Dr B R Ambedkar’s grandson and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar on Sunday criticised the police action against protesters in Delhi. “When peaceful protests seeking accountability from those in government are ruthlessly suppressed with force it signals authoritarianism,” he said.Ambedkar also expressed strong disapproval over the manner in which educationist and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was taken from Jantar Mantar to a Delhi hospital. The subsequent police lathi charge on students at the protest site, he said, was even more disturbing.Speaking to The Indian Express, Ambedkar said recent incidents reflected what he described as a growing tendency to suppress dissent.“Whether it is the indefinite hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk demanding accountability in the NEET paper leak case, the 15-day protest by Gond and Kol tribals in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district against eviction because of the Ken-Betwa link project, the police action against people demanding rightful rehabilitation, adequate compensation and protection of their land rights, or the use of force against students raising their voices, all these incidents reflect the tendency towards authoritarianism, suppressing dissenting voices, crushing dissent and ignoring serious questions,” he said.Referring to Babasaheb Ambedkar’s final speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, Prakash Ambedkar said his grandfather had stressed that democracy depended on constitutional methods for achieving social and political change.“Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar warned that democracy requires constitutional methods for achieving social and political change. He cautioned against abandoning these methods in favour of extra-constitutional means, while also making clear that democratic institutions must remain responsive to the voices and grievances of citizens,” he said.He said his grandfather had also emphasised that political democracy could not survive without liberty, equality and fraternity. Citing what he called one of Babasaheb’s enduring principles, he added: “A democracy is ultimately tested not by how it treats agreement, but how it responds to disagreement.”Story continues below this adDrawing a parallel with previous governments, Ambedkar argued that suppressing dissent had never worked in the long run.“There are instances of how suppression of dissent has not worked well for those in power in the long run. It happened with the Congress government. And now the BJP government has also restricted voices of opposition and curbed dissent like British rule,” he said.