The Fight for Ambedkar’s Statue in Gwalior

“I will fight till my last breath to have his statue installed,” said Vishwajeet Ratoniya. “Ambedkar struggled to give us a better life. He is our messiah. I am willing to sacrifice my whole life for him.”

Ratoniya, a high court lawyer, was talking about a 10-foot-tall graphite sculpture of Bhimrao Ambedkar. The statue was meant to be erected in the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Gwalior bench on May 14. Instead, it has been gathering dust in a room on the outskirts of the city. A group of upper-caste lawyers blocked its installation.

The Argument Over the Statue

“We never opposed the temple in the court compound,” said Dharmendra Kushwah, another high court lawyer. “Then why are the upper castes opposing Ambedkar’s statue? He is god for those who were not allowed to enter temples or drink water in this country.”

Ratoniya and Kushwah are not alone in their fight. The statue of Ambedkar has divided the bar. Dalit and backward-class lawyers are pushing to place the sculpture at the court’s entrance. Upper-caste lawyers have been using rules to try to block the move.

In Gwalior, the lawyers’ quarrel has turned into a big political issue. Activists and politicians are now involved.

An Ambedkarite Chief Justice

The lawyers fighting for the statue say they followed the rules. “In February, we gave the chief justice a request asking for an Ambedkar statue here,” said Ratoniya.

The chief justice works out of Jabalpur, the main seat of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. On March 19, a court official from Jabalpur wrote to his counterpart in Gwalior. The letter said that the statue had been approved by the chief justice.

Soon after, officials in Gwalior began building a base for the statue. But Pawan Pathak, president of the Gwalior Bar Association, said that the whole process was based on lies.

“Some lawyers gave the chief justice a fake request,” he said. “The statue was going to be installed based on a letter which neither I nor any other bar association officials had signed.”

Face-off

On May 10, a week before the statue was to be unveiled, Mishra and Pathak pushed past security officials. They raised the Indian flag on the newly built base.

But this did not stop Dalit and backward-caste lawyers. They brought the statue to the complex four days later. In response, upper-caste lawyers protested at the gates to block its entry. The two groups were stuck in a stalemate all day. The statue sat in the back of a truck outside the court.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, the chief justice at the time, stepped in. He asked for the statue to be taken back to the factory. “I told both sides that the installation of the statue should be like a festival,” he said. “We cannot go ahead with it if anyone is unhappy.”

A Proxy Caste Conflict

Supporters of the statue say it will inspire first-generation lawyers from poor communities. Ambedkar, a Dalit from Maharashtra, became independent India’s first law minister. He led the drafting committee of the Constitution.

“If the son of a poor family pays his respects at the statue before entering the court, won’t it lift his spirits?” asked Ratoniya. “Will he not be able to argue his case better?”

The statue shows Ambedkar in a lawyer’s robes instead of the suit he is usually shown in. “We wanted him to be shown in a lawyer’s clothes so that when advocates see it, they feel inspired to get justice for their people,” Kushwah said.

A Growing Issue

The Chambal region, where Gwalior city is located, has seen caste conflict before. In April 2018, a Supreme Court ruling sparked nationwide protests. In this area, the protests led to caste clashes in which over half a dozen people died.

Most people in Gwalior say that the argument about the Ambedkar statue has reignited these tensions. As a result, activist groups and political parties have also joined the fight.

On June 11, the Bhim Army, an assertive Ambedkarite group from Uttar Pradesh, held a public meeting in support of the statue. Over 2,000 supporters gathered by a highway on the outskirts of Gwalior to listen to Vinay Ratan Singh, one of the organization’s founders.

Targeting Manu

In a talk after the rally, Singh explained the real importance of the statue. “I am here because of the debt I owe to Ambedkar,” he said. “He worked so hard for our rights. If we don’t fight for his statue, who will? The statue is a symbol of justice and equality.”

The Bhim Army, he said, will even take its movement to the Rajasthan High Court in Jaipur, where a statue of Manu is installed. “Manu was against women’s rights and an enemy of the Dalits,” he claimed. “We want his statue removed.”

Meanwhile, the statue in question was being guarded day and night by over a dozen police officials. Suneeta Rai, the artist who drew its eyes, complained about the police taking all of the factory’s air coolers. “It feels like an oven,” she grumbled.