HISTORY

Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who is popularly known as Baba Saheb, was one of the greatest social
reformers. He was not only a scholar of high repute and an intellectual of his time but he was
also a prolific writer, an orator, a lawyer, a statesman and a visionary who could have capacity
to shape up the future and destiny of India.

Dr B. R. Ambedkar was born on 14th April, 1891 in a military family of Mahars at Mhow in
Madhya Pradesh. But his ancestral home was at Ambavade village of Ratnagiri district of
Maharashtra. His father, Subedar Major Ramji Sakpal, and forefathers were all military men and
had distinction of serving British Army. His mother, Mrs Bhimabai Ambedkar, died when he
was 6 years old. The influence of parents was inevitable on Dr. Ambedkar who not only led a
disciplined and pure life but also inspired many to follow the path of truth, freedom, hard work
and dedication.
In 1904,he entered into Elphinstone High school in Bombay and got married in 1906 to Ramabai
Ambedkar before he passed his Matriculation Examination in 1907 . In 1913 he passed his B. A.
exams with distinction. It was during this time he was selected for a Gaikwad Scholarship to
study in the famous Columbia University, USA. He passed his M. A. in Economics and
Sociology and was conferred on Ph. D. by Columbia University.After that he left for London
School of Economics and Political Science for further study and got back to his home land in
1917. After his return he joined as Military Secretary to Maharaja Gaikwad of Baroda. However
he could not be there in job for long because of prevalent of caste system.
In his early life Ambedkar had been associated with various temple entry movements. His
political career started in 1920s when he published a Marathi weekly paper 'Mooknayak'' for
championing the cause of Depressed Classes of India and established the Bahiskrit Hitkarini
Sabha in 1924 for social and political protection of the untouchables. He also started another
Marathi paper Bahiskrit Bharat for those who were exploited by upper castes. The newspaper
spoke against those anti social actions and started an activism in India for the first time. Besides
in 1927 he organised Mahad Satyagrah to give access to the untouchables to drink water from
public water tank located in Raigad district of Maharashtra. In 1942,Ambedkar founded All India
Scheduled Castes Federation to campaign for the rights of the Dalit community.This
organisation criticised Cripps Mission as it didn't say anything about the Depressed Classes.

Dr. Ambedkar organised people against the orthodox practices and fought for their rights and
liberties. However, in 1935 , at Yeola conference he declared, I was born as Hindu but I will not
die as Hindu. In 1956 he embraced Buddhism at Nagpur along with millions of his followers. He
breathed his last in same year on 6th December 1956 at Delhi.
Dr Ambedkar was one of the most powerful thinkers, who in his own way,played an important
role in shaping and moulding India's struggle for swaraj. The swaraj that Gandhi conceptualised
didn't find support with Dr Ambedkar since he was first hand cognizant of harsh realities in our
deeply hierarchical Hindu society. At the time when Gandhi was emphasizing on the political
elements of swaraj , Dr Ambedkar with his experience drawn from his western education and
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the bitter experience as a lower caste individual emerged as a strong protagonist for social
justice and abolition of caste system in the hindu society.By emphasising the prevalence of
hierarchical tyranny in our Hindu and society, Dr Ambedkar sensitized the leaders of the
freedom struggle to bring about the institutional changes.
In his crusade for social justice, Dr Ambedkar was also greatly supported by the contemporary
social movements in the western and southern parts of India, which challenged the upper caste
hegemony. Dr Ambedkar realized that caste was sole factor in determining the status of any
individual in Hindu society and no individual could outgrow the constraints dictated by the caste
hierarchy. With all his laurels that he earned with his western education Dr Ambedkar found that
even he could not outgrow the stigma of caste. At the fag end of his life, therefore he embraced
Buddhism.

Ambedkar, like Gandhi promulgated the non violent movement . These two men, both having
attained Swaraj in their own right, became central forces of power and might. However, these
two men had philosophically opposite thought, especially in the political arena. As a great
champion of social justice he discovered that the caste system or untouchability can be the root
cause of social injustice in the society. While Mahatma Gandhi also dedicated his life towards
the removal of untouchability in India,Ambedkar differed in many ways for achieving the same
objective. In order to give a social status to the untouchables with high castes people in Indian
society, Gandhi coined the word Harijans ( Children of God) . However Ambedkar preferred to
call them the Depressed Classes (Dalits) or the scheduled castes for the upliftment of their social
plight. In another sense Gandhi wanted to remove or abolish untouchability in a slow process by
adopting the non-violence and peaceful method but Ambedkar in his book (Annihilation Of
Caste) suggested radical solution for removal of social evil.
These differences between Gandhi and Ambedkar should not be streched so far, as these are not
surprising when one understands the background of the lives of these eminent personalities.
Despite these differences both contributed in uplifting the lives of the Depressed Classes.