The Life & Mission of Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born on 14th April, 1891 in Central
India as the fourteenth child to parents who belonged to the oppressed
calss of Hindu society. Dr. Ambedkar was born at that time of India when
people of his caste were not even allowed to hear the scriptures. He had
to struggle a lot in his life to reach the heights he achieved and he
dedicated his entire life for the upliftment of the deprived and
underprivileged sections of the society.
Dr. Ambedkar was the first dalit
personality of India to pursue a
batchelor degree. He was born at that time in India when Indians did not
even pay much value to education. On the contrary, Bhimrao wanted to
gain as much knowledge as possible in his life. He used to invest a lot in
books and had a huge library of which he had read all the books. He was
extremely organised and could give you the exact location of a particular
book in his collection.
It was only his sheer determination that he was able to study and move
forward to educate himself and achieve a college degree. He went on to
United States and England to pursue higher studies, where he earned a
law degree and around 12 doctorates for his study and research in law,
economics and political science. Returning home as a famous scholar,
Ambedkar practiced law for a few years before he began publishing
journals advocating political rights and social freedom for Indias
oppressed class.
Since Babasaheb had experienced the life of the oppressed class, and had
gone through the hardships in his life, he devoted his life to work for the
betterment of the people who were considered as Dalits in India.
To proclaim and to bring to light the humiliations suffered by the dalits
and to fight for equal rights, a periodical called Mook Nayak was
started. He also attended the three Round Table Conferences that were
held in London to enable representatives of the various Indian
communities and the three British Political parties to consider proposals
for the future constitution of India. He founded the Bahishkrit Hitkarini
Sabha in 1924 for the upliftment of the depressed classes.
He opened a hostel for dalits students at Barshi. He was nominated as a
member of the Bombay Legislative Council in 1926. He started
Satyagraha at Mahad, a place in Kolaba district to secure to the
untouchables the Right of access to the Chawdar Tank. He also started
Satyagraha at Kalram Temple, Nasik to secure the Right of entry into the
temple by the untouchables.
In September 1932, he signed the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi
giving up the separate electorates granted to the depressed classes and
instead accepting representation through Joint Electorates which greatly
increased the number of reserved seats. By signing this Pact, Dr.
Ambedkar marked his emergence as the most influential leader of the
oppressed class. From the year 1932-34, he became a member of joint
parliamentary committee on the Indian Constitutional Reform.
historical
Yeola
Conversion
Conference
was
held
under
the
Presidentship of Dr.Ambedkar on Oct 13th, 1935. There he exhorted the
depressed classes to leave Hinduism and embrace an other religion.
Babasaheb was deadly against the caste system that was prevailing in
India. He always fought against the caste system where discrimination
being exercised but not against any individual.
Dr. Ambedkar was a very knowledgeable person and he joined the
freedom struggle of India and politics later. He founded the 'Independent
labour party' of India and published many books that were for the
upliftment of the untouchables in India. In the 1 st general election held in
1937 under Govt. of India, Dr. Ambedkar was elected Member of Bombay
Legislative Assembly. His labour party secured 17 seats more than the
reserved seats of 15 in total of 175 seats.
After independence, Dr. Ambedkar was invited and became the first law
minister. On 29th August 1947, a committee was constituted to frame the
Constitution of India. Dr. Ambedkar placed the draft Constitution before
the Constituent Assembly on 4th November 1948. The part of the
Constitution wiping out untouchability was approved on 29th November
1948. Ambedkars struggle bore fruit in his own life time. A new chapter
began in social life. The Constituent Assembly accepted the draft India
Constitution on 26th November 1949.
As early as in 1951, Ambedkars health had begun to fail. Yet he
continued to work saying that he would not succumb to ill health when
there was work to be done. In 1951, Dr. Ambedkar resigned his office as
minister raising voice over Hindu code bill introduced in the parliament.
In 1952, he was defeated by a Congress candidate in the election for the
Lok Sabha. A few days later he was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
On 14th October 1956 at a big function in Nagpur, Dr. Ambedkar, with his
wife, embraced Buddhism. On 6th December 1956, he breathed his last
and cremated at Dadar Chaupatti now known as Chaitya Bhoomi
Dadar.
He was also honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian
award, in 1990.
Modern India voted him even after 65 years of independence as the
Greatest Indian through poll participated by 2 Crores of Indians
conducted by History TV18 & CNNIBN.
He was a great social reformer and most of the people of downtrodden
consider him as their Messia, the God.
He is a symbol of Equality for all.
