In January this year, a Dalit student was assaulted by two other pupils for concluding his Republic Day speech with ‘Jai Bhim-Jai Bharat’ in a school in Narauli, Uttar Pradesh. In May, a Dalit youth, Chandrashekhar Saket, was beaten and threatened with murder by upper-caste men for saying “Jai Bhim, Jai Buddha” in Shahdol.
Dalits being assaulted and killed for saying Jai Bhim has been a tragic reality in 21st-century India. However, on June 24, in an unprecedented event, the Jai Bhim slogan echoed within the chambers of the new parliament as new members were taking their oath. Nearly two dozen Members of Parliament (MPs) — Dalits, Muslims, OBC, and Tribals from Congress, Samajwadi Party, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK, formerly Dalit Panthers), and Azad Samaj Party (ASP) concluded their oath-taking ceremony with “Jai Bhim” (Victory to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar) and “Jai Samvidhan”, holding a copy of the Constitution in their hands.
Not only were many non-Dalit members saying Jai Bhim, but this coincided with the BJP, a Hindu nationalist party, losing its single-party Majority in the House after a decade, which was remarkable.
Jai Bhim has evolved from being a Dalit greeting to a slogan against oppression, becoming as ubiquitous as Ambedkar’s image.
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Journey of the ‘Jai Bhim’ slogan
In 1935, a 30-year old Dalit leader, Babu Hardas Laxmanrao Nagrale, first coined the term “Jai Bhim”. Ambedkar’s close confidant, Hardas, a general secretary of the Scheduled Castes Federation and legislator from Nagpur, wanted to create a unique salutation for Dalits (similar to the Muslim greeting ‘Salaam Alaikum’). At that time, Dalits used greetings like Jai Johar, Jai Ramapati, Ram Ram, and Namaskar. However, Hardas sought a universal slogan embodying self-respect, brotherhood, and loyalty to Ambedkar and his ideologies—a greeting that could be used with pride, without subservience.
He envisioned and coined the “Jai Bhim” greeting, which was to be reciprocated with “Bal Bhim”. But “Jai Bhim” alone became popular. Little did Babu Hardas realise that his greeting would become a universally accepted slogan across India.
Soon, the Jai Bhim greeting spread like wildfire across the country. It was so catchy and inspiring that it expanded beyond Dalit communities. In the mid-1940s, Thanthai N Sivaraj started an English journal named ‘Jai Bheem’ in then-Madras (now Chennai). It published speeches by Ambedkar and All India Scheduled Caste Federation (AISCF) leaders to unite Dalits in the Madras province under Ambedkar’s leadership.
Some people would say “Jai Bhim” to Ambedkar, who would simply smile in response.
The Jai Bhim slogan became even more popular among Dalits after Ambedkar’s death in 1956. Dalit political parties used it not only as a greeting but also to energise people during rallies, starting and ending their speeches with it. Though the political space occupied by the Republican Party of India diminished after Ambedkar’s death, the slogan survived through Dalit Ambedkarite movements such as the Dalit Panther revolutionary movement founded in the 1970s to fight caste oppression, and through songs and poems. Buddhists popularised “Namo Buddhay” and the Jai Bhim slogan to conclude speeches.
Dissatisfied with the RPI-Congress alliance in 1971, where RPI got only one seat and the rest went to Congress, Kanshiram started his own social movement and formed BAMCEF (Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation), uniting government servants who benefited from the reservation policy. The greeting became popular across India and Kanshiram formed DS4 (Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti) in 1981 to spread awareness among Dalit Bahujan masses.
Across Uttar Pradesh, “Jai Bhim” was painted on walls along with the elephant symbol. In this traditionally feudalistic state, BSP Dalit workers would often face violence for saying Jai Bhim, but Kanshiram and Mayawait’s relentless efforts bore fruit. In 1989, three BSP members, including Mayawati, won elections, marking the beginning of assertive Dalit politics. They always concluded their speeches with “Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat”. Prakash Ambedkar of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi created a similar social engineering coalition of Dalits and OBCs with his erstwhile Bahujan Mahasangh in the 1990s, achieving limited success as the Jai Bhim slogan started spreading to non Dalits.
As BAMCEF and BSP spread across northern India, the Jai Bhim slogan, which had lost prominence after RPI’s decline, regained its significance. Punjabi Singer Ginni Mahi has a famous song “Bolo Jai Bhim”.
Mayawati’s rise in the 1990s showcased Dalit assertive political leadership for the first time in India. Jai Bhim echoed in the chambers of Parliament and the UP assembly, and in rallies that the media slowly began to cover. There were Dalit leaders such as Ram Vilas Paswan and Babu Jagjivan Ram before Mayawati, but none became a symbol of Dalit assertion like her. She not only raised the Jai Bhim slogan in Parliament since 1989 but also ensured that Ambedkar and Bahujan leaders found prominent space in Noida’s Dalit Prerana Sthal and Lucknow’s Ambedkar Park, creating a legacy that will be remembered for years.
With the advent of the Gujarat laboratory and BJP’s attempt to change the Constitution under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it was BSP that first coined the slogan to save the Constitution: “Samvidhan ke samman mein BSP maidan mein” (BSP is on the ground to save the Constitution).
During her rallies in 2019 in alliance with SP, Mayawati would say, “Namo wale ja rahe hain air Jai Bhim wale aa rahe hain.” (BJP is going away, and Jai Bhim supporters are coming to power)
Two major anti-government protest in recent times—following Rohith Vemula’s suicide due to institutional bias and the anti-CAA bill protests—saw Ambedkar and the Jai Bhim slogan occupying centre stage as Dalit and Muslims rallied with Ambedkar’s photo.
In 2022, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal directed his government to display photos of only Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh; no other leaders.
This transformation was not possible without the social awakening initiated by BSP among the downtrodden. As BSP’s influence began to wane after its 2007-2012 peak, other parties like Samajwadi Party and Congress, sensing an opportunity to tap into the large Dalit population in key states like UP (20 per cent), formed an alliance to woo Dalits with agenda close to their hearts: saving Ambedkar’s Constitution from Modi-led BJP and save SC/ST reservation. The campaign was successful, with many Dalits (including BSP turncoats ) winning on INDIA coalition tickets. SP’s Dalit candidate Awadhesh Prasad defeated the BJP candidate in Faizabad’s non-reserved constituency, where the Ayodhya temple is located. “Victory to Ambedkar and his Constitution,” Prasad said while taking oath. The INDIA bloc replicated this success in Maharashtra, winning 30 of the 48 seats as Dalits and Muslims backed them in large numbers.
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INDIA partners’ anti-Constitution past
The Congress, now swearing by “Ambedkar’s Constitution,” did not give due respect to Ambedkar for years after his death. Remarkably, a portrait of the chief architect of India’s Constitution didn’t find a place in the Central Hall of Parliament until 1990, when Prime Minister VP Singh of the Janata Dal inaugurated it. This change came only after the rise of the BSP.
Uddhav Thackeray’s father Bal Thackeray ridiculed Ambedkar and preferred dictatorship over democracy (even supporting Indira Gandhi during the Emergency).
Samajwadi Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav, opposed the reservation in promotion Bill for SC/ST, and its MP tore the Bill in Parliament. As chief minister, Akhilesh often spoke against the Bill and even renamed districts named after Kanshiram, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj (pioneer of reservations in India), and other social reformers. Samajwadi Party members had Mayawati almost killed in the infamous guest house incident in 1995.
Nobody celebrated Constitution Day except Dalit-led parties like BSP, RPI, and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. In fact, the Constitution Day (26 November) celebration of the enactment of the Indian Constitution did not receive any special mention from the government until recently.
Today, some Congress and SP MPs have a copy of the Constitution in their hands and ‘Jai Bhim’ on their lips—but it remains to be seen if this will remain an empty political slogan to woo Dalits or represent an actual ideological shift.
Jai Bhim has become a cool slogan. However, with Jai Bhim comes the responsibility of understanding and promoting constitutional plurality, representation, the ability to fight against Brahminism and fundamentalism non-violently, and standing for the downtrodden. This is why it appeals to Muslims and other backward classes as well.
Perhaps that is why it has become the Opposition’s favourite, as they believe it’s their best bet to fight the BJP’s brand of religious nationalism and jingoism—something BJP and Modi are finding hard to counter. In fact, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla appeared miffed with members saying “Jai Samvidhan” but had no problem when a BJP member said “Jai Hindu Rashtra”.
In 2021, Se Gnanavel, director of the popular Jai Bhim movie, which was highly rated on IMDB, regretted that that slogan Jai Bhim and Ambedkar are often identified with a caste. “Jai Bhim, in fact, is the slogan of all those who are suppressed. Their weapon is the Constitution of India. If women are suppressed, Jai Bhim is their slogan, too,” he said.
The movie ends with this: “Jai Bhim is light. Jai Bhim is love. Jai Bhim is a path from darkness to light. Jai Bhim is the teardrop of millions of people.”
“Jai Bhim wala” has been used as a slur to denote someone as Dalit, but now “Jai Bhim” has become a universal socio-cultural and political slogan that encompasses Ambedkarite ideology. The slogan and Ambedkar’s picture have replaced “Inquilab Zindabad”, Gandhi’s picture, and other slogans.
A Hindi Movie titled Bole India, Jai Bhim was based on the life of Babu Hardas. Now, the INDIA bloc is doing exactly that.
Kanshiram and Mayawati laid the foundation of Dalit Bahujan awakening in the toughest times pre- and post-Mandal and carried the slogan and Ambedkarite ideology through challenging periods by actual social upliftment. Now other parties are reaping its benefits by empty sloganeering without doing any actual ground work. But will they walk the talk and follow it in the spirit of the Constitution and Ambedkar’s ideologies?
Ravi Shinde is an independent writer and columnist. He writes on socio-political issues and is a proponent of diversity. He tweets @scribe_it. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)