Vol. 17, Part I · pages 206–210

181KALARAM TEMPLE................ENTRY MOVEMENT CONCENTRATE ENERGY AND RESOURCES ON POLITICS AND EDUCATION “In the history of India the year 1930 was a year of action and reaction. It brought forth a new line of thinking and a new angle of approach; new measures of represssion and new methods of rapprochement. Better still, it was the age of Satyagraha. It was in this year that Mahatma Gandhi as the generalissimo of the Congress inaugurated his great movement for the liberation of the country on March 12, 1930, and transformed the whole country into a theatre of passive resistance, vast crowds facing battalions of mounted police, rounds of firing and terms of jail life. Ten days before the Dandi March of Gandhi, Ambedkar, the father of Indian social unrest, launched his temple entry movement at Nasik. Preparations for this movement had been going on for over three months. Dr. Ambedkar was guiding, inspiring and organising it from Bombay through his letters and lieutenants. The Depressed Classes at Nasik had formed a Satyagraha Committee and through its Secretary, Bhaurao Gaikwad, informed the Trustees of the famous Kalaram Temple that they would launch Satyagraha, if the Trustees did not throw the temple open to the Untouchable Hindus before a particular date. Simultaneoulsy, a clarion call was issued to the Depressed Classes to come to Nasik to assert their right of worshipping Shree Rama in the said temple. In response to this call of the Satyagraha Committee, about 15,000 volunteers and representatives assembled in a specially erected pandal in the Depressed Classes locality at Nasik. Notable among those present were Deorao Naik. Rajbhoj, Pradhan, Shivtarkar, Patitpavandas and B.G. Kher. At last the day of action dawned. It was Sunday, March 2, 1930. In the morning at ten, a Conference was held under the Presidentship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in the pandal to consider the situation and adopt ways and means for launching the Satyagraha.” 1 “Dr. Ambedkar put forward a thought-provoking speech about the entry of Kalaram Temple. He said, today, we are about to 1: Keer P. 136.

182 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES enter the Temple. But the entry in the Temple would not solve the whole problem. Our problem is comprehensive. It is political, social, religious, economic, educational etc. The issue of Kalaram Temple entry is a appeal to the Hindu mind. The high caste Hindus deprived us from the far ages. Whether the same Hindus are willing to grant our humanitarian rights will be the question raised from this Temple entry Satyagraha. Whether the Hindu mind is willing to accept us as human beings, this is the question to be tested through this Satyagraha. The high caste Hindus looked down upon us and treated us even worse than cats and dogs. We wish to know whether those very Hindus would give us the status of man or not. This Satyagraha will provide answer to this question. This Satyagraha is one of the efforts for bringing about a change of heart among the high Caste Hindus. Hence the success of this effort depends on the Hindu mind-set. Our real problem is not going to be solved by the entry into the Ram Temple. It will not bring about any radical change in our life. But this is a test to judge the high caste Hindu mind. Whether the Hindu mind is willing to accept the elevated aspirations of the new era that “man must be treated as man ; he must be given humanitarian rights ; human dignity should be established “is going to be tested. In order to achieve this goal, we have launched this Satyagraha. The main question is whether the high caste Hindus are going to consider these aspects and act accordingly. We know that in this temple resides God made of stone. By having a mere glance at him or by worshiping him, our problem will not be solved completely. Millions of people might have visited this temple and have had a glance at the god uptill now. But who would say that their basic problem was solved by this act? We know this. But our Satyagraha today is an effort to bring about a change of heart among the Hindus. With this principled position we are launching this Satyagraha.” 1 1: Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkaranchi Patre (Marathi); Shankarrao Kharat, Pp. 46, 47. English Translation by Editors.

183KALARAM TEMPLE................ENTRY MOVEMENT “At noon the Conference adjourned and again met at half past one. At three in the afternoon, the congregation divided itself into batches of four extending itself over a mile-long procession. It was the biggest procession in the history of Nasik. At the head played a band after the military style redolent of the association of many of the Depressed Class members with military life. Then followed a batch of scouts. Behind them walked about 500 women Satyagrahis showing a revolutionary change in their outlook; and they were followed by a multitude of processionists enthused with an exalted spirit, but walking with a full sense of discipline, order and determination. As soon as the procession came up to the eastern gate of the temple, the District Magistrate, the Police Superintendent and the City Magistrate moved towards the gate of the temple. As all the gates of the temple were closed, the processionists proceeded to the Godawari Ghat. There the procession transformed itself into a meeting. At eleven O’clock that night the leaders again discussed the issue in all its aspects and decided to launch a nonviolent struggle before the gates of the temple. This historic struggle thus commenced on the morning of March 3,1930. The first batch of 125 men and 25 women was posted at the four gates of the temple, and over 8,000 enlisted Satyagrahis were awaiting their turn. But the gates of the temple were closed and barricaded. While the Satyagrahis squatted at the entrance, chanting hymns and singing bhajans, crowds of Untouchables numbering over 3,000 gathered in their vicinity; but the police were on the alert and kept them on the move. A strong force of armed police was posted at each gate. Two First Class Magistrates were on duty at the place since early morning to meet any emergency. Reynalds, the Police Superintendent, had shifted his office to a tent pitched right in front of the temple. The touchables, too, were precluded from entering the temple as the gates remained closed, and their leaders were deliberating behind closed doors to find a way out of the impasse. A difficult situation would have developed had the gates been opened to the Caste Hindus.

184 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES At night, a public meeting of the citizens of Nasik was held under the Presidentship of Dr. Kurtakoti, the Shankaracharya, but it ended in pandemonium due to the predominance of the orthodox people. The Sanatanists by now had got panicky and rowdy. They pelted the meeting with stones and shoes. It was felt that even Rama himself would be thrown aside, if he were to fell the orthodox Hindus to throw open the temple to the Untouchables ! The Satyagraha struggle continued for about a month. April 9 dawned. It was the day of the chariot procession of the image of Rama. A compromise was patched up between the Caste Hindus and the Untouchables. It was decided that strong men from both sides should draw the chariot. Thousands of people assembled at noon near the main gate of the temple to see the sight. Dr. Ambedkar, with his choice gymnasts, stood near the gate. But before they could touch the chariot, they were engaged in broils by the riotous element of the Caste Hindus, and the Caste Hindus ran away with the chariot, as secretaly planned, through a street, narrow, thorny and inconvenient on either side, and the mouth of which was guarded by armed police. A daring Bhandari youth by name Kadrekar broke the cordon of the armed police who were awaiting orders to fire, and in a movement crowds of Untouchables pursued the chariot amidst showers of stones and captured it. Dangerously wounded, Kadrekar fell down in a pool of blood. Dr. Ambedkar was protected by his men and as the umbrellas that protected his person were shattered, he too, received minor injuries. There was free fighting between groups of Untouchables and Caste Hindus all over the city. This Satyagraha provoked considerable ill-feeling in the minds of the orthodox Hindus throughout the District. As a result of this tension children of the Untouchables were thrown out schools, roads were closed to them, and necessaries of life were denied to them in the market because they claimed equal rights with all other Hindus. Untouchables in several villages were maltreated. Despite these sufferings, the struggle at Nasik was earned on. Attempts were being made to persuade both the parties to reach a compromise. Dr. Moonje and Dr. Kurtakoti the Shankaracharya,

185KALARAM TEMPLE................ENTRY MOVEMENT were trying to reach a settlement. The great multi-millionaire Birla also saw Dr. Ambedkar in Bombay in the middle of April 1930. But so firm was the resolve of the Depressed Classes that orthodox Hindus had to keep the famous temple closed for a whole year and the agitation continued.” 1 Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had written two letters to His Excellencey Governor of Bombay regarding the problems created by the bureaucracy during Kala Ram Temple entry Satyagrah at Nasik. The letters are as follows : Editors. “BHIMRAO R. AMBEDKAR, Damodar Hall Parel, M.A., Ph. D., D. Sc, Bombay-12. Bar-at-law, 24th March 1930. Member, Legislative Council, Bombay. May it please your Excellency, I am extremely obliged to Your Excellency for the letter of the 13th of March 1930 in reply to my telegram giving an assurance that Government proposed to act impartially in the dispute between the touchables and the Untouchables, which is centered in the Satyagraha at the Kala Ram Temple at Nasik. I have honour to bring to Your Excellency’s notice at recent development in the situation which seems to be fought with the greatest danger. On the day on which the Satyagraha was started, we purposely ommitted to blocade the entrance to the house of the Pujari of the temple assuming that it would not be used by the public for the purpose of going into the temple and obtain Dev Darashan. But of late this entrance has become a public passage and the public in Nasik is using it to go into the temple. If this is allowed, it will entirely frustrate the principal object of the Satyagraha. To prevent this, the District Superintendent of Police and the District Magistrate were approached by the Satyagraha Committee to discuss the question and to communicate to them the intention of the Satyagraha Committee to blocade that private entrance to the general public and permit only the members of family of the Pujari. 1: Keer, Pp. 137, 138.