Call to Redeem the
History and Glory of Ad-dharam Mandal
The Ad-dharam Mandal which later became a Movement to
establish a separate and distinct identity of socially depressed and oppressed
segments of the society and their empowerment was established in 1926 by
Gadarite Baba, Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia and other community activists and
representatives of the so called dalit communities of the time. Some of the prominent
among them were;
Sant Sarwan Dass of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Master Gurbanta
Singh, Seth Sunder Dass and Seth Kishan Dass (both my fellow BootanMandians)
among others. Ad-dharam Mandal not only did a good job in bringing about
awakening but also in mobilizing the socially marginalized sections of the
society in the 1920s and 1930s. It supported Babasaheb Ambedkar to represent
the dalit communities at the Round Table Conferences in London which resulted
in the Communal Award of PM Ramsey MacDonald providing Separate Electorates to
dalits. Ad-dharam Mandal succeeded in listing dalits as Ad-dharmis in the
Census of 1931. It sent successfully many MLAs to the Punjab Legislative
Assembly both in 1937 and 1945 even before independence and partition of India
in 1947. To cut the story short, I can safely register that Ad-daram Mandal
became a political and socio-cultural outfit of dalits to reckon with not only
before independence but even in the early years of independent India. These
details are duly registered in the contemporary political and social history of
India and needs no further elaboration. Since the thrust and focus of this
piece is an important issue pertaining to Ad-dharam Mandal, I come to the issue
straight away.
After its establishment in 1926, Ad-dharam opened its first
office as Headquarters of the Mandal at a site in Kishanpura Mohalla near the
Jalandhar Railway station sometime in 1926-27. First it was located in a rented
building at a monthly rent of Rs.20/- and later 62 marla of land was purchased
with facilitation of the then Thanedar (Police Officer) of the area, Pandit Ram
Chand with the token money of Rs.200/- which was later finalized for final
purchase at the total cost
of Rs.3500/-. The registry of the land was got done
in the name of “Shri Guru Ravidass Asthan Ad-dharam Mandal Jalandhar”. Money
for the purpose was donated by prominent and well to do people of the community
and also by the general public both in India and abroad. Subsequently, the
buildings were constructed with the financial sources of the Ad-dharam Mandal
and the public donations including help of the then Municipal Member of the
area both by way of materials and cash. In due course of time, the site at
Kishanpura became a full pledged functional and vibrant place for the
socio—political activities and agenda of the Ad-dharam Mandal and the dalit
communities. The first newspaper of Ad-dharam Mandal called ‘Adi Danka’ was
launched and published from this historic place. As such Guru Ravidass Asthan
became hub of community activities and empowerment of the oppressed and
depressed sections of the society. All these details are available in the book
(pages 21-26) “Babu Mangu Ram (Jiwan, Sangarsh Te Ad-dharam Dastabej) written
by Megh Raj M.A. son of Babu Mangu Ram who lives in the UK. The book was
published by Arshi Publishers of Chandani Chowk in Delhi in 2014 with Balbir
Madhopuri of New Delhi as its publisher/editor.
In the run up to create and establish educational facilities
for the dalit communities and the society at large, a school and training
center for vocational courses was started at the site. In the wake of
independence of India in 1947, with the help and stewardship of
Master Gurbanta
Singh who was a Congress leader of standing ‘The Punjab Ravidass Educational
Society Jalandhar city’ was registered on September 24, 1952 to run and manage
the school at the site at Kishanpura. The rest is history; the glories history
of Ad-dharam Mandal.
|
Master Gurbanta Singh |
Now let me come to the real issue. Guru Ravidass School still
exists at the site, I think in name only to be truthful. The Management and
even the Government authorities, it seems, are not interested to make the
school a functional and viable institution, unfortunately. The buildings have
dilapidated. The school has no financial sources. The teaching faculty and number
of students are dwindling slowly. Obviously, students are not interested in
this non-functional entity. Frankly speaking, I don’t have more details to
explain and elaborate the matter any further. But as a community activist and
an Ad-dharmi myself, I have some suggestions and thoughts to redeem the history
and glory of this historic site at Kishanpura which belongs to the community
and the society at large.
·
Guru
Ravidass Asthan of Ad-dharam Mandal should either be acquired by the Punjab or
Central Government and declared it as ‘Heritage Site’ in the memory of Gadrite
Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia and Ad-dharam Mandal to instill a sense of
empowerment among the dalit communities. It will be an appreciable gesture to
integrate the dalit communities with the main stream of the society.
·
Alternatively,
the site should be handed over to the obvious heirs of Ad-dharam Mandal – All
India Ad-dharam Mission currently under the stewardship of Sant Satwinder Hira
of Khuralgarh Sahib (Charan
|
Sant Satwinder Hira |
Choh Ganga) in Garhshankar (Hoshiarpur) in Punjab
after discussing and settling the modalities of turning the site into a
Heritage Property.
·
Government/All
India Ad-dharam Mission should redeem the historical importance of the site and
turn the existing Guru Ravidass Higher Secondary School into a model
‘Institution of Excellence’ for the benefit of the society at large and the
weaker sections in particular.
These are some of the off the cuff
suggestions at this stage. More details may be added, as required, once the
project is considered. Now what is needed to be done, to my mind, in this
regard:-
Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may consider and
undertake to dig, ascertain and fix the legal title of the ownership of the
site at Kishanpura in Jalandhar in consultation with the current Management of
The Punjab Ravidass Educational Society.
Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may
approach the Government accordingly to acquire the site and get it declared a;
Heritage Site’ as explained above. Alternatively, as suggested, All India
Ad-dharam Mission may request the Government to get the site transferred to
them for the purpose as stated above.
Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may
consider floating a separate Trust to manage and run the project.
Ø All leaders of the community
particularly the intellectuals should consider and offer their suggestions to
convert the Heritage Site into a grand memorial and an institution of
excellence and the ways and means to do so. It will be a befitting tribute only
to Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia but also our forefathers who worked and struggled
to ameliorate the social sufferings of the community as front runners.
I am confident all the stake holders in this would take it
seriously and do their best to retain, own and run the ‘community heritage’ for
the larger interest of the community. Let us come out of the “Paihra Diyange
Thok Ke’ phase and do something concrete to redeem the glorious history of the
community’s struggle to find a due place in the society.
तू पहले बात; फिर बात का अंदाज़ पैदा कर
फिर दुनिया में तुझे ; कोई नज़र अंदाज़ कर नहीं सकता