Ambedkar’s nationalism wouldn’t have been acceptable to Mookerjee, his political progeny

Ambedkar disagreed with Nehru government’s stance on Article 370. But his notion of nationalism was at complete variance with the vision of Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

Kashmir figures in prominently in Ambedkar’s resignation speech as Union law minister in the interim. (Illustration CR Sasikumar)

Following the changes to Article 370 of the Constitution converting the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two Union Territories, J&K and Ladakh, several leaders of the BJP have attempted to construct a narrative that invokes B R Ambedkar to justify the measures. Some of them have even aligned his views and concerns on this issue with those of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, who led an agitation against the mandatory permit to visit J&K, demanding the full merger of the state with India. Ambedkar and Mookerjee are then projected as allies pitted against Jawaharlal Nehru, who by defending an autonomous constitutional status to J&K, undercut the determined efforts of Sardar Patel towards India’s national consolidation. To what extent does this narrative square with what we know about Ambedkar’s stance on this issue?