Anita Adgave (33) is dressed up in a white silk sari with a Prussian blue border. Her hair is piled into a neat bun with a white flower clipped to the left side of her head. The blue ‘disco’ beads around her neck sparkle in the afternoon sun. The group of women she is with are all dressed in a similar fashion. Blue coloured festoons line the streets all over Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, a vibrant slum pocket in Ghatkopar in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. A predominantly urban settlement it is an active hub for Dalit activism.
There is loud music – devotional songs - playing through the public address system. Tables with decorations are placed at street corners. Framed photographs of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar are placed on the tables. Lit candles and flowers occupy the place in front of the photographs. There are larger-than-life cutouts of Ambedkar holding the Constitution of India under an arm and the other raised in the air, dot the skyline. Flex banners with photographs of the local Dalit leaders alongside that of Ambedkar jostle for space in the already crowded skyline.
Raja Dhekne and his wife Sunita are dressed in their silky finery. Their house in Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar is decorated with saffron coloured marigold flowers. The Dheknes have invited a number of relatives for lunch. There will be a prayer meeting to pay their respects to the Dalit icon. They will then leave for Chaityabhoomi. The tiny kitchen is the scene of action with Sunita and her sister-in-law Rashmi sitting on the floor rolling out pooris. A huge aluminum vessel filled with semiya kheer is boiling on one of the three burners of the gas stove. Sunita’s daughter Shreya is frying pakodas on another burner. The men, with cold and sweetened kokum sharbat in their hands, are chatting in the living room. Once the food is ready it will be ladled on to a plate and offered before the photograph of their icon.
The settlement has come a long way from that July day when 10 Dalits were killed and 26 injured in police firing. On July 11, 1997, Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar was a place of Dalit killings after a team of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) opened fire with live ammunition. They were protesting the desecration of the Ambedkar statue which had been garlanded with slippers.
Though a majority of the residents are daily wagers, on December 6, they take the day off to pay tributes to their icon who elevated their status. The pain of that July day when the SRPF went on a rampage weeding out the protestors who had rushed into their houses, has worn off. The older residents of the colony reminiscence about Vilas Ghogre, a Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar resident who was a Dalit activist, poet and artist, who had died by suicide in 1997, to protest against the Dalit killings in the colony.
Those like Suvarna Gaikwad say that the residents of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar continue to be active voices in issues pertaining to Dalit identity. Though December 6 is the death anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, the community celebrates the life, times and achievements of their icon. Since December 6, is reserved for the traditional family visit to Chaityabhoomi in Dadar, central Mumbai, to pay tributes to Ambedkar, the residents have a slew of events planned for the day before. Tents are erected and food packets are handed out to the needy who live in the settlement. Those residents who can afford to make donations do so. Suvarna Mhaske is excited about the celebrations at the settlement. “People open out their hearts and donate. We collect a sizeable amount of money. We have many programmes like cooking, poetry and drawing competitions and food distribution. People also exchange food cooked in their homes with each other,” she said.
For the youth of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, it is a day to understand the relevance of a person who gave them an identity. “Babasaheb will always stay relevant to us. We are who we are today because of him. Babasaheb’s stature will grow with every generation,” said Rushabh Shetge, an IT professional.
