Dr. B R Ambedkar Champion of the weak.

Today is the birthday of the greatest son of India of all times. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, was a great statesman, orator, debater, and a very highly qualified person.  He was a GIANT who walked this earth and left a legacy for posterity. 

He was born in an untouchable family on 14.04.1891, but  overcame all the disadvantages of discrimination against him single handedly. He was one of the most educated and highly qualified persons of India. He did his Post Graduation from Colombia University in 1915 majoring in Economics, followed by a P hD in Economics from the same University.

 He took a second Master's Degree in 1921 from London School of Economics and a D Sc also from LSE in Economics in 1923.

 He was also called to the Bar by Grey's Inn. 

He was an eminent Jurist, Economist, Politician and social reformer who campaigned against social discrimination of dalits and women. 

He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925. This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for the future Constitution of India. He also represented India at the Round Table Conferences.

He served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as Minister for labour.

He was Independent India's First Law Minister and the Principal Architect of the Constitution of India as he was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India. 

He introduced the Hindu Code Bill as Law Minister of the First cabinet of free India, and resigned when the Bill was not passed.

He launched active movements against Untouchability and led the fight for human dignity and self respect. Untouchables were not allowed to draw water from the Village well or tank and they were not allowed to enter a temple.  Therefore in 1927 Babasaheb led a satyagraha in Mahad to open up and share drinking water resources with the untouchables.

On 25th December 1927 copies of Manusmriti which justifies the system of caste discrimination and untouchability were ceremoniously burnt.

In 1930 Babasaheb led a non violent procession of 15000 volunteers to the Kalaram Temple at Nashik, so that the untouchables could have the right to enter a temple and worship  God . Yet when the procession reached the temple the gates were closed by the Brahmin authorities, denying them this facility. 

In 1936, Dr. Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party which contested in the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively. His Political party was later transformed as the Scheduled Caste Federation.

He was a voracious reader and writer. His books and writings have been published by the Government of Maharashtra.

I consider him the greatest Indian of all times as after having been born in an untouchable family, and having faced immense humiliation at the hands of people of higher castes, he did not allow it to break his spirit and instead went from strength to strength. His motto was Educate, Agitate, Organise. His maximum emphasis was on education. It is only because of him that the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste are able to live their life with dignity today. The mind set of the caste Hindus has still not changed and so they continue to discriminate and have a bias against people belonging to Scheduled Caste. Had it not been for Dr. Ambedkar the Scheduled Caste people would never have got the opportunity to rise in society.
He was not only the leader of Untouchables as is made out today. One has to read his writings to know how evolved his thinking was. He was a champion of freedom, equality, fraternity and democracy. His thoughts were for freedom of every individual. He said, "Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man. one whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one's existence."
One more quote of his which shows the importance that he gave to enlightenment of woman is, "I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved"
His achievements, thoughts, philosophy need to be read and understood, to know the person that he was. He was know for his wisdom and learning all over the World. He stood alone and led his people to emancipation. I have only written a very brief glimpse of the person who fought against the mind set of a dogmatic, hierarchical people who discriminated on the basis of a caste in which a person was born. Babasaheb's followers blindly follow him and treat him as a God.

My grand father was a friend of Dr. Ambedkar. While Dr. Ambedkar lived in 22 Prithviraj Road, my grand father G T Meshram lived in 4 Lodi Road. Every evening my mother and her parents went to Babasaheb's house. Babasaheb would usually ask my mother to fetch a book from his library. Dr used to work for 18 hours in a day. He was never without a book. There would be pencil marks, and notes on the margin of the book that he read. 

My mother's wedding was fixed by Dr. Sahib and the engagement ceremony was held at Dr Ambedkar's  house.