Raj Kumar Oshoraj
Educate, Agitate, Organise are three final words of our savior Baba Saheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Being a Buddhist Baba Saheb gave these slogans based on Buddhist Trisharans Buddham (Educate), Dhammam (Agitate), Sangham (Organise).
These commandments must be kept in this order. We are not trying to find faults in others who may have used different order by changing second commandment (Agitate) as third and changed this order to Educate, Organise and Agitate. It is highly recommended to all Ambedkarites across the world to use these final words in the same order as our savior gave us. They should not only be used in this order but also practiced in this order: Educate, Agitate, Organise.
One may question as to why we must follow a particular order of these final words of Baba Saheb. It is Baba Saheb’s well thought strategic order of action to make the movement successful. One must get educated first before he can have agitated thoughts for the movement so that people can organise with his to support. A changed order of these final words of Baba Saheb may not only delay the caravan to reach it’s destination; it may also divert the direction of the caravan which can be harmful for the movement.
Educate:
Getting educated does not mean only to acquire academic designations. One must get educated about Baba Saheb’s mission and his thoughts. We must read and learn about Baba Saheb’s ideology and strategy to uplift our people.
We have people running organizations under Baba Saheb’s name for years and years but one can tell from the way they think and behave that they have no clue about Baba Saheb’s mission. The knowledge they posses about Baba Saheb is their borrowed knowledge of telephone conversations with others and they pretend to be the most dedicated followers of Baba Saheb. It could be fine if they only keep this borrowed knowledge to themselves but they start preaching to others while they hold positions in their organizations which actually hurt the movement instead of helping it.
So let’s try our utmost best to educate ourselves first about Baba Saheb’s thoughts while we wish to work for his mission.
Agitate:
The second step ‘agitate’ does not mean to agitate physically; it is a mental revolution instead. It does not mean to go out and start protesting violently on the streets without getting educated first which most probably our enemy wants us to do. After getting educated about Baba Saheb’s thoughts and strategy: we should start agitating mentally. We need an agitation of thoughts in our mind in order to move to the next stage: organise.
Organize:
Educated and agitated minds will easily organise for a common mission. We must get ourselves educated and let our thoughts agitate so that we can collectively organise. Agitated minds for a common mission will help them to unite and struggle for their common goal as one force.
When it comes to organise; one must be honest with his intentions and mission. A mere lip work never produces any results and people stay ununited. My personal experience taught me that being honestly practical about resolving any issue contributes positively. I have known people making announcements individually and in large gatherings to unite and work together. But in practice, their hidden agendas don’t let them or others unite. Their personal interests interfere in their way to make right decision and they not only remain ununited with others but they also create hurdles for others to unite. Since they can’t walk their own talk; they don’t produce any effective results.
Educate, Agitate, Organise: this order must be maintained to see the effective results of the movement for the upliftment of our people. Baba Saheb had a strategic thought and well defined process for his mission to be successful. Following this order can certainly result in achieving more beneficial outcomes not only for our community but for the society as a whole.
“Babasaheb was no small genius. He was a social scientist, historian, philosopher, psychologist and a thinker. He was a titan hitting Himalayan heights. So, every word that he uttered was chosen after considerable thought. He said, “Educate, Agitate, Organise” and also added that they were his “final words”. So it has to be taken as his Three Commandments. But without going to the first floor we tried to jump to the third floor and broke our bones”……V.T. Rajshekar
[Courtesy: Ambedkar Times]
