What are the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to remove untouchability from the society?
Answers
Answer:
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) and Bhimjirao Ambedkar (1891-1956) are among the major makers of modern India. Their public careers began early — Gandhi's in South Africa in the mid-1890s and Ambedkar's in western India in the early 1920s. They built on the work of nineteenth century and early twentieth century religious and social reformers such as Ram Mohun Roy (1772-1833), Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842-1901), Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), Swami Dayananda (1824-1883), and Jotiba Phule (1827-1890). Each fought with rare persistence and exceptional vigor to rid India of oppression from within and without. Once they entered the public arena, there was no turning back for either of them. They maintained the momentum in their struggles for justice and equality until the very end of their lives. Gandhi and Ambedkar offered specific goals for and pathways to the creation of a just social order in India. They differed over objectives as well as the methods for achieving their ends. In their long public careers, both of them addressed a number of crucial social and political issues. How best to remove untouchability was a major issue over which the two had fundamental differences from late 1920s onward.
Perhaps it was to be expected that their very different backgrounds and commitments took them on different paths in the struggle against internal and external oppression. Gandhi believed that standing at the heart of the inherited Hindu tradition, including its caste system, it was possible to overcome untouchability. "In my opinion, untouchability is a blot on humanity and therefore upon Hinduism. It cannot stand the test of reason. It is in conflict with the fundamental precepts of Hinduism,” he insisted.2 Untouchability was reform “custom masquerading under the name of religion.”3 He set out to reform but not to reject Hinduism. According to the Mahatma, "the caste system is a hindrance, not a sin. But untouchability is a sin, a great crime, and if Hinduism does not destroy this serpent while there is time, it will be devoured by it."4 He firmly believed that ultimately the removal of untouchability depended on the change of heart of millions of caste Hindus.5
For his part, Ambedkar initially sought equality within the Hindu tradition, hoping to gain a place of religious and social equality with caste Hindus. For more than a decade, he struggled to overcome untouchability while staying within the Hindu fold. Finding Hinduism too flawed to be a force for justice and the Hindu orthodoxy too resistant to change, he gave up on Hinduism. Reflecting on his more than two decades of activism, he said:
When I started on my public career and long thereafter I considered that for good or for evil we were part of Hindu society.... I thought for long that we could rid the Hindu society of its evils and get the Depressed Classes incorporated into it on terms of equality. . . . Experience has taught me better. I stand today absolutely convinced that for the Depressed Classes there can be no equality among the Hindus because on inequality rest the foundations of Hinduism.6
After years of reflection and in the hopes of carrying along with him Dalits as well as caste Hindus, a few days before he died, Ambedkar turned to Buddhism.
Yet, in spite of their different approaches to ridding India of untouchability, each helped to significantly weaken the hold of Hindu orthodoxy and as a consequence strengthened the social and political status of the untouchables. Making the practice of untouchability unlawful by the new Indian Government in 1950 was helpful, but it did not eradicate untouchability. Neither "affirmative action" nor exclusively Dalit led and Dalit organized politics is as effective today as in earlier years.7 Sixty-two years after Gandhi's assassination and fifty-four years after Ambedkar's death, Hindu society remains caste- bound and the untouchables are all too frequently brutalized. As we move further into the twenty-first century, political leaders and social activists will do well to revisit Gandhi and Ambedkar and ask what, if anything, that can be learned from them.
Explanation:
Answer:
Time and again, Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar reminded the Indian population that only political clarity or administrative reforms could not shape a country that is so diverse in culture and social spectrum.
While Mahatma Gandhi was uniting India to rise against the oppressive British government, Babasaheb Ambedkar was guiding the Indians towards a spiritual development.
Explanation: