(This article was first published on 14 April 2024. It has been re -published. The QuintDr. Archives to mark Bribedkar’s 135th birth anniversary.)
As the birth anniversary of the nation celebrates Dr Bhimrao Ramji AmbedkarThe father of the Constitution of India and the first Law Minister of the country, we investigate whether we remain true for the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, envisaged by Babasaheb and the founding members of the Constituent Assembly.
Earlier, it may be worth remembering that Ambedkar was elected as the chairman of the drafting committee in his ability as a law minister. There is speculation that it was Mahatma Gandhi who was strong on the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru And his deputy Sardar Patel to include some prestigious non-Congressmen in the cabinet “Freedom came across India, not a single party.”
Therefore, apart from Ambedkar, non-Congress leaders like Sima Prasad Mukherjee (Hindu Mahasabha), Sardar Baldev Singh (Akali Dal), and RK Shanmukhm Chetty (Justice Party) became part of the cabinet.
But Ambedkar himself credited Nehru to include Nehru in the cabinet. According to his biography Dhananjay Kheer, Nehru called Ambedkar to his chambers and asked if he would join the new cabinet of Free India as Law Minister. Ambedkar agreed and then Nehru showed Gandhi a list of his nominations, who “nodded his consent.”
Questions raised to Ambedkar
While he was opposing Gandhism, Ambedkar was a staunch believer in state socialism. Before he was ready to draf the constitution, he wrote,
“State Socialism is essential for rapid industrialization of India. Private enterprises cannot do so, and if it is done, it will produce these inequalities of wealth that private capitalism has produced in Europe that should serve as a warning for Indians.”
Ambedkar also wanted the basic industries to be owned by the state and even agriculture should be a state industry, under which the land would be related to the state and will allow villagers to go out without caste or creed distinction- and thus “there would be a landlord, no tenant and any landless laborer.”
He wanted to establish state socialism through the law of the Constitution and thus, makes it disqualified by any act of legislature and executive. He said, “The rules of the Constitution should not only determine the size and form of the political structure, but also to determine the size and form of the economic structure of the society.”
All such thoughts and his other ideas related to politics, economics and social structure must have been in his mind while drafting the Constitution. But why could he not include him in the historical document he was preparing for the future of the nation? He was also asked why the governors were not invested with special powers to protect minorities.
Another question about a bill related to the reorganization of Andhra state was placed for him, where “there were no provisions for the protection of the rights of Scheduled Castes against the atrocities, oppression and communalism of the majority.”
He, finally – people will tell him – the ‘creator’ of the constitution. To kill all such questions and taunt, Ambedkar had an answer, “I was a hack. What I was asked to do, I did a lot against my wish.”
But Ambedkar was a great champion of minorities. In a speech in the Council of States (now Rajya Sabha), he clearly stated that they (majority) could not ignore minorities, and “The biggest loss would come by injuring minorities.”
He wanted minorities to always feel safe, and it is the responsibility of the majority of the government that it does not function in a tyrannical manner.
Ambedkar’s warning in today’s political context
Today, in power, in both, the Center and many states, they are well aware that they have not paid attention to the warning given 70 years ago. They do not realize how much harm they are doing to the country – and their future generations.
Article 370 and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Jammu and Kashmir are two recent examples of trampling the rights of minorities, ignoring Ambedkar’s ideals in both letters and souls.
Ambedkar also put a lot of emphasis on ‘public conscience’ and told what he meant about it. This means that one who gets excited on every wrong, no matter who is the victim. This means that everyone – whether they are especially wrong or not – is ready to join the victim to get relief.
He said that he rarely found that no one belongs to the Scheduled Castes, who is making his reason and is fighting for them. Because there is no public discretion.
Unfortunately, what Ambedkar said in December 1952 is a Trueer even after seven decades. Many examples can be given due to lack of public conscience, but perhaps the worst case is that of the Prime Minister of the country, who is not visiting Manipur after unprecedented violence and derogatory atrocities against women and children in the state.
An IPS officer, Sanjeev Bhatt, and the ceremony on the release of the culprits (later arrested) in the case of Bilkis Bano also shows how people have lost their conscience in Gandhi’s Gujarat.
Credit of real architects of the constitution
In his early life, he suffered a lot of insults, insults and discrimination, such as from the lower castes, humility was never a part of Ambedkar’s personality. But there were truth and quantity.
After the draft, the constitution was discussed for about a year and its last edition was adopted on 26 November 1949, the chairman of the drafting committee did not take credit for himself, but like an exemplary leader, it was given to those who were not in the public’s eyes and were behind the curtains in all efforts.
With grace and dignity, he declared in the constituent assembly on 25 November 1949:
“The credit I have been given to me is not really with me. It is partially belonging to Sir BN Rau, who is the Constitutional Advisor of the Constitution Assembly, who has prepared a rough draft of the constitution for the idea of the drafting committee … A part of the credit should go to the members of the drafting committee … which to prepare more than the constitution to prepared more than the constitution. Draftsman … The most complex proposals to keep their ability to keep the simplest and clear legal form can rarely be equal … Without their help, this assembly would have taken several more years to finalize the Constitution. “
Today, compare these words with the Chief Executive of the country, who, for everything for their government or party, never get tired of self-praise and self-promotion through advertisements costing hundreds of crores of public funds.
In the same speech, Ambedkar warned Devotion in politics. Quoting John Stuart Mill, who advised people that “to not keep their freedom at the feet of a great person, or to trust with the powers that enable them to eliminate their institutions,” he said, “nothing is wrong in being grateful, but the limit of gratitude.”
He reiterated that this caution is more important in India’s case: “In India,” Devotion Or which can be called the path of devotion or hero plays a role in its politics, which is infallible in the politics of any other country in the world. ,
When he warned, Ambedkar was in front: “Devotion Or the hero-worship is a certain road for a decline and final dictatorship. ,
(Praveen Dever is the All India Congress Committee (AICC), a former-Army officer, a columnist and former secretary of the author of ‘Freedom Struggle and Beyond’. This is an opinion article, and above is the author’s own. The Quint Neither endors nor responsible for them.)
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