B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an
Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and
political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of
India from the Constituent
Assembly debates, served as Law and Justice
minister in the first cabinet of
Jawaharlal Nehru, and inspired the Dalit Buddhist
movement after renouncing Hinduism.
After graduating from Elphinstone
College, University of
Bombay, Ambedkar studied economics at Columbia
University and the London School of
Economics, receiving doctorates in 1927 and 1923, respectively, and
was among a handful of Indian students to have done so at either institution in
the 1920s.[13] He also trained in the law at Gray's Inn, London. In his early
career, he was an economist, professor, and lawyer. His later life was marked
by his political activities; he became involved in campaigning and negotiations
for partition,
publishing journals, advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits, and contributing to the establishment of the state of
India. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism, initiating mass
conversions of Dalits.[14]
In 1990, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest
civilian award, was posthumously conferred on Ambedkar. The salutation Jai Bhim (lit. "Hail
Bhim") used by followers honours him. He is also referred to by the
nickname Babasaheb (BAH-bə SAH-hayb), meaning
"Respected Father".
Early
life
Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in the town and
military cantonment of Mhow (now officially
known as Dr Ambedkar Nagar) (now in Madhya Pradesh).[15] He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal, an army
officer who held the rank of Subedar, and Bhimabai Sakpal,
daughter of Laxman Murbadkar.[16] His family was of Marathi background from the
town of Ambadawe (Mandangad taluka) in Ratnagiri district of
modern-day Maharashtra.
Ambedkar was born into a Mahar (dalit) caste,
who were treated as untouchables and
subjected to socio-economic discrimination.[17] Ambedkar's ancestors had long worked for the army of the British East India
Company, and his father served in the British Indian
Army at the Mhow cantonment.[18] Although they attended school, Ambedkar and other
untouchable children were segregated and given little attention or help by
teachers. They were not allowed to sit inside the class. When they needed to
drink water, someone from a higher caste had to pour that water from a height
as they were not allowed to touch either the water or the vessel that contained
it. This task was usually performed for the young Ambedkar by the school peon, and if the peon was not available then he had to go
without water; he described the situation later in his writings as "No
peon, No Water".[19] He was required to sit on a gunny sack which he had to
take home with him.[20]
Ramji Sakpal retired in 1894 and the family moved
to Satara two
years later. Shortly after their move, Ambedkar's mother died. The children
were cared for by their paternal aunt and lived in difficult circumstances.
Three sons – Balaram, Anandrao and Bhimrao – and two daughters –
Manjula and Tulasa – of the Ambedkars survived them. Of his brothers and
sisters, only Ambedkar passed his examinations and went to high school. His
original surname was Sakpal but his father registered his name
as Ambadawekar in school, meaning he comes from his native
village 'Ambadawe' in Ratnagiri district.[21][22][23][24] His Marathi Brahmin teacher,
Krishnaji Keshav Ambedkar, changed his surname from 'Ambadawekar' to his own
surname 'Ambedkar' in school records.[25][26][27][28][29]
Ambedkar as a student
In 1897, Ambedkar's family moved to Mumbai where Ambedkar
became the only untouchable enrolled at Elphinstone High
School. In 1906, when he was about 15 years old, he married a
nine-year-old girl, Ramabai. The match was arranged by the couple's parents, in accordance with
prevailing custom at that time.[30]
In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and in
the following year he entered Elphinstone
College, which was affiliated to the University of
Bombay, becoming, according to him, the first from his Mahar caste
to do so. When he passed his English fourth standard examinations, the people
of his community wanted to celebrate because they considered that he had
reached "great heights" which he says was "hardly an occasion
compared to the state of education in other communities". A public
ceremony was evoked, to celebrate his success, by the community, and it was at
this occasion that he was presented with a biography of the Buddha by Dada Keluskar, the
author and a family friend.[31]
By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and
political science from Bombay University, and prepared to take up employment
with the Baroda state government. His wife had just moved his young family and
started work when he had to quickly return to Mumbai to see his ailing father,
who died on 2 February 1913.[32]
In 1913, at the age of 22, Ambedkar was awarded a Baroda
State Scholarship of £11.50 (Sterling) per month for three years under a scheme
established by Sayajirao Gaekwad
III (Gaekwad of Baroda)
that was designed to provide opportunities for postgraduate education at Columbia
University in New York City. Soon after arriving
there he settled in rooms at Livingston Hall with Naval
Bhathena, a Parsi who was to be a
lifelong friend. He passed his M.A. exam in June 1915, majoring in economics,
and other subjects of Sociology, History, Philosophy and Anthropology. He
presented a thesis, Ancient Indian Commerce. Ambedkar was
influenced by John Dewey and
his work on democracy.[33]
In 1916, he completed his second master's thesis, National
Dividend of India – A Historic and Analytical Study, for a second M.A.[34] On 9 May, he presented the paper Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and
Development before a seminar conducted by the
anthropologist Alexander
Goldenweiser. Ambedkar received his Ph.D. degree in economics at
Columbia in 1927.[13]
Ambedkar (In center line, first from right) with his
professors and friends from the London School of Economics (1916–17)
In October 1916, he enrolled for the Bar course at Gray's Inn, and at the same time
enrolled at the London School of
Economics where he started working on a doctoral thesis. In
June 1917, he returned to India because his scholarship from Baroda ended. His
book collection was dispatched on a different ship from the one he was on, and
that ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine.[32] He got permission to return to London to submit his
thesis within four years. He returned at the first opportunity, and completed a
master's degree in 1921. His thesis was on "The problem of the rupee: Its
origin and its solution".[35] In 1923, he completed a D.Sc. in Economics which
was awarded from University of
London, and the same year he was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn.[13]
As Ambedkar was educated by the Princely State of
Baroda, he was bound to serve it. He was appointed Military
Secretary to the Gaikwad but had to quit in a short time. He described the
incident in his autobiography, Waiting for a Visa.[36] Thereafter, he tried to find ways to make a living
for his growing family. He worked as a private tutor, as an accountant, and
established an investment consulting business, but it failed when his clients
learned that he was an untouchable.[37] In 1918, he became Professor of Political Economy
in the Sydenham College
of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai. Although he was successful
with the students, other professors objected to his sharing a drinking-water
jug with them.[38]
Ambedkar had been invited to testify before the Southborough
Committee, which was preparing the Government of
India Act 1919. At this hearing, Ambedkar argued for creating
separate electorates and reservations for
untouchables and other religious communities.[39] In 1920, he began the publication of the
weekly Mooknayak (Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai with the
help of Shahu of Kolhapur,
that is, Shahu IV (1874–1922).[40]
Ambedkar went on to work as a legal professional. In
1926, he successfully defended three non-Brahmin leaders who had accused the
Brahmin community of ruining India and were then subsequently sued for
libel. Dhananjay Keer notes,
"The victory was resounding, both socially and individually, for the
clients and the doctor".[41]
Sworn in as India's first Law and Justice Minister
While practising law in the Bombay High Court, he tried to
promote education to untouchables and uplift them. His first organised attempt
was his establishment of the central institution Bahishkrit
Hitakarini Sabha, intended to promote education and socio-economic
improvement, as well as the welfare of "outcastes", at the time referred to as depressed
classes.[42] For the defence of Dalit rights, he started many
periodicals like Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat,
and Equality Janta.[43]
He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to
work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925.[44] This commission had sparked great protests across
India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote
a separate set of recommendations for the future Constitution of India.[45]
By 1927, Ambedkar had decided to launch active movements
against untouchability.
He began with public movements and marches to open up public drinking water
resources. He also began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He
led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable
community to draw water from the main water tank of the town.[46] In a conference in late 1927, Ambedkar publicly
condemned the classic Hindu text, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu),
for ideologically justifying caste discrimination and
"untouchability", and he ceremonially burned copies of the ancient
text. On 25 December 1927, he led thousands of followers to burn copies of
Manusmriti.[47][48] Thus annually 25 December is celebrated as Manusmriti
Dahan Din (Manusmriti Burning Day) by Ambedkarites and Dalits.[49][50]
In 1930, Ambedkar launched the Kalaram Temple movement after
three months of preparation. About 15,000 volunteers assembled at Kalaram Temple satygraha
making one of the greatest processions of Nashik. The procession was headed
by a military band and a batch of scouts; women and men walked with discipline,
order and determination to see the god for the first time. When they reached the
gates, the gates were closed by Brahmin authorities.[51]
In 1932, the British colonial government announced the
formation of a separate electorate for "Depressed Classes" in
the Communal Award. Mahatma Gandhi fiercely
opposed a separate electorate for untouchables, saying he feared that such an
arrangement would divide the Hindu community.[52][53][54] Gandhi protested by fasting while imprisoned in
the Yerwada Central
Jail of Poona. Following the fast,
congressional politicians and activists such as Madan Mohan
Malaviya and Palwankar Baloo organised
joint meetings with Ambedkar and his supporters at Yerwada.[55] On 25 September 1932, the agreement, known as
the Poona Pact was signed between
Ambedkar (on behalf of the depressed classes among Hindus) and Madan Mohan
Malaviya (on behalf of the other Hindus). The agreement gave
reserved seats for the depressed classes in the Provisional legislatures within
the general electorate. Due to the pact the depressed class received 148 seats
in the legislature instead of the 71, as allocated in the Communal Award proposed
earlier by the colonial government under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. The text used
the term "Depressed Classes" to denote Untouchables among Hindus who
were later called Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the India Act
1935, and the later Indian Constitution of 1950.[56] In the Poona Pact, a unified electorate was in
principle formed, but primary and secondary elections allowed Untouchables in
practice to choose their own candidates.[57]
Ambedkar with his family members at Rajgraha in February
1934. From left – Yashwant (son), Ambedkar, Ramabai (wife), Laxmibai (wife of
his elder brother, Balaram), Mukund (nephew) and Ambedkar's favourite dog,
Tobby
Ambedkar addresses a seminar in New Delhi on the occasion
of the Columbia University Bicentennial, 1954
In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law
College, Bombay, a position he held for two years. He also served as
the chairman of Governing body of Ramjas College, University of Delhi, after the
death of its Founder Shri Rai Kedarnath.[58] Settling in Bombay (today called Mumbai), Ambedkar
oversaw the construction of a house, and stocked his personal library with more
than 50,000 books.[59] His wife Ramabai died
after a long illness the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on
a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had
refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for
her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. At the
Yeola Conversion Conference on 13 October in Nasik, Ambedkar announced his
intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to
leave Hinduism.[59] He would repeat his message at many public meetings
across India.
In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour
Party, which contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central
Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats,
and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively.[60]
Ambedkar published his book Annihilation of
Caste on 15 May 1936.[61] It strongly criticised Hindu orthodox religious
leaders and the caste system in general,[62] and included "a rebuke of Gandhi" on the
subject.[63] Later, in a 1955 BBC interview, he accused Gandhi
of writing in opposition of the caste system in English language papers while
writing in support of it in Gujarati language papers.[64] In his writings, Ambedkar also accused Jawaharlal Nehru of being
"conscious of the fact that he is a Brahmin".[65]
During this time, Ambedkar also fought against the khoti system
prevalent in Konkan, where khots,
or government revenue collectors, regularly exploited farmers and tenants. In
1937, Ambedkar tabled a bill in the Bombay Legislative Assembly aimed at
abolishing the khoti system by creating a direct relationship
between government and farmers.[66]
Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee[5] and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister for
labour.[5] Before the Day of Deliverance events,
Ambedkar stated that he was interested in participating: "I read Mr.
Jinnah's statement and I felt ashamed to have allowed him to steal a march over
me and rob me of the language and the sentiment which I, more than Mr. Jinnah,
was entitled to use." He went on to suggest that the communities he worked
with were twenty times more oppressed by Congress policies than were Indian
Muslims; he clarified that he was criticizing Congress, and not all Hindus.[67] Jinnah and Ambedkar jointly addressed the heavily
attended Day of Deliverance event in Bhindi Bazaar, Bombay, where both expressed
"fiery" criticisms of the Congress party, and according to one
observer, suggested that Islam and Hinduism were irreconcilable.[67][68]
After the Lahore resolution (1940) of
the Muslim League demanding Pakistan, Ambedkar wrote a 400-page tract
titled Thoughts on Pakistan, which analysed the concept of
"Pakistan" in all its aspects. Ambedkar argued that the Hindus should
concede Pakistan to the Muslims. He proposed that the provincial boundaries of
Punjab and Bengal should be redrawn to separate the Muslim and non-Muslim
majority parts. He thought the Muslims could have no objection to redrawing
provincial boundaries. If they did, they did not quite "understand the
nature of their own demand". Scholar Venkat Dhulipala states that Thoughts
on Pakistan "rocked Indian politics for a decade". It
determined the course of dialogue between the Muslim League and the Indian
National Congress, paving the way for the Partition of India.[69][70]
In his work Who Were the
Shudras?, Ambedkar tried to explain the formation of
untouchables. He saw Shudras and Ati Shudras who form the lowest caste in the
ritual hierarchy of the caste system,
as separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his
political party into the Scheduled Castes
Federation, although it performed poorly in the 1946 elections
for Constituent
Assembly of India. Later he was elected into the constituent
assembly of Bengal where Muslim League was
in power.[2]
Jagjivan Ram's
wife Indrani Jagjivan Ram wrote in her memoir that Ambedkar persuaded her
husband to ask Mahatma Gandhi for
his inclusion in Nehru's cabinet in independent India. Initially, Jagjivan Ram
consulted Vallabhbhai Patel before
asking Gandhi to recommend Ambedkar to Nehru for inclusion in cabinet, adding
that Ambedkar had "given up his antagonism to Congress and Gandhiji".
Ambedkar was ultimately included as the law minister of
India in the First Nehru
ministry after Gandhi recommended his name to Nehru.[71][72]
Ambedkar contested in the Bombay North first Indian
General Election of 1952, but lost to his former assistant and Congress Party
candidate Narayan Kajrolkar. Ambedkar became a member of Rajya Sabha, probably an appointed
member. He tried to enter Lok Sabha again
in the by-election of 1954 from Bhandara, but he placed third (the Congress Party
won). By the time of the second general election in 1957, Ambedkar had died.
Ambedkar also criticised Islamic practice in South Asia.
While justifying the Partition of India,
he condemned child marriage and the mistreatment of women in Muslim society.
No words can adequately express the great and many evils
of polygamy and concubinage, and especially as a source of misery to a Muslim
woman. Take the caste system. Everybody infers that Islam must be free from
slavery and caste. [...] [While slavery existed], much of its support was
derived from Islam and Islamic countries. While the prescriptions by the
Prophet regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the
Koran are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support
to the abolition of this curse. But if slavery has gone, caste among Musalmans
[Muslims] has remained.[73]
Main article: Dominion of India
§ Framing the new constitution
Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new
prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited
Ambedkar to serve as the Dominion of India's Law Minister;
two weeks later, he was appointed Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the
Constitution for the future Republic of India.
On 25 November 1949, Ambedkar in his concluding speech in
constituent assembly said:-
"The credit that is given to me does not really
belong to me. It belongs partly to Sir B.N. Rau the Constitutional
Advisor to the Constituent Assembly who prepared a rough draft of the
Constitution for the consideration of the Drafting Committee."
Indian constitution guarantees and protections for a wide
range of civil liberties for
individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of
untouchability, and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar was
one of the ministers who argued for extensive economic and social rights for
women, and won the Assembly's support for introducing a system of reservations of
jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and Other Backward
Class, a system akin to affirmative action.
India's lawmakers hoped to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities and lack
of opportunities for India's depressed classes through these measures.[75] The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 by
the Constituent Assembly.[76]
Ambedkar expressed his disapproval for the constitution
in 1953 during a parliament session and said "People always keep on saying
to me "Oh you are the maker of the constitution". My answer is I was
a hack. What I was asked to do, I did much against my will." Ambedkar
added that, "I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person
to burn it out. I do not want it. It does not suit anybody."[77][78]
Ambedkar was the first Indian to pursue a doctorate in
economics abroad.[79] He argued that industrialisation and agricultural
growth could enhance the Indian economy.[80] He stressed investment in agriculture as the
primary industry of India.[citation needed] According to Sharad Pawar, Ambedkar's vision
helped the government to achieve its food security goal.[81] Ambedkar advocated national economic and social
development, stressing education, public hygiene, community health, residential
facilities as the basic amenities.[80] His DSc thesis, The problem of the Rupee:
Its Origin and Solution (1923) examines the causes for the Rupee's
fall in value. In this dissertation, he argued in favour of a gold standard in
modified form, and was opposed to the gold-exchange standard favoured by Keynes
in his treatise Indian Currency and Finance (1909), claiming
it was less stable. He favoured the stoppage of all further coinage of the
rupee and the minting of a gold coin, which he believed would fix currency
rates and prices.[82]
He also analysed revenue in his PhD dissertation The
Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India. In this work, he analysed
the various systems used by the British colonial government to manage finances
in India.[82][83] His views on finance were that governments should
ensure their expenditures have "faithfulness, wisdom and economy."
"Faithfulness" meaning governments should use money as nearly as
possible to the original intentions of spending the money in the first place.
"Wisdom" meaning it should be used as well as possible for the public
good, and "economy" meaning the funds should be used so that the
maximum value can be extracted from them.[84]
In 1951, Ambedkar established the Finance Commission
of India. He opposed income tax for low-income groups. He
contributed in Land Revenue Tax and excise duty policies to stabilise the
economy.[citation needed] He played an important role in land reform and the
state economic development.[citation needed] According to him, the caste system, due to its
division of labourers and hierarchical nature, impedes movement of labour (higher
castes would not do lower-caste occupations) and movement of capital (assuming
investors would invest first in their own caste occupation). His theory of
State Socialism had three points: state ownership of agricultural land, the
maintenance of resources for production by the state, and a just distribution
of these resources to the population. He emphasised a free economy with a
stable Rupee which India has adopted recently.[citation needed] He advocated birth control to develop the Indian
economy, and this has been adopted by Indian government as national policy for
family planning. He emphasised equal rights for women for economic development.[citation needed]
Ambedkar's views on agricultural land was that too much
of it was idle, or that it was not being utilized properly. He believed there
was an "ideal proportion" of production factors that would allow
agricultural land to be used most productively. To this end, he saw the large
portion of people who lived on agriculture at the time as a major problem.
Therefore, he advocated industrialization of the economy to allow these
agricultural labourers to be of more use elsewhere.[citation needed]
Ambedkar was trained as an economist, and was a
professional economist until 1921, when he became a political leader. He wrote
three scholarly books on economics:
·
Administration
and Finance of the East India Company
·
The
Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India
· The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was based on the ideas that Ambedkar presented to the Hilton Young Commission.
Ambedkar's first wife Ramabai died
in 1935 after a long illness. After completing the draft of India's
constitution in the late 1940s, he suffered from lack of sleep, had neuropathic pain in his legs,
and was taking insulin and homoeopathic medicines. He went to
Bombay for treatment, and there met Sharada Kabir, whom he married on
15 April 1948, at his home in New Delhi. Doctors recommended a companion who
was a good cook and had medical knowledge to care for him.[89] She adopted the name Savita Ambedkar and cared for
him the rest of his life.[90] Savita Ambedkar, who was called also 'Mai', died on
May 29, 2003, aged 93 in Mumbai.[91]
Main article: Dalit Buddhism
Ambedkar considered converting to Sikhism, which encouraged
opposition to oppression and so appealed to leaders of scheduled castes. But
after meeting with Sikh leaders, he concluded that he might get
"second-rate" Sikh status.[92]
Instead, around 1950, he began devoting his attention to
Buddhism and travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
to attend a meeting of the World Fellowship
of Buddhists.[93] While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced he was writing a book on Buddhism,
and that when it was finished, he would formally convert to Buddhism.[94] He twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time to
attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon.[95] In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha
Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India.[96] In 1956, he completed his final work, The Buddha and His
Dhamma, which was published posthumously.[96]
After meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Hammalawa
Saddhatissa,[97] Ambedkar organised a formal public ceremony for
himself and his supporters in Nagpur on 14 October 1956.
Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a
Buddhist monk in the traditional
manner, Ambedkar completed his own conversion, along with his wife. He then
proceeded to convert some 500,000 of his supporters who were gathered around
him.[94][98] He prescribed the 22 Vows for these converts,
after the Three Jewels and Five Precepts. He then travelled to Kathmandu, Nepal to attend the
Fourth World Buddhist Conference.[95] His work on The Buddha or Karl Marx and
"Revolution and counter-revolution in ancient India" remained
incomplete.
Mahaparinirvana of B. R. Ambedkar
Since 1948, Ambedkar had diabetes. He remained in bed from
June to October in 1954 due to medication side-effects and poor eyesight.[94] His health worsened during 1955. Three days after
completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His
Dhamma, Ambedkar died in his sleep on 6 December 1956 at his
home in Delhi.[99]
A Buddhist cremation was organised at Dadar Chowpatty beach on 7
December,[100] attended by half a million grieving people.[101] A conversion program was organised on 16 December
1956,[102] so that cremation attendees were also converted to
Buddhism at the same place.[102]
Ambedkar was survived by his second wife Savita Ambedkar (known as
Maisaheb Ambedkar), who died in 2003,[103] and his son Yashwant Ambedkar (known as
Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar), who died in 1977.[104] Savita and Yashwant carried on the socio-religious
movement started by B. R. Ambedkar. Yashwant served as the 2nd President of
the Buddhist Society
of India (1957–1977) and a member of the Maharashtra
Legislative Council (1960–1966).[105][106] Ambedkar's elder grandson, Prakash Yashwant
Ambedkar, is the chief-adviser of the Buddhist Society of India,[107] leads the Vanchit Bahujan
Aghadi[108][109] and has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament.[109] Ambedkar's younger grandson, Anandraj Ambedkar leads the
Republican Sena (tran: The "Republican Army").[110]
A number of unfinished typescripts and handwritten drafts
were found among Ambedkar's notes and papers and gradually made available.
Among these were Waiting for a Visa,
which probably dates from 1935 to 1936 and is an autobiographical work, and
the Untouchables, or the Children of India's Ghetto, which refers
to the census of 1951.[94]
A memorial for Ambedkar was established in his Delhi house at 26 Alipur Road. His birthdate
known as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim
Jayanti is observed as a public holiday in many Indian states. He was
posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1990.[111]
On the anniversary of his birth and death, and on Dhamma Chakra
Pravartan Din (14 October) at Nagpur, at least half a million
people gather to pay homage to him at his memorial in Mumbai.[112] Thousands of bookshops are set up, and books are
sold. His message to his followers was "educate, agitate, organise!"[113]
See also: List of things named after B. R. Ambedkar
People paying tribute at the central statue of Ambedkar
in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad.
1990 1 Rupee commemorative coin of India dedicated to
B.R. Ambedkar
Ambedkar's legacy as a socio-political reformer had a
deep effect on modern India.[114][115] In post-Independence India, his socio-political
thought is respected across the political spectrum. His initiatives have
influenced various spheres of life and transformed the way India today looks at
socio-economic policies, education and affirmative action through
socio-economic and legal incentives. His reputation as a scholar led to his
appointment as free India's first law minister, and chairman of the committee
for drafting the constitution. He passionately believed in individual freedom
and criticised caste society. His accusations of Hinduism as being the foundation
of the caste system made him controversial and unpopular among Hindus.[116] His conversion to Buddhism sparked a revival in
interest in Buddhist philosophy in India and abroad.[117]
Many public institutions are named in his honour, and
the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur, otherwise known as Sonegaon Airport. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of
Technology, Jalandhar, Ambedkar
University Delhi is also named in his honour.[118]
The Maharashtra government has acquired a house in London
where Ambedkar lived during his days as a student in the 1920s. The house is
expected to be converted into a museum-cum-memorial to Ambedkar.[119]
Ambedkar was voted "the Greatest
Indian" since independence by a poll organised by History TV18 and CNN IBN, ahead of Patel and Nehru,
in 2012. Nearly 20 million votes were cast.[120] Due to his role in economics, Narendra Jadhav, a notable Indian
economist,[121] has said that Ambedkar was "the highest
educated Indian economist of all times."[122] Amartya Sen,
said that Ambedkar is "father of my economics", and "he was
highly controversial figure in his home country, though it was not the reality.
His contribution in the field of economics is marvelous and will be remembered
forever."[123][124]
On 2 April 1967, an 3.66 metre (12 foot) tall bronze
statue of Ambedkar was installed in the Parliament of
India. The statue, sculpted by B.V. Wagh, was unveiled by the then
President of India, Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan.[125][126][127] On 12 April 1990, a portrait of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
is put in the Central Hall of Parliament House.[128][129][130] The portrait of Ambedkar, painted by Zeba Amrohawi,
was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of India, V. P. Singh.[128] Another portrait of Ambedkar is put in the
Parliamentary Museum and archives of the Parliament House.[131][132]
Ambedkar's legacy was not without criticism. Ambedkar has
been criticised for his one-sided views on the issue of caste at the expense of
cooperation with the larger nationalist movement.[133] Ambedkar has been also criticised by some of his
biographers over his neglect of organization-building.[134]
Ambedkar's political philosophy has given rise to a large
number of political parties, publications and workers' unions that remain
active across India, especially in Maharashtra. His promotion of
Buddhism has rejuvenated interest in Buddhist philosophy among sections of
population in India. Mass conversion ceremonies have been organised by human
rights activists in modern times, emulating Ambedkar's Nagpur ceremony of 1956.[135] Some Indian Buddhists regard him as a Bodhisattva, although he never
claimed it himself.[136] Outside India, during the late 1990s, some
Hungarian Romani people drew
parallels between their own situation and that of the downtrodden people in
India. Inspired by Ambedkar, they started to convert to Buddhism.[137]
Ambedkar said in 1935 that he was born a Hindu but would
not die a Hindu. He viewed Hinduism as an "oppressive religion" and
started to consider conversion to any other religion.[138] In Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar
claims that the only lasting way a true casteless society could be achieved is through
destroying the belief of the sanctity of the Shastras and
denying their authority.[139] Ambedkar was critical of Hindu religious texts and
epics and wrote a work titled Riddles in
Hinduism during 1954-1955. The work was published
posthumously by combining individual chapter manuscripts and resulted in mass
demonstrations and counter demonstrations.[140][141][142]
Ambedkar viewed Christianity to be incapable of fighting
injustices. He wrote that "It is an incontrovertible fact that
Christianity was not enough to end the slavery of the Negroes in the United
States. A civil war was necessary to give the Negro the freedom which was
denied to him by the Christians."[143]
Ambedkar criticized distinctions within Islam and
described the religion as "a close corporation and the distinction that it
makes between Muslims and non-Muslims is a very real, very positive and very
alienating distinction".[144]
He opposed conversions of depressed classes to convert to
Islam or Christianity added that if they converted to Islam then "the
danger of Muslim domination also becomes real" and if they converted to
Christianity then it "will help to strengthen the hold of Britain on the
country".[145]
Initially, Ambedkar planned to convert to Sikhism but he
rejected this idea after he discovered that British government would not
guarantee the privileges accorded to the untouchables in reserved parliamentary
seats.[146]
On 16 October 1956, he converted to Buddhism just weeks
before his death.[147]
Ambedkar viewed the Shudras as Aryan and
adamantly rejected the Aryan invasion
theory, describing it as "so absurd that it ought to have been
dead long ago" in his 1946 book Who Were the
Shudras?.[148] Ambedkar viewed Shudras as originally being
"part of the Kshatriya Varna in the Indo-Aryan society", but became
socially degraded after they inflicted many tyrannies on Brahmins.[149]
According to Arvind Sharma, Ambedkar noticed certain
flaws in the Aryan invasion theory that were later acknowledged by western
scholarship. For example, scholars now acknowledge anās in Rig Veda 5.29.10 refers to
speech rather than the shape of the nose.[150] Ambedkar anticipated this modern view by stating:
The term Anasa occurs in Rig Veda
V.29.10. What does the word mean? There are two interpretations. One is by
Prof. Max Muller. The other is by Sayanacharya. According to Prof. Max Muller,
it means 'one without nose' or 'one with a flat nose' and has as such been
relied upon as a piece of evidence in support of the view that the Aryans were
a separate race from the Dasyus. Sayanacharya says that it means 'mouthless,'
i.e., devoid of good speech. This difference of meaning is due to difference in
the correct reading of the word Anasa. Sayanacharya reads it
as an-asa while Prof. Max Muller reads it as a-nasa.
As read by Prof. Max Muller, it means 'without nose.' Question is : which
of the two readings is the correct one? There is no reason to hold that
Sayana's reading is wrong. On the other hand there is everything to suggest
that it is right. In the first place, it does not make non-sense of the word.
Secondly, as there is no other place where the Dasyus are described as
noseless, there is no reason why the word should be read in such a manner as to
give it an altogether new sense. It is only fair to read it as a synonym
of Mridhravak. There is therefore no evidence in support of the
conclusion that the Dasyus belonged to a different race.[150]
Ambedkar disputed various hypotheses of the Aryan homeland
being outside India,
and concluded the Aryan homeland was India itself. According to Ambedkar, the
Rig Veda says Aryans, Dāsa and Dasyus were competing religious groups, not
different peoples.[151]
Ambedkar's views on Communism were expressed in
two 1956 texts, "Buddha or Karl Marx" and "Buddhism and
Communism".[152] He accepted the Marxist theory that the
privileged few's exploitation of
the masses perpetuated poverty and its issues. However, he did not see this
exploitation as purely economic, theorizing that the cultural aspects of
exploitation are as bad or worse than economic exploitation. In addition, he
did not see economic relationships as the only important aspect of human life.
He also saw Communists as willing to resort to any means to achieve proletarian
revolution, including violence, while he himself saw democratic and
peaceful measures as the best option for change. Ambedkar also opposed the
Marxist idea of controlling all the means of
production and ending private ownership of property: seeing the
latter measure as not able to fix the problems of society. In addition, rather
than advocating for the eventual
annihilation of the state as Marxism does, Ambedkar believed in
a classless society, but also believed the state would exist as long as society
and that it should be active in development.[82] But in the 1950s, in an interview he gave to BBC,
he accepted that the current liberal democratic system will collapse and the
alternative, as he thinks, "is some kind of communism".[153][non-primary source needed]
Several films, plays, and other works have been based on
the life and thoughts of Ambedkar.
·
Indian
director Jabbar Patel made
a documentary titled Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1991; he
followed this with a full-length feature film Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar in 2000 with Mammootty in the lead role.[154] This biopic was sponsored by the National Film Development Corporation of India and the
government's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The film was
released after a long and controversial gestation.[155]
·
Other
Indian films on Ambedkar include: Balaka Ambedkar (1991) by
Basavaraj Kestur, Dr. Ambedkar (1992) by Bharath Parepalli,
and Yugpurush Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (1993).
·
David
Blundell, professor of anthropology at UCLA and historical ethnographer, has established Arising
Light – a series of films and events that are intended to stimulate
interest and knowledge about the social conditions in India and the life of
Ambedkar.[156] In Samvidhaan,[157] a TV mini-series on the making of the Constitution
of India directed by Shyam Benegal,
the pivotal role of B. R. Ambedkar was played by Sachin Khedekar. The play Ambedkar
Aur Gandhi, directed by Arvind Gaur and written by
Rajesh Kumar, tracks the two prominent personalities of its title.[158]
·
Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability is a graphic biography of Ambedkar created by
Pardhan-Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and
Subhash Vyam, and writers Srividya Natarajan and S. Anand. The book depicts the
experiences of untouchability faced by Ambedkar from childhood to adulthood.
CNN named it one of the top 5 political comic books.[159]
·
The Ambedkar Memorial at Lucknow is dedicated in his
memory. The chaitya consists of monuments
showing his biography.[160][161]
·
Jai Bhim slogan was given by
the Dalit community in Delhi in his honour in 1946.[162]
·
Google commemorated
Ambedkar's 124th birthday through a homepage doodle on 14 April 2015.[163][164] The doodle was featured in India, Argentina, Chile,
Ireland, Peru, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.[165][166][167]
·
An
Indian television show named Ek Mahanayak: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar portraying
his life aired on &TV in 2019.[168]
·
Another
show, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar - Mahamanvachi
Gauravgatha, has aired in Marathi on Star Pravah from 2019.[169]
The Education Department, Government of
Maharashtra (Mumbai) published the collection of Ambedkar's
writings and speeches in different volumes.[170]
·
Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and
Development and 11 Other Essays
·
Ambedkar
in the Bombay Legislature, with the Simon Commission and at the Round Table
Conferences, 1927–1939
·
Philosophy
of Hinduism; India and the Pre-requisites of Communism; Revolution and
Counter-revolution; Buddha or Karl Marx
·
Riddles in
Hinduism ISBN 978-81-89059-77-4
·
Essays on Untouchables
and Untouchability
·
The Evolution of
Provincial Finance in British India
·
The Untouchables Who
Were They And Why They Became Untouchables ?
·
The Annihilation
of Caste (1936)
·
Who Were the
Shudras? (1946)
·
Pakistan or the
Partition of India
·
What Congress and
Gandhi have done to the Untouchables; Mr. Gandhi and the Emancipation of the
Untouchables
·
Ambedkar
as member of the Governor General's Executive Council, 1942–46
·
Unpublished
Writings; Ancient Indian Commerce;
Notes on laws; Waiting for a Visa ;
Miscellaneous notes, etc.
·
Ambedkar as the
principal architect of the Constitution of India
·
(2 parts) Dr. Ambedkar
and The Hindu Code Bill
·
Ambedkar as Free
India's First Law Minister and Member of Opposition in Indian Parliament (1947–1956)
·
The Pali Grammar
·
Ambedkar and his
Egalitarian Revolution – Struggle for Human Rights. Events starting from
March 1927 to 17 November 1956 in the chronological order; Ambedkar and his
Egalitarian Revolution – Socio-political and religious activities. Events
starting from November 1929 to 8 May 1956 in the chronological order; Ambedkar
and his Egalitarian Revolution – Speeches. (Events starting from 1 January
to 20 November 1956 in the chronological order.)
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