Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s ideas for progressive India
Answers
➡️ Ambedkar did more than draft the constitution: he was also a revered civil rights leader.
➡️ Born a Dalit (a social classification formerly called “untouchable,” the lowest position in the Hindu caste system,) he suffered discrimination throughout his life.
➡️ In 1936, he wrote the influential pamphlet Annihilation of Caste, a blistering argument against the ancient system of social stratification.
➡️ And when, starting in 1947, he hammered out the Indian constitution’s integral principles of democracy, equality and freedom of religion, he also inserted sections prohibiting caste-based discrimination and legally outlawing the practice of untouchability.
➡️ But 70 years after the Indian constitution came into force, left-wing protesters aren’t the only group claiming to be the ideological heirs to Ambedkar.
➡️ In recent weeks, his image has also appeared at Hindu nationalist counter-protests.
➡️ Prime Minister Narendra Modi often invokes Ambedkar in speeches, claiming his government’s policies further the goals Ambedkar pursued throughout his life, including the annihilation of caste.
➡️ “No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb [Ambedkar] the way our government has,” Prime Minister Modi said in 2018, referring to him by an honorific loosely translated as “respected father.” “Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us.”