Fact Check: Did Ambedkar call it a matter of shame for women to enter politics? know the truth

New Delhi: Politics is hot on Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar. There is a competition among political parties to prove themselves as devotees of Baba Saheb and others as enemies. Both the national parties of the country – BJP and Congress – are also at the center of the politics of claim on Baba Saheb. In an attempt to expose Ambedkar’s opposition to Ambedkar, Amit Shah, a senior leader of the ruling BJP and Home Minister, said something in the Rajya Sabha that the Congress termed it as an insult to Baba Saheb. This tu-tu, main-main, which started from the Parliament, is continuing from the streets to social media. Meanwhile, a claim has been made on social media whose investigation is very important. It has been claimed in an X-post that Baba Saheb had expressed strong objection to women coming into politics. We have investigated this claim in detail. Know the truth of Baba Saheb’s alleged statement towards women.

What is the claim?

X user Komal Bhardwaj has expressed anger over the incident of burning Manu Smriti. Expressing her views, she posts a page of statement quoting three Baba Sahebs. From the things written in this page, it seems that Baba Saheb was strongly opposed to women coming into politics. he/she wanted women to stay at home and take care of children. Actually, he/she has posted this in support of TV anchor Meenakshi Joshi who is being targeted by a section of people for dancing.

What is the truth?

In the page containing Baba Saheb’s statement, it is written – Baba Saheb Ambedkar Sampoorna Vangmaya, Volume 40, Page 467. We started the investigation from here. We have uploaded the complete Vangmaya of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, published in both Hindi and English languages, on Google Pinpoint. We have taken all this from the website of the Ministry of External Affairs. If you also ‘Amebdkar all works’ google search If you do this, the website of the ministry opens.

This website But Baba Saheb’s Vangmaya in both the languages ​​are available in PDF format. Going down, we find the 40th section in Hindi language. On clicking here the page opens. Here we got information about the alleged statement of Baba Saheb from pages 463 to 470.

On page 463, the title ‘If devotion in politics replaces worship of Vibhuti, then there is a danger of creation of dictatorship’ is published. Below it is written, ‘On October 15, 1956, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was honored by Nagpur Corporation. All the mayors and eminent citizens of the city were present in this honor ceremony. A special stage was arranged for the honour. The ceremony took place between 6 to 8 pm. The meeting pandal was packed. A large crowd had gathered outside on both sides of the road.

What did Ambedkar say on October 15, 1956?

First in this program, Nagpur Corporation Mayor Ayu. Ra. Pa. Samarth read out the printed citation. After reading the citation, the Mayor honored Babasaheb by giving him/her a garland. Then Baba Saheb presented his/her views. Baba Saheb addresses the gathering with these words, ‘I do not have any special relation with the Mayor of Nagpur Corporation, the corporators and the citizens present, the city of Nagpur and this province. I don’t even have any political affiliation. My only connection with this province is that some of my people live here. I have not said anything special for this province. I was not a member of the municipality. Therefore, I cannot lecture you about municipal functioning.

When Baba Saheb said this, laughter echoed in the gathering. he/she continues, ‘I am thinking about what topic I should say a few words on on this occasion. Thinking about it, it seems to me that there is a lot of similarity between the functioning of the municipality and the functioning of the country; Therefore, in this context I would like to say a few words to you about the functioning of the country. In his/her speech, Baba Saheb first criticizes Congress for defying democratic norms. he/she deeply criticizes Congress for the fact that the party has made a large number of women its parliamentary candidates. Keep in mind that Lok Sabha elections were held in the country for the second time in 1957 and Baba Saheb is giving this speech on October 15, 1956.

Know what Baba Saheb said about women coming into politics

Ambedkar expresses deep anger over women coming into politics and says that now all that is left for the women of Maharashtra is to untie the knot of the saree. he/she says, ‘At present the number of women is being increased in Congress politics. Women are unable to understand anything about this Congress politics. There is no such shameful thing as women leaving their religion and going into politics. The women of Maharashtra now only open ‘Kasota’ (the end of the nine-yard saree pushed back while wearing the saree in the Maharashtrian style. Its opening, in a way, opens the saree. Meaning of shame – to give up shame or decorum) Only this is left.’

They ask what will men do if women do politics? Ambedkar says, ‘Congress has decided to elect 292 women to the Lok Sabha. What will men do if women go to the assembly? When women return home after spending the whole day in the Lok Sabha with files pressed against them, will their husbands keep food on the table? These women will go to Parliament-Assembly throughout the day and after returning home in the evening, they will ask their husbands, ‘Hey, do you hear, I have come from Parliament.’ Has all the household work been done or not?’

Is that claim about wiping children’s nose true?

Baba Saheb, worrying about the upbringing of children, says, ‘These women will go to Parliament and who will take care of their children? a child
One is crying, another has a runny nose, the third has gone somewhere – who will take care of these children? It’s all turning upside down. This is an upside down world. Well, what do these women do after going to Parliament? I feel shy to say anything about this. I did not intend to tell about him/her, but now I will. Even at this statement of Baba Saheb, the gathering starts laughing.

This woman considers Nehru as her husband – Why did Baba Saheb say?

he/she further expresses surprise by referring to the woman’s letter as if the woman considered Jawaharlal Nehru as her husband. Ambedkar says, ‘his/her policy has completely ended. I have received some letters. The content of those letters is about the Prime Minister. The letter writer is a Maharashtrian woman, this is a matter of great shame. In the letter, while referring to Nehru, he/she has said that he/she will do this, he/she will do that etc. When I was in the cabinet, I used to receive letters from a woman from Baroda. In that she calls me ‘bhauji’ (brother-in-law or brother-in-law). Perhaps she considers Jawaharlal Nehru as her husband.

Ambedkar’s big sarcasm on Nehru

Ambedkar says that he/she burnt two-three such letters and kept one letter and gave it to Jawaharlal Nehru. he/she tells the gathering, ‘I have written two-three letters.
Burned. A letter has been kept. Seeing that Nehru was mingling with strange people at the party given to me by Nehru after my resignation, I drew his/her attention to myself by pulling the sleeve of his/her coat and showed him/her the letter I had with me. Then on the next page (page number 468) it is written – ‘Then he/she said, ‘Such useless letters come to me in thousands. Ignore them. Ask Malvankar. What kind of answer was this? The woman from Baroda is defaming your name, this is what I wanted to explain to her. But he/she said that thousands of such letters come. Can we call this awareness of one’s character? You have to think carefully about all these things. Baba Saheb asks, ‘If the women going to Parliament are misled in this way, then what is the purpose of Congress in allowing them to go there?’

It is written about the end of the program, ‘After all, the Chairman of the Standing Committee, Ayu. Chaudhary thanked. Expressing gratitude Ayu. Choudhary said, what and what kind of things go on behind the scenes in Congress politics, how Congress is moving towards dictatorship, we are convinced about this from the speech of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. To oppose this we all have to be aware. On behalf of the Corporation, I conclude this program to offer my thanks to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar by praying that he/she may enjoy a long life to work for the country.

Watch the 40th volume of Baba Saheb Ambeder’s Vangmaya published in Hindi here

conclusion

As mentioned in detail above, the claim made on social media about Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is true. Baba Saheb had strongly criticized Congress for bringing women into politics in a felicitation ceremony organized by Nagpur Municipal Corporation on October 15, 1956. In our investigation, Baba Saheb’s claim of having such views towards women has been found to be true.