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Namantar Andolan (English: Name Change Movement) was a Dalit movement to change the name of Marathwada University in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India to ''Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University''. It achieved a measure of success in 1994 when the compromise name of ''Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University'' was accepted. The movement was notable for the violence against Dalits. ==Background== ''Namantar'' means ''name change''〔 and ''andolan'' means ''social movement''. The Namantar Andolan was a 16-year-long Dalit campaign to rename Marathwada University in recognition of B. R. Ambedkar, the jurist, politician and social reformer who had proposed that untouchability should be made illegal.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/pre_member/1952_2003/a.pdf )〕 He aimed to make Dalits aware of their social condition and to awaken them to their rights. To conceptualize this determination he coined the slogan ''Educate, Agitate, Organise''. The caste system in India denied education to Dalits so he worked to establish new hostels, schools and colleges in Maharashtra and Karnataka. He intended that education institutions should transcend historic differences between various communities but he failed in this goal of integration and instead the various colleges each became characterised as being specific to one or other group, such as the Scheduled Castes, the Muslims and the Brahmins.〔 Ambedkar had been born into a family of Mahars, a community who were considered Untouchables in the caste system of India. Although historically an oppressed community in Hindu society, as with all untouchable groups, the Mahars had sought socio-economic advancement and were both better educated and more politically aware than many of their fellow Dalits, such as the Chamars and Mangs.〔 They were restricted to the lowest status roles which were associated with ritual impurity; for example, leatherwork, butchering, cleaning streets, latrines, and sewers, removal of rubbish and animal carcasses.〔 They were not allowed to enter Hindu temples and had to live outside of villages. When the British rulers started a mass education system for Indians in 1850 upper caste Hindus required Untouchables to sit outside of class groups or they were not allowed in schools at all. Some of their work such as message delivery for government officials and employment in the army of the British Raj heightened their aspirations.〔 With the adoption of the Constitution of India in 1949, discrimination based on caste was prohibited, untouchability was outlawed and later Reservation policy to benefit those now called Scheduled Castes was established. Cultural changes were slow to come.〔 In abandoning their old socially demeaning jobs, Dalits found themselves competing with caste Hindus for positions in bureaucracies and professions. This caused unemployment, economic uncertainty and resentment on all sides.〔 In addition, many Mahars converted to Buddhism, following the example of Ambedkar to separate themselves from the strictures of the Hindu caste system.〔 Non-Dalit student groups initially supported the demand to have the university renamed but did so less for reasons of dogma than for the pragmatic desire to bring the Dalit, mostly Mahar, students into the general fold. Dalit students had traditionally shown no interest in supporting such causes as lower fees and cheaper textbooks but they constituted around 26 per cent of the student population and a ''quid pro quo'' was anticipated. A march involving Dalit and non-Dalit students was organised with the intent of petitioning the council of the university for the change. The procession met with another, headed by Gangaher Gadhe, a Dalit Panther leader, who launched a tirade of abuse at the non-Dalit contingent as he asserted the right of the Dalits to take all the credit for the change in name. This alienated the non-Dalit students and, according to Dipankar Gupta, "the division was caused not so much by caste Hindu prejudices and reticence to support the renaming of the University, but rather by the splittist and sectarian position taken by Gadhe", who might also have been concerned that any alliance between Dalits and non-Dalits could affect the potency of the Panthers. Among left-wing organisations, only the Students' Federation of India and ''Yukrant'' continued to support the campaign.〔 In 1977, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vasantdada Patil, promised that the renaming would occur and in July 1978 the Maharashtra Legislature approved it. Uttara Shastree notes that the campaign at this time reflected the desire of neo-Buddhists for an improved image and position in society, as a significant part of which they called on the symbolic ideas of Ambedkar that had preceded his rise to prominence. The University Executive Body passed a resolution to rename the University and this series of decisions was the catalyst for rioting, which began on 27 July 1978 and lasted several weeks. Commentators such as Gail Omvedt believe that the violence was a caste war based on hatred whilst others, such as Gupta, believe that the causes were more varied. Both Omvedt and Gupta note that the violence was aimed at the Mahars and did not extend to other Dalit groups, while Gupta also notes that it was concentrated in the three districts of Marathwada — Aurangabad, Nanded and Parbhani — where Dalit registrations in schools and colleges were particularly high, and economic competition was most fierce. In particular, the centres of the unrest were urban areas, where the impact of Mahar aspirations would most deeply affect the employment, social and economic roles which caste Hindus considered to be their preserve. Troubles were largely absent from the other two districts of Beed and Osmanabad, and the spill of problems into rural areas generally was patchy. These issues of geographic and demographic targeting, according to Gupta, indicate that the real causes of the violence were more subtle than war between caste Hindu and Dalit. There were also instances of violent acts taking place under the pretext of the riots elsewhere but in fact to settle very local and personal scores unrelated to the broader causes.〔 In contradiction to these views, Y. C. Damle maintains that the violence "specially affected the Scheduled Caste people in the villages although the agitation for renaming the Marathwada University after Dr. Ambedkar was spearheaded by Dalit Panthers and such leaders mainly in urban centres. ... In giving a call for agitation, hardly any effort was made to protect the villages or villagers."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Namantar Andolan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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