AMBEDKAR AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANNIHILATE UNTOUCHABIL

1. AMBEDKAR

B.R. Ambedkar was a versatile personality. He was a sociologist, an economist, a political scientist and an expert in law. Besides, he was a great leader of the masses. His thoughts have brought revolutionary changes in the society, especially among the Scheduled Castes. He wanted to protect and promote the social and economic equality in India. In this direction, he organized a number of agitations, wrote books and delivered speeches.

Since Ambedkar’s contribution to Indian society has been indeed considerable. And Ambedkar’s thoughts cover a wide spectrum of issues. So, it is difficult to portray it in one or a few books. There are innumerable books written by scholars, yet there is much more to be written. Recently, Sukhadeo Throat (2008) wrote on Ambedkar’s thoughts on the water policy. A large number of scholars have written about the life and mission of Ambedkar. Of them, Dhananjay Keer’s book Ambedkar: Life and Mission published in 1954, is the most important.

2. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF AMBEDKAR

In the year 1919, Ambedkar came in closer contact with the Maharaj of Kolhapur. With the finance assistance provided by the Maharaja, Ambedkar started a fortnightly paper titled, Mook Nayak on 31 January 1920. Writing on Inequality and discrimination, he said that the backwardness of the non-Brahmins was due to lack of education and power.In another article, he wrote that ‘the good state must guarantee the equal status in matters, religious, social economic and political, to all the

Classes’.

On 21 March  1920, Ambedkar presided over a conference of the untouchables at Mangaon in the Kolhapur state, which was attended by Maharaj of Kolhapur.

In May 1920, All India Conference of Untouchables was held at Nagpur.

Despite being in London, and was monitoring the activities regularly. After returning from London, Ambedkar started socio – religious mass movement in Maharashtra.

He also started a Marathi fortnightly named Bahishkrit Bharat on 3rd April 1927. He began to explain his views, define his aims and reply to the critics of his movement through the journal. He said that the temples and watercourses should be open to the untouchables.

After nominating as a member of Legislative Council Ambedkar made a speech, where he put the plight of poor farmers of India. He explained , ‘how the difference in the method of imposing the land revenue and the income tax at the same rate whether he was an owner of one acre of land or a Jahagirdar or an Inamdar’.

On 10 March 1927, he spoke in the council on the prohibition policy of government, and said that the increase in the manufacture of illicit liquor in the country was entirely due to the high tariff on country liquor. Later, speaking in a separate debate, on education system in India, he said that the government was making very slow progress in the matter of education of children.

On 13th November 1927, in a conference of temple entry movement held at Amaravati, he said, ‘The most important point we want to emphasize is not the satisfaction you get from the worship of the image of God, but the plain fact that a temple is not impured  by the presence of an untouchable, nor is the purity of the image affected by it. That is why, we oppose the idea of separate temples for us and insist on entering the existing ones’.

On25th December 1927, a conference was organized at Mahad, a small town in Kankan Maharashtra, which is known as ‘Mahad Satyagraha’. On the same day, Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti and demanded a new book of law in order to reshape the Hindu code governing the life of vast of people.

On2nd March 1930, Ambedkar launched another temple entry movement at Kalaram Temple in Nasik. The agitation continued up to the end of October 1935. The orthodox Hindu had closed the temple for a whole year. Probably, this was the longest movement in India. The agitation ended with  a conference held at Yevla  on 13th October , where Ambedkar made a revolutionary statement : “ I solemnly assure you that I wil not die a Hindu”. After this conference, Ambedkar did not agitate for the temple entry.

Ambedkar gave a number of interviews and contributed articles to foreign journals. As a result of this , the world came to know for the first time that he position of untouchables in India was worse than that of the Negroes in America.

He established a number of educational institutions, especially for the backward castes. He established The People’s Education Society at Bombay in 1945. Under this, he established a number of colleges such as Siddharth College, Bombay, Melinda College, Aurangabad, Siddhartha College of Law, Bombay etc. The educational establishments of Ambedkar benefited the backward people a lot.

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