread awareness and knowledge about Ambedkar and his contributions.”

When he is not driving, Suresh volunteers for the Jai Bhim Foundation. He says there were 20 members in 2012 and now there are 150. “Majority of our members are also migrants. They work as drivers and in the railways but join us for the rallies,” he says.

Vennila studied till Class 9 when she dropped out to start earning. She says she learnt to speak English while working as a cook and in an office. In 2016, Venilla and some other women in the locality established a self-help group (SHG) called Magizhchi Magalir Peravai. “We women do not have many leisure activities to engage in here, so through this exclusive women’s collective, we conduct programs and go out to watch movies together.” During the lockdown, the SHG gave food, groceries, and small-scale financial support to people in Dharavi, supported by Vennila’s contacts.

‘Magizhchi’ is happiness in Tamil, she says smiling. “Women are always oppressed and feel depressed inside their houses. This is a space where we all feel happy talking to each other.”