Ambedkar believed that a religion should treat every individual equal on the grounds of social relationship, cultural history; so that one can acquire desirable profits out of his/her labor.
In India, Hindu religion did not provide this equality for all individuals, especially for dalits, though the modern constitution granted it for all individuals. This is why Ambedkar respected western modernity for its commitment to individual liberty, human rights and scientific progress of human civilization. He found that these moral principles can act as common signifier between religion and politics. He also found that teachings of Buddha enshrine these moral principles. He visualized Buddhism not as a ritualistic religion but as social doctrines to establish morality in the society. Ambedkar then, decided to dedicate his entire life for propagation of Buddhism across India. Also, being the leader of vast population he established a new political outfit, The Republic Party of India, by establishing its principle in line with the teachings and social ideals of Buddhism. The motive behind this was to bring social change through the most non-violent, human and collective mode of cultural resistance. Further, he imagined dalit as a modern citizen endowed with basic civil rights, dignity with which s/he would be capable of entering the domain of politics. The post-Ambedkar dalit movements, in contrast, especially in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, have developed two alternative models for bringing about social transformation. These social and political alternatives, because of their separate existence from each other, failed in generalising the basic ethical notions of Ambedkar’s teaching, essential for any programme of social transformation. Dalit-Buddhist Movement in Maharashtra: Limitations Many social scientists have developed an elusive scholarship over the positive impact of Buddhist conversion movement on the dalits in Maharashtra. But this was not the complete truth. The impact of any movement should be measured on all the parameters: social, cultural, economic and political. In Maharashtra, the conversion in Buddhism movement has significantly changed the first three arenas but failed in the last, the political domain. The post-Ambedkar political leadership, especially in Maharashtra, failed in asserting themselves as the true heirs of Ambedkar’s socio-political legacy. RPI and Dalit Panthers Due to self-interested leadership amongst mahar community, they failed to perpetuate the main commitment and ideology behind the establishment of RPI. …show more content…
They failed to develop a sound synthesis and mass mobilization on economic and political problems faced by the deprived sections of the state. Due to this opportunistic and corrupt RPI leadership, in 1972 the Dalit Panthers emerged with a radical socio-political program and spiritedly occupied the imaginations and hopes of young, newly educated dalits. But very soon it got separated in two groups under the leadership of Namdeo Dhasal, who adopted the Marxist path and Raja Dhale, who adopted the Ambedkarian path. This made the post-Ambedkar Buddhist movement a non-issue in the public discourse, leading to the formation of small elite groups of dalits. Even the neighboring Buddhist countries has not helped much in creating Buddhist fraternity, except one faith based organisation (FBO), Trilokya Bouddha Mahasangh Sahayak Gana (TBMSG), which is effectively functioning among the Buddhists, which proposes a non-political, non-confrontationist but a “spiritual” model to propagate Buddhism. The dalit-Buddhist movement in Maharashtra has failed in generating a dynamic cultural assertion, which