Auckland Tamil Association Virtual Event: Sunday, December 19 at 4 pm
Venkat Raman
Auckland, December 15, 2021
The contributions of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, one of the greatest social reformers of Pre and Post-Independent India will come under focus at an online discussion conducted by the Auckland Tamil Association on Sunday, December 19, 2021 at 4 pm.
The programme, titled, ‘Dr Ambedkar’s Social Services,’ will also witness the launch of ‘Vanakkam Thamizha’ (Greetings Tamilian) by the Association.
Those interested may follow this link: http://surl.li/aynfu
Auckland Tamil Association President Vai Ravindran said that the 107-day lockdown this year and two similar restrictions last year have taught the members of the Association to stay connected through online platforms.
“As well as conducting Online Tamil classes, members of our Association have been regularly meeting on social media platforms such as ‘Zoom’ and ‘Teams.’ The forthcoming programme ‘Vanakkam Thamizha,’ has been conceived as an engagement between our members and others in our communities to discuss prominent people and their life and career. We are honoured to begin this engagement discussing Dr B R Ambedkar, one of the greatest sons of India who fought for the under-privileged and downtrodden fellow humans,” he said.
The Programme will be presented by Deepak Srinivasan a Member of the Association. He will be joined, among others, by Maninilavan, Vel Murugan, Nithya Suresh and Aswini Rajeev.
About Dr B R Ambedkar
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is regarded as one of the greatest sons of Indian soil. Respected and acknowledged as the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution,’ his 130th birthday was marked on April 14, 2021. His 65th Death Anniversary was marked on December 6, 2021 (He was born on April 14, 1891 and died on December 6, 1956 at a comparatively young age of 65, after an eight-year battle with diabetes, which worsened two years prior to his death, affecting his eyesight.
Described as ‘Punta Babasaheb’ Dr Ambedkar gave hope to millions of people belonging to the poorest and marginalised sections of society.
He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925. This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for the future Constitution of India.
By 1927, Ambedkar had decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements and marches to open up public drinking water resources. He also began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable community to draw water from the main water tank of the town. In a conference in late 1927, Ambedkar publicly condemned the classic Hindu text, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), for ideologically justifying caste discrimination and “untouchability”, and he ceremonially burned copies of the ancient text. On 25 December 1927, he led thousands of followers to burn copies of Manusmriti. Thus annually 25 December is celebrated as Manusmriti Dahan Din (Manusmriti Burning Day) by Ambedkarites and Dalits.
Speaking at the ‘Ambedkar Jayanti’ three years ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi associated himself with Dr Ambedkar, who championed Dalit rights and rose from the rank of a simple Party worker to the high posts (Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India and Minister of Justice Law and in the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru government in 1947).
Many of us, born before January 26, 1950 would consider this day as more significant than August 15, 1947 (the day on which India gained independence from the British Rule) because it was on this day that India was ‘complete’ as a Nation, establishing its own identity, with a National Flag, a Constitution and most important of all, steering its own destiny with self-determination.
For many of us, Republic Day is a solemn occasion.
The Pride of Constitution
I have always considered the Indian Constitution to be ‘the most complete’ and ‘all-embracing’ document, giving shape and character to the Indian Nation. Led by Dr Ambedkar, the Constitution is the Supreme Law of India. It has determined the framework demarcating fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and set out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens.
It is the longest written constitution in the world.
It imparts Constitutional Supremacy (not Parliamentary Supremacy, since it was created by a Constituent Assembly rather than Parliament) and was adopted by its people with a declaration in its preamble.
Parliament cannot override the constitution.
The Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on November 26, 1949 and became effective on January 26, 1950. It replaced the Government of India Act, 1935 as the country’s fundamental governing document, and the ’Dominion of India’ became the ‘Republic of India.’ Ensuring Constitutional Autochthony, the founding fathers repealed all the earlier Acts of the British Parliament.
The Indian Constitution has assigned India as a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic, guaranteeing its citizens justice, equality and liberty, endeavouring to promote fraternity.
The Original Constitution
The original 1950 constitution is preserved in a helium-filled case at the Parliament House in New Delhi. The words “Secular” and “Socialist” were added to the Preamble in 1976 during the state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. When she Parliament to be ‘above the Constitution,’ the Supreme Court of India heard arguments saying, ‘Parliament is a Creature of the Constitution; the Creature cannot destroy its Creator.’
The Pre-Constitution Period
Most of the Indian Subcontinent was under British rule until 1947.
From 1947 to 1950, the same legislation continued to be implemented as India was a Dominion of Britain. Freedom Fighter and Independent India’s First Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel and Constitutional Advisor and Political Reforms Commissioner Vappala Pangunni Menon (V P Menon) convinced the various Princely States to sign the Articles of Integration with India, and the British government continued to be responsible for the external security of the country.
The Constitution of India repealed the Indian Independence Act 1947 and the Government of India Act, 1935 when it became effective on January 26, 1950. And hence the significance of this Day.
Article 370, CAA and NRC
Year 2019 saw major changes to the Constitution of India- revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution that accorded a special status to Jammu & Kashmir, enforcement of the Citizenship Amendment Act providing a path to Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian minorities who had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014.
The latter led to riots in many parts of the world. Concerns have been expressed that these changes are a move to make India a ‘Hindu Nation’ (or ‘Hindutva’) deriding the letter and spirit of the Indian Constitution which accords a Secular status.
