Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti) commemorates the birth of the father of the Indian Constitution and the messiah of the caste movement in India,Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, well known as Babasaheb, was born into a Mahar family in 1891. He didn’t come into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth, yet he was able to have a huge effect on many people’s lives. According to the Hindu caste system, the Mahars were untouchables, and Ambedkar faced severe challenges in his early life.

His ideational life was centered on caste. Ambedkar’s works have been used in literature and the media to highlight his early exposure to caste-based oppression. Discrimination from classmates, instructors, and neighbors made an indelible impression on him.

 B.R. Ambedkar’s Childhood and Early Years

Dr. Ambedkar’s ancestral hamlet is Ambavade, situated in the Ratnagiri District of Maharashtra and is approximately 5 miles from Madhavgarh, a tiny village. Bhimrao Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891, in the Mahar Caste, deemed untouchable at the time. Ramji Sakpal was his father’s name, and he was married to Bhimabai, a murbadkar family member. Ramji Sakpal has 14 children, Bhmrao being the 14th. Bhimrao’s feelings of untouchability began as early as his boyhood. Bhimrao’s father was employed in Gurgaon, a nearby hamlet. He traveled to Gorgaon with his brother and cousin to visit his father one summer. They had sent his father a letter, but he had not got it in time, so he did not come to the train station to welcome his children. The lads, who were having difficulties getting about, approached the station master for assistance, and after some convincing, he agreed to hire a bullock cart for them. The cart had hardly gone a few yards when the cart driver discovered that the well-dressed youngsters in his cart were untouchables, and in a fit of wrath, he flung them out on the road like dustbins, believing that his bullocks had been defiled by their contact with the untouchables. But the boys appeased the cart driver by paying twice the cost, and Bhim’s older brother drove the cart to Gurgaon, the cartman following the vehicle up to Gurgaon, being the first jarring jolt to Bhim’s developing intellect. After a few days, Bhimrao had to go through another traumatic ordeal. He was thirsty and drank water from a public water supply one day. When the Savarns saw this, they thought this boy had tainted their drinking water, so they thrashed Bhimrao mercilessly.

However, not all Brahmins are created equal. There are exceptions to this rule. In his high school, he had one Brahmin instructor. He was a huge fan of Bhimrao. He would drop bits of his food into Bhim’s hands during his break. This instructor has forever changed Bhim’s life. Bhim’s father’s surname was originally Sakpal. Bhim’s village, however, was Ambavade, and his family name was recorded as Ambavadekar in his school. However, the instructor who adored Bhimrao had the surname Ambedkar in his family. Bhim so took the instructor that he changed his surname from Ambavadekar to Ambedkar. And he made a note of it in the school register. Bhimrao graciously embraced his new surname, which was bestowed on him by his adored teacher. And he went by that last name for the rest of his life. For the rest of his life, Dr. Ambedkar has recalled this instructor.

Legacy of Ambedkar

“There was nothing honorable about the fast,” Ambedkar wrote in his book “What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables.” It was a nasty and disgusting deed. The Untouchables did not profit from the Fast. Giving away constitutional protections was a sort of compulsion against them, and it was the worst type of coercion ever used against vulnerable people.

Article 32’s Importance

This is also an appropriate opportunity to consider Ambedkar’s constitutional ideals. He was a radical social thinker who assimilated changes in the Constitution and its implementation, as seen by his focus on Article 32.

“If I were asked to describe any single item in the Constitution as most significant, an Article without which the Constitution would be a nullity, I could not refer to any other Article but this one,” Ambedkar said when questioned about Article 32. It is the Constitution’s very spirit and vital heart.”

The recent debate around Article 32 occurred in the bail case of journalist Siddique Kappan when the Court “discouraged” the use of this Article.

After Partition, the constitutionally united Scheduled Castes could have anticipated the demand for separate electorates to materialize. This was a goal that Ambedkar worked for for the bulk of his life. But it was in vain.

Conclusion 

The design of the Indian Constitution or the way in which it is written is because of this man. It cannot be taken away. All the achievements of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar has been discussed in complete detail and length. 

His opposition to Hinduism’s caste system resulted in several ideological conflicts between him and the Indian National Congress. The ‘Poona Pact’ of 1932 was one of them. The disagreements stemmed from Ambedkar’s belief that separate electorates were the only way to achieve Dalit representation and socioeconomic progress for untouchables.