Mooknayak @100
Mooknayak: the paper that kick-started politics of assertion
Dr.
Mrinal Chatterjee
Mooknayak (The Leader of the Voiceless)
was a Marathi fortnightly newspaper published
from Bombay on alternate Saturdays that Babasaheb Ambedkar started in 1920. He was 29 then. It was
his first journalistic venture. The
title of the newspaper was probably inspired by the quatrain written by 17th
century Marathi Bhakti poet, Tukaram(1608-1650). This particular quatrain also
found place beneath the heading of the paper.
Why should I feel shy?
I have laid aside hesitation and opened my mouth.
Here, on earth, no notice is taken of a dumb creature;
No real good can be secured by over-modesty.
Ambedkar’s aim in
launching this journal was to put forward his own point of view on matters such
as the evils of untouchability, the socio-economic status of ‘untouchables’,
their position in the Hindu society, would swaraj bring about any change in
their status, etc. These issues and questions had hitherto not found due
representation in mainstream Hindi or Marathi journals. Ambedkar tried to bring
forth these issues to the limelight. The tone was set from the very first
editorial that he wrote in the opening issue published on 31 January 2020:
“The Hindu society is like a tower of many stories. It has neither
a ladder nor a door to go out. And therefore there is no way to interchange
stories. Those who are born on a particular storey die in that storey. Even if
the lowest storey person is worthy deserving to be promoted to the upper storey
he cannot move to that level. And if the person in the upper storey is most
unworthy and undeserving still he cannot be pushed down” …….
In a way Mooknayak provided a forum to the
marginalized classes of people in the society and laid the foundations of an
assertive Dalit politics in India.
Interestingly,
Ambedkar was never officially associated with the operations of Mooknayak,
as he was in government
service then. He worked as it’s ‘behind the
scene’ de facto editor for at least six months, before leaving
India to continue with his doctoral studies at the London School of Economics.
He is
believed to have edited 12 issues in the span of six months. The first official
editor of the Mooknayak, was Pandhurang Nandram Bhatkar. Bhatkar,
an employee of the Bombay Port Trust was one of the known activists working in
the Bombay based Dalit-non Brahmin activist circles.
Before his
stint as an editor, Bhatkar, a graduate from Fergusson College Pune, came into
limelight for his marriage to a Brahmin woman in Bombay. He, however, held a
largely ceremonial position at the paper. In July 1920, he was replaced by
Dnyandev Gholap, who also had experience of working for Mooknayak as
a manager and accountant.
Gholap had
assisted Ambedkar in 1919 to prepare a memorandum of demands to be submitted to
the colonial government and played a vital role as its editor. He attained a
unique reputation of becoming the first nominated member from the untouchable
community to find place in the Bombay Legislative Council.
But due to
the complaints of mismanagement of the periodical, ties between Gholap and
Ambedkar got bitter in the later years. Subsequently, Ambedkar had to distance
himself from the activities of Mooknayak from 1923 onwards.
Soon, after a public spat with Ambedkar, Gholap left Bombay for his native
village in Satara. It was here he restarted Mooknayak with
a new title Abhinav Mooknayak. This periodical didn’t have a long
life, mostly due to lack of finances and subscriptions. In the later years,
Gholap joined the Congress.
The price
of a single copy of the Mooknayak was 2.5 ānā, and the
annual subscription was Rs 2.50. The circulation of the newspaper was limited
to 700 subscribers in July 1920, with a marginal rise in later years. By July
1922, the circulation had risen to 1,000 subscribers.
But the
paper faced serious financial and management problems since its inception. In
the times of financial crisis, Ambedkar’s close Parsi friend Naval Bhathena
provided vital funds. Bhathena, an entrepreneur himself, was a classmate of
Ambedkar at Columbia University.
The
friendship between Ambedkar and Bhathena was particularly interesting as
despite being a Gandhi admirer and Congress supporter, Bhathena and Ambedkar
remained lifelong friends. In Ambedkar’s absence, it was Bhathena who
financially bailed out Mooknayak on several occasions. He also
helped Mooknayak reach out to big businessmen like Godrej for
advertisements.
The
paper faced several hurdles and prejudices even before it was published.
However, it was Ambedkar’s grit and determination and help from some persons
that saw the paper through and kept it going. Chatrapati Shahuji
Maharaj, the ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Kolhapur
donated Rs 2500 for Mooknayak.
Though
the paper closed down within three years primarily becauyse of mismanagement
and internal quibbling- it left a lasting legacy. In fact as Prabodhan Pol
writes in thewire.in “Mooknayak’s establishment in 1920 reflected the conspicuous shift in
the socio-political discourse on caste and untouchability in India. Ambedkar’s
newspapers, beginning with Mooknayak, a Marathi fortnightly, helped
to inaugurate new politics of assertion that challenged the dominant social
diseases.”
Mooknayak
went through many ups and downs. It remained in circulation just for three
years. Despite its short life, Mooknayak laid
the foundations of an assertive and organised Dalit politics. It announced the
arrival of a newer generation of anti-caste politics that broke the confines of
region, language and political boundaries and coincided with the larger
developments on the nationalist scene.
Ambedkar started three more newspapers after Mooknayak. In
April 1927, he bought a printing press through donations. He named it ‘Bharat
Bhushan Printing Press’ and launched a fortnightly newspaper Bahishkrit Bharat (Ostracized India). But
Bahishkrit Bharat, too, faced financial difficulties and ultimately shut down
in November 1929. In 1930, Ambedkar started another fortnightly titled Janta (Masses), and later in 1954, he
relaunched it as Prabuddha Bharat
(Awakened India) a weekly to coincide with his drive to mass conversion to
Buddhism with his followers. All of its issues carried the line “Founded by Dr
Ambedkar” below the masthead. Babasaheb ran this paper till his death in 1956. His son Yashwant tried to keep the
newspaper afloat till 1960, but eventually, it shut down. Attempts were again
made to revive the newspaper in the 1980s and 1990, but each time it could not
be sustained beyond a few months. It was again revived as a fortnightly in end
2017.
Ambedkar had considered the press as a
key tool in his quest to achieve social justice. With his over four-decade-long
journey as a social reformer and a political thinker, he had started several
newspapers. These newspapers propagated his revolutionary ideas and focussed on
the issues faced by the oppressed and were run at a time when the nationalist
movement was rife. His writings remained highly critical of both the prevalent
caste system and the nationalist movement which, he felt, remained blind
towards the issues of the servile classes – the shudras and
the untouchables.
However, the
lessons from the Mooknayak experiment not only changed
Ambedkar’s perspective towards conducting newspapers but it was an instructive
exercise for many forthcoming generations of Ambedkarite activists.
Mooknayak carried reports and opinions particularly dealing
with western India. However, there were also insightful responses to
pan-India concerns. One of the important components of Ambedkar’s newspapers
(including Mooknayak) were the regular publication of the open
letters which were sent by common Dalits, demanding immediate attention to
their particular cases of caste oppression and violence.
The advent
of the Mooknayak was symptomatic of the rise of Dalits in the
public sphere. Printed pamphlets, leaflets and periodicals became easiest
vehicles to generate public activism amongst the masses.
The
rhetoric of nationalism, according to Mooknayak, would not work in
the long-term, unless social-religious discriminations and the institution of
caste were completely annihilated.
These are
concepts which resonate particularly today.
***
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