AMBEDKAR’S RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY: ITS RELEVANCE IN UNDERSTANDING PROBLEMS OF CONVERSION IN INDIA

Abstract

Ambedkar has contributed enormously in building and gradually shaping the dalit perceptive and ideology. He emphasised the critical position that religion plays for both sub-ordination and suppression of dalits on one hand and also for their social empowerment on the other. Social empowerment in a way that according to him religious conversion is one of the important solution to the problem of caste and its associated discrimination. According to Ambedkar caste is deeply embedded in a dominant religious discourse which provides it a justifying platform to function. The religious sanctions make it difficult for any group to oppose any of its practices which are mostly discriminative to low caste groups. For Ambedkar by renouncing the dominant religion (Hinduism here) and by converting into a new religion which values ideals of freedom, equality and dignity to its followers, one can overcome the discrimination in their everyday lives.
Now many years after Ambedkar, religion has again gained dominance in both social and political discussions within academia. Religion gained limelight especially due to its increased politicisation and rising number of communalist incidents in independent India. Another area in which religion has reappeared is the domain of religious conversion. Conversion has reappeared not only as a form of new social movement but also as a mode of resistance by the group that converts. Religious conversion as form of resistance has led to the emergence of number of violent episodes in many parts of the country, which demands a critical examination of this phenomena. Religious conversion that involve both dalits and tribals has also been debated on the grounds of being against the secular and the very idea of India as a nation. Therefore in such circumstances, the present chapter tries to analyse whether Ambedkar’s ideas of religion, a liberal state and a just society can be used to analyse and re- work on the phenomena of religious conversion in India. All of this is important to understand the growing debates on India being a secular and religiously tolerance country in contemporary times.