Modern Indian Thought B R Ambedkar Political Science YouTube Lecture Handouts

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Modern Indian Thought B R Ambedkar

Introduction

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian Jurist, Economist, and Social Reformer and played a vital role in Law-making process in Independent India.

Illustration: Introduction

14 April 1891 - 06 Dec 1956

Contributions of Ambedkar

The first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, praised the services rendered by Dr. Ambedkar in the making of the Constitution and said: “I have carefully watched the day-to-day activities from the presidential seat. Therefore, I appreciate more than others with how much dedication and vitality this task has been carried out by the Drafting Committee and by its chairman Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar in particular. We never did a better thing than having Dr. Ambedkar on the Drafting Committee and selecting him as its chairman”

Ambedkar on Democracy

  • Ambedkar was a true and sincere democrat. For him, political democracy without social and economic democracy was a double deception.
  • He warned that as long as there was inequality on the social and economic plane there can be no political democracy, except in name or form. Unlike most of the Indian leaders, he never indulged in unnecessary glorification of the Indian civilization. He pointed out to the several weaknesses that the Indian society suffered from and ways to recover from them.

Ambedkar About State Reorganization

  • Ambedkar was a supporter of State reorganization based upon linguistic and cultural diversities.
  • He established that this process should be completed before the agitation starts in various state for this purpose.
  • He also supported the view that Hyderabad should be the second capital of India considering its location and for defense and strategic purpose.

Gandhi and Ambedkar

Ambedkar ultimately suggested that inter-caste marriage is the only remedy to destroy caste. In The Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar՚s critique of the Hindu social order was so strong that Mahatma Gandhi, in Harijan, described Ambedkar as a challenge to Hinduism. Ambedkar replied to Gandhi in his usual uncompromising manner.

Illustration: Gandhi and Ambedkar

Ambedkar About Communists

Ambedkar did not spare the socialists or the communists either. He vehemently attacked the communists for their doctrinaire approach to caste in treating it as the superstructure and argued that unless they dealt with caste as a basic structural problem, no worthwhile social change, let alone a socialist revolution, was possible.

Political Setup Proposed by Ambedkar

From the beginning Ambedkar was convinced that political empowerment was key to the socio-economic development of the untouchables. Therefore, he vehemently demanded a separate electorate for untouchables in the Second Round Table Conference in 1932.

Important Questions

  • Lambs are shorn of the wool; they are feeling the intensity of cold.
  • Buddhism as the Moral and Tolerant alternative to Marxism.
  • Ambedkar was a supporter of Common Civil Code.
  • Ambedkar drafts the constitution and headed drafting committee in his capacity as first law minister of India.

Chapters:

0: 00 Modern Indian Thought- B R Ambedkar

0: 24 Introduction of B R Ambedkar

1: 33 Contributions of Ambedkar

2: 36 Ambedkar on Democracy

4: 30 Ambedkar about State Reorganization

6: 50 Gandhi and Ambedkar

8: 21 Ambedkar about Communists

9: 48 Political Setup Proposed By Ambedkar

12: 08 Questions About B R Ambedkar

Mayank