BABU MANGU RAM MUGGOWALIA AND DALIT IDENTITY IN PUNJAB Prem Kumar Chumber Editor-In-Chief : Ambedkar Times & Desh Doaba

Babu Mangu Ram Muggowalia founded Ad Dharm movement for the emancipation and empowerment of his people. He organized all the ex-untouchable castes falling under the then category of the Depressed Classes in Punjab and reminded them of their rich heritage. He told them how they were reduced into worse than slaves in their own land by the alien Aryans who brought with them their sick social system called caste and oppressed them with the whip of untouchability. He told his people that for them the real battle is the battle against the Chaturvarna system of Brahminical Hinduism. He reiterated that Scheduled Castes are neither Hindu nor Sikh. They are also neither Muslim nor Christian. They are the original inhabitants of this ancient land called Bharat (he called it Hind). Their real religion (Ad Dharm) was much older than Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism. All these religion are born after Ad Dharm, the real religion of the original inhabitants of India. He said that the Hindus did not only subjugate them but also made their religion oblivious; and thus made the ex-untouchables their slaves. He said that real freedom for the indigenous people will be to liberate themselves not only from the British rulers but also from Brahmanism.

He struggled hard to convince British rulers to include Ad Dharm in the Census list of 1931 as a separate religion of the Depressed Classes in Punjab in 1931. A great victory of the Dalits indeed! Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia became the pioneer of seeking political power as a key to all the problems of the community. In 1937, his Ad Dharm won 7 out of all the 8 reserved seats in Punjab. He also stood like a rock with Dr. Ambedkar in his tirade against caste annihilation at the national level. During Dr. Ambedkar's fight with Gandhi at the Roundtable Conferences in London (1930-32), Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia sent telegrams in support of the former as the leader of the untouchables in India against Gandhi. In 1946, Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Hoshiarpur.