Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, and social reformer who fought economic and social discrimination against the untouchables in India's Hindu society. Ambedkar served as chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution of India, and Minister of Law and Justice in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru from 1947 to 1951. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism, initiating mass conversions of Dalits.

Family and Early Life

Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in the town and military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces. He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai Sakpal. His father was a Subedar in the army. His family was of marathi background and he was born in the Mahar(dalit) caste. The dalits were then treated as untouchables and were subjected to socio-economic discrimination. Ambedkar and other untouchable children were segregated and given very 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 was required to sit on a gunny sack which he had to take home with him. Ambedkar married Ramabai Ambedkar, who died in 1935, and then Ambedkar married Savita Ambedkar in 1948. He had 3 children out of which 2 died and he was only left with 1 son- Yashwant Ambedkar (from Ramabai Ambedkar).

Important works

1. Opposition to untouchability

Ambedkar was educated by the Princely State of Baroda. He was appointed military general to Gaikwad but he had to quit in a short time. Then 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. 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. 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. He tried to promote education to untouchables and uplift them. His first organised attempt was his establishment of the central institution Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha which was intended to promote education and socio-economic improvement as well as the welfare of "outcastes"(referred to as depressed classes). 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. Ambedkar publicly condemned the classic Hindu text, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), for ideologically justifying caste discrimination and "untouchability", he ceremonially burned copies of the ancient text. On 25 December 1927, he led thousands of followers to burn copies of Manusmriti.Thus annually 25 December is celebrated as Manusmriti Dahan Din by dalits. 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. women and men walked with determination to see the god for the first time. When they reached the gates, the gates were closed by Brahmin authorities. This movement was successful and Dalits were given the right of entering the temples.

2. Poona Pact

In 1932, the British colonial government announced the formation of a separate electorate for "Depressed Classes" in the Communal Ward. Mahatma Gandhi fiercely opposed a separate electorate for untouchables, he feared that such an arrangement would divide the Hindu community. 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. On 25 September 1932, the Poona Pact was signed between Ambedkar and Madan Mohan Malaviya. 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. The text used the term "Depressed Classes" to denote Untouchables among Hindus. 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

3. Drafting India's Constitution

Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first Law Minister, which he accepted. On 29 August, he was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee and was appointed by the Assembly to write India's new Constitution. The text prepared by Ambedkar provided constitutional 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 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. India's leaders hoped to eradicate the socio -economic inequalities and lack of opportunities for India's depressed classes through these measures. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly. Ambedkar opposed Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which granted a special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and which was included against his wishes. Ambedkar had clearly told the Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdullah that as the Law Minister, he would never give any special status to Kashmir or any other city. Sk. Abdullah approached Nehru, who directed him to Gopal Swami Ayyangar, who in turn approached Sardar Patel, saying Nehru had promised Sk. Abdullah the special status. Patel got the Article passed while Nehru was on a foreign tour. On the day the article came up for discussion, Ambedkar did not reply to questions on it but did participate on other articles. All arguments related to it were done by Krishna Swami Ayyangar.

4. Conversion to 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. Instead, around 1950, he began devoting his attention to Buddhism and travelled to Sri Lanka to attend a meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced that when the book he was writing on Buddhism was finished, he would formally convert to Buddhism. He visited Burma in 1954 to attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon. In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India. In 1956, he completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, which was published posthumously. After meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Hammalawa Saddhatissa , 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 5,00,000 of his supporters who were gathered around him. He prescribed the 22 Vows for these converts after the Three Jewels and Five Precepts.

Death

Since 1948, Ambedkar suffered from diabetes. He was bed-ridden from June to October in 1954 due to medication side-effects and poor eyesight. 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. A Buddhist cremation was organised at Dadar Chowpatty beach on 7 December, attended by half a million grieving people. A conversion program was organised on 16 December 1956 so that cremation attendees were also converted to Buddhism at the same place. A memorial for Ambedkar was established in his Delhi house at 26 Alipur Road. His birthdate is celebrated as a public holiday known as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1990. On the anniversary of his birth and death and on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din, at least half a million people gather to pay homage to him at his memorial in Mumbai. Thousands of bookshops are set up, and books are sold.

We must follow his path and educate ourselves and others. We must not discriminate others on the basis of religion, caste, color, gender, financial or economic status. We must treat everyone as equal and fight against the injustice. We must not sit quiet when we see anyone being discriminated, but step up and fight the oppressors. He was a great man of strong morals and high character.