Dr. B.R. Ambedkar – UGC NET – Political Science Notes

Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR

(UGC NET Detailed Notes)

Indian Political Thought (Unit 3)

UGC NET POLITICAL SCIENCE

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DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR

Table of Contents

Background: Political Mobilization
Constituent Assembly Entrée
Work in Various Preparatory Committees
Piloting the Draft Constitution
On Safeguards for Scheduled Castes
On Linguistic States
Conclusion

Background: Political Mobilization

The 1980s marked a phase in Indian electoral democracy with two key developments: federalisation of the parliamentary regime and the political arrival of dalit citizens.
These developments were not entirely new but reached new levels of efficacy in the 1980s and later.
Ambedkar is seen as a posthumous high priest (purodha) of dalit political assertion.
Two models of political mobilization and participation for the dalit and other marginalized Hindu groups: the Harijan model and the dalit model.
The Harijan model, represented by Jagjivan Ram, was associated with Congress politics since the 1930s.
The dalit model was led by Ambedkar, starting in the late 1920s with the Bahujan-dalit identity formation.
Both Ambedkar and Jagjivan Ram initially conformed to the sanskritization-cum-Westernization model of social change and political participation.
Jagjivan Ram was initially a liberal and Gandhian Congressman, believing in a secular and modern Hindu identity.
Ambedkar also began with a secular and modern Hindu identity but later shifted towards a more radical dalit political identity and embraced Buddhism in 1956.
Ambedkar believed that social reform focusing on the emancipation of untouchables must precede political independence.
He actively participated in radical Hindu social reform movements and supported separate electorates for untouchables, similar to those for Muslims in the 1920s and 1931 Round Table Conference.
Ambedkar’s stance on separate electorates changed after Gandhi's fast unto death, leading to an agreement for reservation in the general electorate for Hindus.
Ambedkar wrote extensively on the structure of Hindu society and the Indian state, with many studies on his contributions to dalit studies.
This paper discusses Ambedkar’s contributions to the making of the Indian Constitution and the praxis of the Indian state.

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