Come April 14th, the country pauses not just to remember, but to truly reflect. Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar wasn’t just a man. He was a moment in history that never ended. On his 134th birth anniversary, we are not just paying tribute to a leader. We are honouring a revolution. A revolution that spoke the language of justice when the world was still mumbling about equality. Ambedkar didn’t merely rise—he roared—from the farthest margins of society to the very core of Bharat’s democracy. A Dalit icon, yes—but far more. A modern thinker. A jurist. An economist. A patriot whose heart beats for every Bharatiya.
A Mind That Outran Its Time
Ambedkar didn’t think in slogans. He thought in systems. In structures. In the future. We look around now, facing global crises—climate change, gender injustice, caste discrimination, widening wealth gaps—and realise his ideas weren’t echoes of the past. They were blueprints for tomorrow. Imagine today’s push for cleaner air—switching to EVs, changing how we live and move. That’s the kind of deep-rooted change that Ambedkar envisioned, not just for the environment but for society itself. While others fought colonial chains, Ambedkar was waging war on poverty, caste, and injustice. Where they saw Independence, he saw a shot at reinvention.
Fighting for Women’s Rights
Long before “gender rights” found space in policy rooms or protest slogans, Ambedkar was already fighting for them—loudly and uncompromisingly. As Bharat’s first Law Minister, he crafted the Hindu Code Bill to protect women’s rights to property, marriage, and inheritance. He could’ve backed down when the pushback came. But he didn’t. He resigned instead. Because to him, principle mattered more than power. One of his most powerful lines still lingers: “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” That wasn’t a theory. That was conviction. And it still holds up in a world that continues to shortchange its women.
“It seems to me that the Congress has failed to realise that there is a difference between appeasement and settlement, and that the difference is an essential one. Appeasement sets no limits to the demands and aspirations of the aggressor. Settlement does” — Dr BR Ambedkar, (Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches – Volume 9)
A Voice That Refused to Stay Silent
Ambedkar wasn’t interested in patching wounds—he wanted to cure the disease. For communities pushed into silence for centuries—Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes—he became a voice. Loud. Relentless. Unapologetic.
Reservation wasn’t a token of sympathy. It was a structural response to systemic exclusion. It was justice, not charity. And today, as lakhs access education and employment through these measures, his vision stands vindicated. More than the handouts, it was about giving people the chance they were always denied.
The Economist We Forgot
Ask most people about Ambedkar’s role, and they will mention the Constitution. Few know he was one of Bharat’s sharpest economic minds. While studying at London School of Economics, he laid out the framework for what would later become the Reserve Bank of India. Labour rights? Maternity leave? Equal pay? Eight-hour workdays? All rooted in Ambedkar’s push for worker dignity under colonial rule.
He believed a nation’s strength wasn’t just its freedom, but its ability to create fair opportunities for all. His economic ideas still echo in modern Bharat’s labour policies and fiscal debates.
For years, Ambedkar was remembered in ceremonies, but often ignored in policymaking. His statues multiplied, yet his ideas gathered dust. That’s shifted. The Modi Government has made a visible push to bring Ambedkar’s legacy back into action, not just memory.
From “Samrasta Diwas” promoting social harmony to the Ambedkar International Centre in Delhi, from Constitution Day observances in schools to the development of Panch Teerth—steps have been taken to root his teachings into institutions, not just tributes.
The removal of Article 370 stands out too. Ambedkar had fiercely opposed special provisions that could fragment national unity. That position, once seen as controversial, came full circle under the current leadership with the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir. History, it seems, has a way of catching up with his foresight.
A Legacy That Sparks Debate
Ambedkar’s legacy, even now, isn’t universally embraced. Some try to reduce him to a “Dalit figure”—a label that reveals more about their limitations than his. Others claim reservations divided society, overlooking the centuries of brutality they attempt to correct. Dismissing Ambedkar is easy. Understanding him is not.
But let’s be clear—he was more than the Constitution’s architect. He was the nation’s moral compass. Like every thinker who dared to disturb the comfortable—Socrates, Buddha, Mandela—he faced resistance. But truth has a way of surviving.
Honouring Ambedkar
So how do we honour him today? Not just by remembering him on his birth anniversaries. Not just by quoting him once a year. But by walking his path. It means fighting for education, upholding equality, respecting labor and protecting the Constitution—not just in courts but in everyday life.
Former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said, “The soul of India resides in its Constitution. And the soul of the Constitution is Ambedkar.” That rings truer now than ever. Ambedkar didn’t belong to a community. He belonged to the idea of Bharat itself. A just Bharat. A free Bharat. The best way to remember him? Live what he stood for.
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