BABA SAHEB –- EMANCIPATOR OF THE DOWNTRODDEN
The idea of fundamental rights
has become a familiar one since their enactment in the American Constitution
and in the Constitution framed by the Revolutionary France. The idea of making
a gift of fundamental rights to every individual is no doubt very laudable. The
question is how to make them effective? The prevalent view is that once the
rights are enacted in law then they are safeguarded. This again is an
unwarranted assumption. As experience proves, rights are protected not by law
but by social and moral conscience of the society. If social conscience is such
that it is prepared to recognise the rights which law proposes to enact, rights
will be safe and secure. But if the fundamental rights are opposed by the
community, no Law, no Parliament, no Judiciary can guarantee them in the real
sense of the world…. As Burke said, there is no method found for punishing the
multitude. Law can punish a single solitary recalcitrant criminal. It can never
operate against the whole body of people who choose to defy it. Social
conscience is the only safeguard of all rights, fundamental or non-fundamental.
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
The life
of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was marked by struggles but he proved that every hurdle
in life can be surmounted with talent and firm determination. The biggest barrier in his life was the caste
system adopted by the Hindu society according to which the family he was born
in was considered ‘untouchable’.
The
Making of Baba Saheb
Born on 14th April,
1891 in Mahu Cantt in Madhya Pradesh, he was the fourteenth child of his
parents.In the year 1908, young Bhimrao passed the Matriculation examination
from Bombay University with flying colours.
Four years later he graduated in Political Science and Economics from
Bombay University and got a job in Baroda.
Around the same time his father passed away. Although he was going through a bad time, Bhimrao decided to
accept the opportunity to go to USA for further studies at Columbia University
for which he was awarded a scholarship by the Maharaja of Baroda. Bhimrao
remained abroad from 1913 to 1917 and again from 1920 to 1923. During this period he had established
himself as an eminent intellectual.
Columbia University had awarded him the PhD for his thesis, which was
later published in a book form under the title “The Evolution of Provincial
Finance in British India”. But his
first published article was “Castes in India - Their Mechanism, Genesis and
Development”. During his sojourn in
London from 1920 to 1923, he also completed his thesis titled “The Problem of
the Rupee” for which he was awarded the degree of DSc. Before his departure for London he had
taught at a College in Bombay and also brought out Marathi weekly whose title
was ‘Mook Nayak’ (meaning ‘Dumb Hero’).
By the time he returned to India in April 1923, Dr Bhimrao
Ambedkar had equipped himself fully to wage war against the practice of untouchability
on behalf of the untouchable and the downtrodden. Meanwhile the political situation in India
had undergone substantial changes and the freedom struggle in the country
had made significant progress.
Saviour
of the Poor
While Bhimrao was an ardent patriot on one hand, he was
the saviour of the oppressed, women and poor on the other. He fought for them throughout his life. In 1923, he set up the ‘Bahishkrit Hitkarini
Sabha’ (Outcastes Welfare Association), which was devoted to spreading
education and culture amongst the downtrodden, improving the economic status
and raising matters concerning their problems in the proper forums to focus
attention on them and finding solutions to the same.
The problems of the downtrodden were centuries old and difficult
to overcome. Their entry into temples
was forbidden. They could not draw
water from public wells and ponds. Their
admission in schools was prohibited. In 1927, he led the Mahad March at the Chowdar Tank at Colaba, near
Bombay, to give the untouchables the right to draw water from the public tank
where he burnt copies of the ‘Manusmriti’ publicly. This marked the beginning of the anti-caste
and ant-priest movement. The temple
entry movement launched by Dr. Ambedkar in 1930 at Kalaram temple, Nasik is
another landmark in the struggle for human rights and social justice.
Poona
Pact with Gandhiji
In the meantime, Ramsay McDonald announced the ‘Communal
Award’ as a result of which in several communities including the ‘depressed
classes’ were given the right to have separate electorates. This was a part of the overall design of the
British to divide and rule. Gandhiji wanted to defeat this design and went on a
fast unto death to oppose it. On 24th
September 1932, Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhiji reached an understanding, which
became the famous Poona Pact. According
to this Pact, in addition to the agreement on electoral constituencies,
reservations were provided for untouchables in Government jobs and legislative
assemblies. The provision of separate
electorate was dispensed with. The Pact
carved out a clear and definite position for the downtrodden on the political
scene of the country. It opened up
opportunities of education and government service for them and also gave them a
right to vote.
Dr. Ambedkar attended all the three Round Table Conferences
in London and each time, forcefully projected his views in the interest of
the ‘untouchable’. He exhorted the
downtrodden sections to raise their living standards and to acquire as much
political power as possible.
Independent
Labour Party
After a while Dr. Ambedkar, organised the Independent
Labour Party, participated in the provincial elections and was elected to the Bombay
Legislative Assembly. During these days
he stressed the need for abolition of the ‘Jagirdari’ system, pleaded for
workers’ Fight to strike and addressed a large number of meetings and
conferences in Bombay Presidency. In
1939, during the Second World War, he called upon Indians to join the Army in
large numbers to defeat Nazism, which he said, was another name for Fascism.
In 1947, when India became independent, the first Prime Minister
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Dr. Ambedkar, who had been elected as a Member
of the Constituent Assembly from Bengal, to join his Cabinet as a Law Minister.
Dr. Ambedkar had differences of opinion with the Government over the
Hindu Code Bill, which led to his resignation as Law Minister.
Drafting of Indian Constitution
The Constituent Assembly entrusted the job of drafting the
Constitution to a committee and Dr. Ambedkar was elected as Chairman of this
Drafting Committee. While he was busy
with drafting the Constitution, India faced several crises. The country saw partition and Mahatma Gandhi
was assassinated.
In the beginning of 1948, Dr. Ambedkar completed the draft
of the Constitution and presented it in the Constituent Assembly. In November 1949, this draft was adopted
with very few amendments. Many
provisions have been made in the Constitution to ensure social justice for
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward classes.
Dr. Ambedkar was of the opinion that traditional religious
values should be given up and new ideas adopted. He laid special emphasis on dignity, unity, freedom and rights
for all citizens as enshrined in the Constitution.
Ambedkar advocated democracy in every field: social,
economic and political. For him social
Justice meant maximum happiness to the maximum number of people.
On 24 May 1956, on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti, he
declared in Bombay, that he would adopt Buddhism in October. On 0ctober 14, 1956 he embraced Buddhism
along with many of his followers. The same
year he completed his last writing ‘Buddha and His Dharma’.
Dr. Ambedkar’s patriotism started with the upliftment of
the downtrodden and the poor. He fought
for their equality and rights. His
ideas about patriotism were not only confined to the abolition of colonialism,
but he also wanted freedom for every individual. For him freedom without equality, democracy and equality without
freedom could lead to absolute dictatorship.
On 6th December 1956, Baba Saheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar attained
‘Mahaparinirvan’.
Economic Democracy
According
to Baba Saheb, the object of framing the Constitution is two-fold : (1) To lay
down the form of political democracy, and (2) To lay down that our ideal is
economic democracy and also to prescribe that every Government whatever is in
power shall strive to bring about economic democracy. The directive principles
have a great value, for they lay down that our ideal is economic democracy.
In 1990, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, the chief architect of our Constitution,
was bestowed with Bharat Ratna. The same year Dr. Ambedkar’s life size portrait
was also unveiled in the Central Hall of Parliament.
The period from 14th April 1990-14th April 1991 was observed as ‘Year
of Social Justice’ in the memory of Babasaheb, the champion of the poor and
the downtrodden. (PIB Features)
*Courtesy Ambedkar Foundation
AB/RTS/VN
SS-205/SF-205/06.12.2006
(Release ID :22891)