06 April 2016

National

The Lake Of Liberation

It was the classic caste confrontation—over water. Eighty-nine years ago, Ambedkar led a group of Dalits to drink water from this lake in Mahad.



The Chavdar Tale in Mahad, where Ambedkar led Dalits to drink water

“We are not going to the Chavadar Tank to merely drink its water. We are going to the Tank to assert that we too are human beings like others. It must be clear that this meeting has been called to set up the norm of equality.” —B.R. Ambedkar in 1927, at Mahad *** Leading some 3,000 ‘untouchables’ to the Chavdar Tale...