Scheduled Castes Federation (L),
B. R. Ambedkar (C) and
N. Sivaraj (R) during "The All India SCF women's conference" held at Bombay, on May 6, 1945. The origins of the AISCF can be traced to the Madras Depressed Classes Federation, established by
Rettamalai Srinivasan and
N. Sivaraj. This organisation was later renamed the Madras Scheduled Castes Party in 1936 and subsequently became the Madras Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) in 1938. Meanwhile, in 1936, Ambedkar had founded the Independent Labour Party (ILP), which was primarily active in the former
Bombay and
Central Provinces. In 1942, the Madras SCF and the ILP were reorganised and merged to form The All-India Scheduled Castes Federation (AISCF) in
Allahabad by N. Sivaraj and B. R. Ambedkar to advocate for the rights of the
Dalit community. During its founding convention, an executive body was elected, with N. Sivaraj from
Madras State serving as President and
P. N. Rajbhoj from
Bombay State as General Secretary. Among the founding members was P. T. Madhale, along with others. In
Bengal the Scheduled Castes Federation chapter led by
Jogendra Nath Mandal championed maintaining the province united, a position the party shared with the Muslim League. When Pakistan was formed, Mandal joined the first
Dominion of Pakistan government as Minister of Law and Labour . In parallel Ambedkar held the post of Minister of Law in the
Dominion of India. Historian
Ramnarayan Rawat has noted that the SCF "created the space for an alternative to Congress-type 'nationalist' politics in post-1947
Uttar Pradesh".
Republican Party of India On 30 September 1956,
B. R. Ambedkar had announced the establishment of the "Republican Party of India" by dissolving the "Scheduled Castes Federation", but before the formation of the party, he died on 6 December 1956. After that, his followers and activists planned to form this party. A meeting of the Presidency was held at
Nagpur on 1 October 1957 to establish the party. At this meeting,
N. Sivaraj,
Yashwant Ambedkar, P. T. Borale, A. G. Pawar, Datta Katti,
Dadasaheb Rupwate, Abba P. T. Madhale were present. The
Republican Party of India was formed on 3 October 1957.
N. Sivaraj was elected as the President of the party. In 1957, six members of the party were elected to the
second Lok Sabha. This is the biggest achievement of Ambedkar's party so far. ==Factionalism==