Essays

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar has undoubtedly been thecentral figure in the epistemology of the dalit universe. It isdifficult to imagine anything serious or important in theircollective life that is totally untouched by Ambedkar. For the dalit masses he is everything together; a scholar par excellencein the realm of scholarship, a Moses or messiah who led hispeople out of bondage and ignominy on to the path of prideand a Bodhisattva in the pantheon of Buddhism.

He is always bedecked with superlative, quite like God,whatever may be the context in dalit circles. It is not difficultto see the reason behind the obeisance and reverence that dalits have for Ambedkar. They see him as one who devotedevery moment of his life thinking about and struggling fortheir emancipation, who took the might of the establishment head on in defence of their cause; who sacrificed all thecomforts and conveniences of life that were quite within hireach to be on their side; who conclusively disproved thetheory of caste based superiority by rising to be the tallestamongst the tall despite enormous odds and finally as onewho held forth the torch to illuminate the path of theirfuture.

Few in the history of milleniums of their suffering had somuch as looked at them as humans and sympathized with them as fellow beings. He was their own among these few. Itwas he, who forsook his high pedestal, climbed down to theirlevel, gave them a helping hand and raised them to humanstature. It is a commonplace occurrence to see dalits right from the humble landless labourer in villages to the highly placedbureaucrats in corridors of power, emotionally attributing theirall to him. They all believe that but for him, they would stillbe living like their forefathers with spittoons around theirnecks and broom sticks to their behind.

It is thus natural for dalits to place him at the centre as their beacon and conduct their collective affairs as directedby its beam. This beam, however, is not monochromatic like alaser beam, to use an analogy from physics, but is composedof many light frequencies, the filters for which are controlled, not by the masses but by some others. They manipulate this beam as per their desire, sometimes letting some frequencies pass and sometimes some other.

They could selectively amplify some part and deamplify the other and present an entirely different spectrum. Whatreaches the masses, thus, is not the holistic and true picture of 'Ambedkar' but its part, sometimes a distorted part, carefully filtered out and amplified by the 'technicians'. This fragmented and false Ambedkar is what reaches the masses. For them, Ambedkar is no more a historical personality named Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He is already metamorphosed into asymbol—a symbol for their collective aspiration and an iconfor the thesis of their emancipation. Because for the massesicons come handy. They are sans complexity of the main body,practical usable artifacts. I conisation of the great heroes and I their ideas at the hands of masses is thus inevitable. Humanhistory is replete with such icons; rather it is largely made of them

The dalit politicians who never let the masses see the material aspects of their problems and kept them entangledIn the cobweb of emotional issues have moreover promotediconisation of Babasaheb Ambedkar. His contribution in constitution Making Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, chiefly responsible for drafting of The Constitution of India and a champion of human rights was born on the 14th April, 1891.he was the chariman of the drafting committee of Indian constitution. After graduating from Elfinstone College, bombay in 1912, he joined Columbia University, USA where he was awarded Ph.D.

Later he joined the London School of Economics and obtained a degree of D.Sc. (Economics) and was called to the bar from gray's Inn. On his return to India in 1923, he founded Bashishkrit Hitkarini Sabha' with the main objective of spreading education and improving the economic conditions of the depressed classes. With the slogan of 'Educate-Agitate-organize the social movement led by Dr. Ambedkar aimed at Annihlation of Caste and the Reconstruction of Indian society on the basis of equality of human beings.

In 1927, he led the march at Mahad, Maharashtra toestablish the rights of the untouchables to taste water from the Public Chawdar Lake', traditionally prohibited to them.This marked the beginning of anti-caste and anti-priest movement. The temple entry movement launched by Dr. Ambedkar in 1930 at the Kalaram Temple, Nashik, Maharashtrais another landmark in the struggle for human rights, politicaland social justice. Dr. Ambedkar held the view that "Onlypolitical power cannot be a panacea for the ills of the depressedclasses. Their salvation lies in their social elevation".

As a Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council from July1942 he was instrumental in bringing about several legislativemeasures to protect the rights of labourers and workers. Oneof the greatest contributions of Dr. Ambedkar was in respectof Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policyenshrined in the Constitution of India. The Fundamental Rightsprovide for freedom, equality, and abolition of Untouchability and remedies to ensure the enforcement of rights.

The Directive Principles enshrine the broad guidingprinciples for securing fair distribution of wealth and betterliving conditions. He was appointed the Chairperson of theDrafting Committee of Indian Constitution by our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. On October 14, 1956,

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar embraced Buddhism. Hecontinued the crusade for social revolution until the end ofhis life on the 6, December 1956.He was honoured with the highest national honour, 'Bharat Ratna' in April 1990.

"My final words of advice to you is to educate, agitate, organize and have faith in yourself. When justice is on our side, Idon't see how we can lose our battle. For ours is a battle not for wealthor for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamationof the human personality. —Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.