On the occasion of the 130th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, the chief architect of Indian Constitution, a vedic scholar of repute has called for the abolition of the word Dalit once and for ever and to bring back the name Harijan used to denote the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

“Harijan is the most sanguine word which accorded respect, sanctity and beauty to the depressed and oppressed communities. The word was introduced by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. He even named the world famous magazine he launched as Harijan. But certain vested interests sabotaged Gandhi’s dream and renamed the communities as Dalit, a term which has no Indianness in it,” said Acharya M K Kunjhol, the chief patron of Kerala State Harijan Samajam, a 64 year old organisation working for the upliftment of the Harijans.

Kunjhol, Kerala's living Mahatma, who has been honoured with Padma Sri by the President of India for the selfless and dedicated work he is doing among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for the last 70 years,  attributed to a deep rooted conspiracy by anti-national elements in getting the name Harijan  replaced with Dalit.

When Mahatma Gandho took up the agitation to get the practice of untouchability ameliorated and eradicate caste discrimination, he asked the people to propose a common nomenclature for the scheduled castes and tribes who were being treated as untouchables.

Somebody proposed a word Harijan, used by a Gujarathi poet which meant those who took birth from Hari (Vishnu or God). It was with enthusiasm and happiness that Gandhiji welcomed that term,” said acharya who is active even at the age of 84.

He pointed out that thousands of articles, books, essays were published in India and abroad using the word Harijan. “It became part and parcel of Government records, budgets and related documents. There were Harijan Welfare Departments as well as Harijan Welfare Ministers.. Mahatma Gandhi established All India Harijan Seva Sangh. It is an insult to the memory of the Mahatma that the name has been dumped to accommodate a term that has no relevance with the Father of the Nation,” said the acharya.

The Acharya , who does not have a roof over his head despite seven decades of public life said that anti-Harijan forces were behind the toppling and sabotaging of the word coined by Mahatma. “There are anti-Harijan forces in India who want to prevent the elevation of Harijans. They were behind the renaming move,” he said

Acharya Kunjhol, said that Haji Masthan, a notorious smuggler based in Bombay (present day Mumbai) was the one who introduced the term Dalit in the national narrative. “Masthan had launched a political outfit by name Dalit-Muslim Suraksha Sangh for furthering his vested interests. The media and politicians supported his move and the word Dalit pushed the term Harijan from national narrative. There was no justification of any kind to dump the word Harijan to anoint the term Dalit, a word of dubious nature,” said Acharya Kunjhol.

He said the year 2022 which is being observed as the 153rd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and  75th anniversary of Indian independence is the ideal time to revert to the name Harijan. “I have never used the term Dalit to described myself. I love to be addressed as a Harijan,” said Acharya Kunjhol, described by Kerala society as the embodiment of simplicity and Mahatma Gandhi.