The Constitution of India which declared India as ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’ came into force on 26th January 1950 and every year this day is celebrated as Republic Day officially all over India. DSS also celebrates this day every year with a theme relevant to dalit women. As the rights enshrined in the Constitution are violated and denied to dalit women by the civil society and the State machinery, we thought it fit to celebrate this year’s Republic Day function with the theme of “Give Us Our Constitution”. A public meeting was conducted on 26th January with this theme with dalit intellectuals as speakers. Sri. Bojja Tarakam was the Chief Guest, while other speakers were: Sri. Satish Chandar, Senior Journalist; Prof. Sripathi Ramudu, UoH, Dr. Siddoji Rao; Anand Rao, Founder of AIDRF, Jhansi Geddam, National Convener of DSS; GDV Prakash, National Program Manager of DSS, Raja Mani and Baghya Laxmi, DSS State Co-ordinators, respectively, of A.P. and Telangana.
GDV Prakash: He called upon the dalit women to strugglethe dalit women to aim at for the implementation of the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. He further inspired the dalit
to aim at acquiring State power so that equality as visualized in the Constitution can be achieved. He said that the Constitution drafted by Dr.Ambedkar provides the direction for achieving equality and it is the duty of the youth and women to strive for its implementation by bringing pressure on the Governments.
Bojja Tarakam:Dr. Ambedkar has drafted Constitution incorporating provisions for the betterment and advancement of economically, socially and educationally backward sections
of the country, but even after 68 years of independence, these sections continue to suffer deprivation in all fronts. The Government has the responsibility to see that the Constitution is properly implemented to achieve the objectives of uplifting the downtrodden.He said that it is the Constitution that recognizes and elevates the value of a human being and lamented that the Constitutional values were flouted in the past 68 years. He said, that Ambedkar worked for the equality of women and all classes of persons. He drafted the Constitution to provide equality for everyone, but the Governments now are denying all rights to people and controlling all aspects of a human being. He called upon the dalit women to marchahead to achieve equality in all aspects in the footsteps of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, who repeatedly advocated the cause of women’s equality and said that no country can progress without the advancement of its women.
Jhansi Geddam:She commented that now the system is revolving around money and the administrative machinery is serving the interests of the moneyed people only. In a situation like this the Government and its machinery doesn’t show interest in the implementation of schemes meant for dalits. Hence the dalit women have to work hard and acquire the knowledge of all schemes and their rights and bring pressure on the Government machinery to implement the schemes and fight for the rights. She called upon the dalit women to spread awareness and move unitedly to achieve the constitutional rights and objectives and to strive for the preservation of democracy. If we keep passive the future of democracy will be in peril
.
Satish Chander:He pointed out by the capitalist classes utilized the constitution to their benefit and in various ways obstructed the rights of depressed classes and caste. It is necessary for all secular forces to unite and fight against religious and Manuvada forces. He said there is not much difference between the ideology of Gandhi and Godse. When Gandhi proposed village centered constitution, Ambedkar pointed out to Gandhi that the village of dalits and the village of dominant castes are different and that’s the dalits have no mother land. It is Ambedkar who wrote the biggest constitution that decided the fate of this country. There were conspiracies to disassociate such a constitution from Ambedkar.
He referred to the death of Rohit and said that dalits are conscious of their rights without
reading much of what was written by Ambedkar. If dalits become aware of Ambedkar writings like Rohit and HCU students dalits would be more advance and this is the reason why the ruling classes are afraid of students like Rohit. He pointed out the efforts of Dr Ambedkar for the freedom of women. The institution of marriage was a closed one into which if one enters she can’t come out. Ambedkar tried to make the system flexible by providing the right of divorce to the women. Ambedkar encouraged inter caste marriages towards annihilation of caste. Ambedkar strongly opposed Hindu religion.
Sripathi Ramudu: He said that caste oppression exists in the universities to the same extent as
as it exists in the universities to the same extent as it exists in the villages. Even if a dalit comes up to the university level with great difficulty still they will be excluded from all committees, executive councils and other bodies. Even if one gets a chance to be in those committees they will not be regarded with value. Only those few among the dalits who turn out to be slavish to the dominant castes will be utilize. Though the dalits have the capacity to challenge they don’t have the enough strength. He lamented that though the arrival to get salaries they are unable to lead life with self-respect. With regard to students also the scholarships are not distributed equitably and there is no place for law and justice in universities. Even class IV employees for the dominant castes don’t respect dalit professors. The students of HCU in Ambedkar Students Association (ASA)are seriously studying Ambedkar ideology and this is terrifying the administration and the ruling classes.
Siddoji: He called upon everyone to do anything with commitment and seriousness. He advised the youth to study and implement the ideology of Ambedkar. He pointed out that the parents should bring up the girl children on par with the boys.
Other speakers Ananda Rao and Suharlatha from AIDRF called upon everyone to see that the constitution is implemented properly in letter and spirit.
