DR.  BHIMRAO  AMBEDKAR  :  AN  ICON  OF SOCIAL  JUSTICE

The 16^th president of the United States of America ABRAHAM LINCOLN delivered a truly moving GETTYSBURG ADDRESS on November 19^th 1863 at the soldier’s National Cemetery. This was a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. In his short but eloquent speech, Lincoln managed to reiterate the principles of human equality defined in the Declaration of Independence, and paint the Civil War as a struggle for freedom. The Gettysburg Address is unique in that within a span of two minutes, and just 272 words, Lincoln explained the meaning of the Civil War to a public that had grown weary of the conflict. At Gettysburg, Lincoln, who began his address with the now well-known phrase ‘Four score and seven years ago,’ reminded the assembled crowd of the Founding Fathers’ vision, which established a nation that was ‘dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’ In his speech, Lincoln gave us the greatest definition of democracy when he called it the government ‘of the people, by the people, for the people.’ The same thing influenced Ambedkar and was revolutionised by him in India which was clearly shown by his continuous untiring approach towards Human rights.

Bhimrao Ambedkar born on 14^th April 1891 was a great democrat, social and political philosopher, an intellectual, a propagator of social justice, human dignity and above all a great spiritual thinker. He dedicated himself to the task of upliftment of the downtrodden. Though untouchability was prevalent in Indian society, he started liberating people from the clutches of superstitions. Ambedkar realized that the most oppressed section of the society was that of the untouchables. Therefore he insisted upon the progress of this section as a condition for the development of Indian society.

He was deeply influenced by the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. These were the guiding principles in all his writings. He visualized a new society based on these principles. He was aware that liberty alone would not be sufficient. Liberty and equality must exist simultaneously. This alone would ensure that the quality of moral and material life of all individuals improved. Economic liberty and social injustice are negations of liberty. Therefore, political democracy without social democracy and economic justice is meaningless. But equality and liberty will be realized only when there is a strong sense of unity among the members of society. People must first realize that they have common interests and a common future. In a society divided by caste and class barriers, people of one caste or class will be suspicious of people of other castes or classes. A society can have a common goal only when its members share the sorrows and joys of fellow beings. This sense of brotherhood- a feeling that we belong to the same social fabric- must emerge in the society. Fraternity thus becomes a necessary condition for equality and liberty. Ambedkar made it clear that the ideal society of his conception would be a society based on liberty, equality and fraternity.

The Indian constitution promises not only political but also social democracy, as explained by Dr Ambedkar in his concluding speech in the constituent assembly: “political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity which are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that to divorce on from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy. Liberty cannot be divorced from equality, equality cannot be divorced from liberty, nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity.”

        Ambedkar can be compared to Martin Luther King Jr. who electrified America with his momentuous ‘I Have A Dream speech.  His inspiring oratory demanding racial justice and an integrated society became a mantra for the black community. He said during the course of his speech :I have a dream that my fore children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. `` I have been to the mountain top’ was the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr on April 3^rd 1968, the day before he was assassinated. He said: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

     

Ambedkar did a lot of work for the abolition of the polluted system of ‘untouchability’. He established many organisations such as the Bahishkrit Hitkari Sabha, Independent Labour party and All India Scheduled caste Federation. His chief works include the “Problem of Rupee”, “Evolution of provincial Finance in British India”, “Castes in India”, “Small Holdings and their Remedies” and so on. He also worked for the amelioration of the labourers and depressed classes as a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly. He embraced Buddhism in 1956.He wanted to instill the faith of self-respect among downtrodden classes of society.

 It is very true that though the principle of Integral humanism developed by Deen Dayal Upadhyay,  Ambedkar’s social philosophy was also an essential part of it and without it, the meaning of INTEGRAL HUMANISM would be incomplete.He really presented a humanitarian face of religion.