Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The situation changed during the period from 1956 to 1978. But they
were still weak, selectively accepted in the society, concept of unwanted
fading away and fear allying slowly & steadily. Broken People started
crawling.
From 1978 to the Dawn of 21st Century, they are moderately healthy,
accepted under compulsions, wanted very much in every sphere of life and
they are selectively fearful especially towards country side. Every endeavor
must be directed towards making 21st as CENTURY OF AMBEDKARISM for
attainment of real human values.
This paved the way for present Indian society though partially transforming
into the society based on principles of LIBERTY!EQUALITY!!FRATERNITY!!!
from graded inequality. Ambedkars thoughts of various aspects of human
civilization like Social, Religious, Economic, Cultural and Political are of
paramount importance for not only the overall development Dalitbahujans
but whole of the Indian society.
AMBEDKARITE THOUGHTS
Social thoughts:
He said, Every man should have a philosophy of life, for everyone
have a standard by which to measure his conduct. Negatively I
reject the Hindu social philosophy propounded in the Bhagwat
Geeta based as it is on, on the triguna of the Sankhya philosophy
which is in my judgment a cruel perversion of the philosophy of
Kapila, and which had made the caste system and the system of
graded inequality the law of Hindu social life. Positively my social
philosophy may be said to have been enshrined in three words-
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Let no one; however, say that I have
borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My
philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have
derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha. In his
philosophy, liberty and equality had a place; but he added that
unlimited liberty destroyed equality and absolute equality left no
room for liberty. In his philosophy, law had a place only as a
safeguard against the breaches of liberty and equality; but he did
not believe that law can be a guarantee for breaches of liberty or
equality. He gave the highest place to fraternity as the only real
safeguard against the denial of the liberty or equality or fraternity
which was another name for brotherhood or humanity, which was
again another name for religion.
Religious Thoughts:
While speaking in Untouchables Youth Conference at Dadar, Bombay on 30-
31st May 1936, Dr. Ambedkar said, The Hindus Religion does not appeal
to my conscience. It does not appeals to my self-respectI tell
you religion is for man and not man for religion. He once said,
Religion is not a means to earn wealth and fame. It is a precious
possession of an individuals mind and to be used only for achieving
mental peace and alleviating the sufferings of society. While
deliberating on Hinduism his thoughts were- If I am disgusted with
Hindus and Hinduism, it is because I am convinced that they cherish
wrong ideals and live a wrong social life. My quarrel with Hindus
and Hinduism is not over the imperfection of their social conduct. It
is much more fundamental. It is over their ideals. He rightly justified
his thoughts while saying, The religion that does not recognize you as
human being or give you water to drink, or allow you to enter the
temple is not worthy to be called a religion. The religion that forbid
you to receive education and come in the way of your material
advance is not worthy of appellation religion. The religion that does
not teach its followers to show humanity in dealing with its co-
religionists is nothing but display of force. The religion that asks its
adherents to suffer the touch of human beings is not religion but
mockery. The religion which precludes some classes from education,
forbids them to accumulate wealth and bear no arms is not religion
but a mockery. The religion that compels the ignorant to be ignorant
and poor to be poor is not religion but visitation.
He wanted that Hindu religion must be reformed and made the religion
of humanity deleting the concept of graded inequality. But it could not
happen in his life time. He declared in frustration on 13 th October 1935 at
Yeol, Unfortunately I was born a Hindu. It was beyond my powers to
prevent that, but I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a
Hindu. It took him almost two decades (22 years) to decide which way he
shall go. He studied Islam, Christianity as well as Sikhism and ultimately
settled for conversion to Buddhism- the religion of Wisdom with scientific
basis.
Political thoughts:
Dr. Ambedkar was advocate of Democratic norm to run the country and he
wanted that due representation must be given to the majority community i.e
Depressed classes. During second Round Table conference he said,The
organization of Hindu society is such that in it there is no place for
equality and freedom which are essential for democratic life. Unless
the power of government is handed over into the hands of Indians
and unless that power reaches the hands of those who have been
suffering and exploited for centuries, their economic sufferings and
social disability cannot be put to an end. -2nd RTC
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was of the firm belief that Democracy on the earth
is the best governing principle of human relationship. He wanted his people
to strive along with other communities/countries to maintain the basis of
democratic civilization. He opined-if Democracy dies it will be their
Doom. Ultimately he gave political message to his people-Political power
is the key to all social progress and the Scheduled castes can
achieve their salvation if they capture this power by organizing
themselves into a third party and holding the balance of power
between the rival political parties congress and socialists.
Thanks are due to late Kanshi Ram for making people to understand
the real Ambedkar and the phenomenon called Ambedkarism. Kanshi Ram
gathered SC/ST/OBC/Minority Community Employees under one banner of
BAMCEF. A thorough search started of Indian history, Dalit history and
Babasahebs struggle as well as struggle of other Dalit social reformers
through BAMCEF. Babasahebs name was made a household phenomenon
not only amongst Dalits but upper caste too. Provoked by BAMCEF-DS4-BSP
movement, late V.P. Singh led central government conferred Bharat Ratna
on this greatest intellectual Giant in 1991. After 1991 a long list of political
outfits, social organizations both Non-Dalit as well as Dalit started almost
preaching Babasaheb Ambedkar. Even some sharp intellectual brains used
Dr. Ambedkars name for commercial activities of varied nature. Thanks for
making Ambedkar a household phenomenon also must go to Mr. J. B. Bansod,
a Nagpur based Advocate, who fought a long battle to make public the
literature of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The part of literature has ultimately been
made public by Maharashtra government in the name of Writing & Speeches
of Babasaheb Ambedkar in 24 volumes. The work in this regard started in
1981 and from 1986 the Maharashtra Government is continuously publishing
Writings and Speeches of Babasaheb Ambedkar. It has been learnt that for
last 2-3 years Maharashtra Government has stopped reprinting already
published volumes of Writings and Speeches of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
What is Ambedkarism?
Ambedkarism is basically the ideology based on Principles and Thoughts of
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. If we see it through Dalits interest, its essence is hiding
in three words- EDUCATE! AGITATE!! ORGANISE!!! That ultimately revolves
around emancipation of SC/ST/OBCs in terms of social, educational and
economic aspects. That ultimately shall give self-respect and self-
empowerment to Dalit-bahujans. Ambedkarite ideology in broader
prospective means LIBERTY! EQUALITY!! FRATERNITY!!! , that directly
challenges Indian Social Order whose sufferers are the majority of this
country including women. While telling ways and means to achieve all above
he had to be proactive, harsh/hard, and controversial too. Ambedkars
truthful thoughts and challenge to the Indian social Order made him
controversial in the eyes of upper caste, whereas erstwhile untouchables
(now Dalits) viewed him as their savior. It is the basic nature of humanity
that every ideology that favors one sect of society and disfavors other
becomes controversial and eye sore for those against whom it is directed.
This is also true of Ambedkarism. The Ambedkarite thoughts and actions not
only challenged the Indian social order but also made it upside down favoring
the depressed ones. That is why there are both accepters and rejecters of
this ideology. If the followers of this ideology will not work for its spread and
safety, the opponents will make it to lose its essence, as has happened with
Buddhism and Bhakti movement of India.
I conclude with the remarks that while deliberating Ambedkar & his
phenomenon we must try to put a realistic and rationalistic view of the
Principles and Thoughts of Babasaheb Ambedkar to the masses. We also
must endeavor to carry forward Ambedkarism to the generation next by
adopting ways and means for the same.
Ambedkarite methods has to be applied to present day conditions to
give political power in the hands of majority, that shall be annihilating the
Caste by virtue of socio-educational-economic upliftment of the majority.
So let us dedicate and devote 21 st century to this great intellectual
Giant for achievement of LIBERTY!EQUALITY!!FRATERNITY!!! for long
lasting peace and prosperity for mankind.