Dear Editor,
In his autobiography, Baba Saheb Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar has said, “I have not been to fulfil my mission. I wanted to do more for the Scheduled Castes people and to see them as a governing class in my life. I could have succeeded but my own people have deceived me. Whatever I have been able to do, is being enjoyed by the educated people and they are worst fools. Now I want to divert my attention to the uneducated masses, but life seems short. The second worry to my mind is that I wanted that someone from the Scheduled Castes should come forward and take the responsibilities from me”. Inspired by these words of Baba Saheb, a twenty eight years old young man namely- Bhagat Amar Nath hailing from Batote of district Doda, rose to eminence as a leader of the Scheduled Castes of Jammu and Kashmir. As such, he worked for their uplift. The key note of his movement had been to secure for the Scheduled Castes people maximum rights and to get adequate representation for them in the then State Cabinet and government services. He wanted, in a nutshell, social and political equality. He therefore, carried on relentless campaign for the same leaving no stone unturned. On 21st May, 1970, Bhagat Amar Nath and his associates sat on hunger strike in front of Civil Secretariat under the banner of Depressed Classes League with an object to get all their genuine demands persued by the then Government of Jammu and Kashmir. This hunger strike lasted until Bhagat Amar Nath breathed his last on 1st June, 1970. The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir State was silent over any provision relating to reservation in services and posts for the Scheduled Castes but consequent upon the sacrifice made by Bhagat Amar Nath, provision for reservation of appointments and posts in favour of these castes was felt a prime necessity by the government. Bhagat Amar Nath is however not among us today but he would always be remembered as a man of action and straightforwardness like Baba Saheb in the history of the State.
R. L Kaith
Jammu
