Ideological Differences Between Gandhi and Ambedkar
Comparison between Dr. Ambedkar’s and Gandhi Ji’s ideologies during the freedom struggle and contribution
Who was right?? And who was wrong??
History of Babasaheb Ambedkar:-
Babasaheb Ambedkar was born in the nahar cast, which was a dalit cast.since childhood, he had faced caste oppression. Babasaheb Ambedkar and his brother are the only two Dalits in the school and because of that, they faced discrimination. Dr. Ambedkar’s brother had to quit his studies due to lack of funds but Dr. Ambedkar studied hard and got a scholarship from the maharaja of Baroda and he went to Columbia University. After that did his doctorate from the London school of economics.
Ambedkar was against Hindus and castism:-
Even after getting an education at that much level, he faced caste discrimination in every aspect of life. He hated casteism so much that not only did he criticize the Hindus, those who practiced casteism, but he openly criticized the Hindu religion. In many writings of him, Dr. Ambedkar asked hard questions not only about Hinduism but also about Islam. He studied Sanskrit and labeled the Vedas “a worthless set of books”
He believed that as long as there is a caste, there will be an outcaste. Not only he was against castism but he wanted a complete annihilation of the caste system.
Mahatma Gandhi: Gandhi’s idealogy:-
On the other hand, Mahatma Gandhi was a religious Hindu. Most of his principles and strategies were inspired by this religion. In fact, he considered the Gita to be his spiritual dictionary. And as a truly religious person, he respected all religions. And work towards communal harmony.
Gandhi’s towards castism:-
Quit obviously, a religious person would not question his own religion. that’s why Gandhi Ji’s initial views were very orthodox. He believed that caste was a fundamental part of Hinduism. And the system of four varans, he believed to be natural and essential. And at the same time, they were of equal status. No varna could be superior to the others. At the same time, he also believed that untouchability was not a part of Hinduism. He believed untouchability to be a sin for the Hindus.
Steps were taken by Gandhi in favor of castism:-
For this reason, in 1932 he founded the “all India anti untouchability league.” Which was renamed “hrizen Sevak Sangh”
In 1934, in the vaikom district of Kerala , he launched the vaikom satyagraha. Where Dalits were discriminating. Influential social reformers like Periyar also participated in it. Here you can see clear differences between Ambedkar and Gandhi Ji.
Gandhiji’s initial views can be considered quite problematic. He was very orthodox and conservative. To the extent that he didn’t openly criticize castism. In the 1920’s he publicly stated that he did not support intermarriage and inter-dining. But with time, Gandhi’s ideologies became more progressive.
Gandhi’s views on castism after 1932:-
In 1932, he changed his opinion on inter-caste
marriages. He acknowledged that he was wrong. He said that the restrictions on inter-caste marriages were weaken the Hindu community.
In 1946 the situation was that Gandhi Ji had said that he wouldn’t let me and women marry in his Asharam unless one of them was Harijan.
Ambedkar converted to Buddhism:-
On the other hand, in October 1935 at a conference, Dr. Ambedkar openly declared that he wants to leave Hinduism. Later he converted to Buddhism.
Differences between Gandhi Ji’s and Ambedkar’s ideologies:-
“Separate electorates”:-
Overall, the disagreement between Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi Ji was about separate electorates. Separate electorates mean that there would be such constituencies in the country where only a person of a specific community can run in an election. And only the people of the specific community would be able to vote.
Result of their disagreement:-
Under the British raj, in 1909 the British government in India had given separate electorates in India. And in 1919 the Christians, Anglo Indians, Europeans, and Sikhs were given separate electorates in India.
Dr. Ambedkar wanted separate electorates for the Dalits as well. But Gandhi Ji was absolutely against it.
Gandi was against separate electorates:-
During the 1931s round table conference in London, Gandhi Ji put his demands in front of the British government. He said that untouchables were also Hindus. They should not be given minority status. At the same time, he also wanted that the separate electorates given to the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others, should be removed. but on the other hand, Ambedkar wanted that the Dalits also to be declared minorities in India. They too should give separate electorates.
Finalization of separate electorates:-
In 1932 British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald announced a communal award. Not only did he say that the separate electorates given to the minorities would remain, and they wouldn’t be discounted, but he also said that the Dalits would also be a separate minority category and Dalits would also be given separate electorates.
Gandhi’s “fast unto death” against separate electorates:-
Gandhiji believed that because of the separate electorates the country could not remain united. And for this Gandhi Ji started a fast. “Fast unto death” Dr. Ambedkar was very pressurized because of this. On one hand, he wanted to get his demands fulfilled and on the other hand, he knew that if Gandhi Ji was actually harmed the image of Dalits would also suffer.
The historic agreement between Gandhi Ji and Ambedkar:-
Poona pact:-
Dr. Ambedkar and Gandhi Ji then came to a historic agreement. Which is called the “Poona pact” both of them compromised and came down a rung and decided on conducting joint electorates.
What are joint electorates?
They are basically, such constituencies where the elected politician would belong from a specific minority community. But when it comes to voting, all the residents of that constituency would be able to vote. The right to vote wouldn’t be given to only one community.
Dr. Ambedkar convinced Gandhi Ji of his demands:-
He was worried that in a joint electorate, the majority community would place a puppet Dalit Candidate to make them win. To avoid this problem, both Gandhi ji and Dr. Ambedkar said that they would conduct a pre-election where only the Dalits would vote and Dalits would select 4 candidates and one among the four would be selected when all voters would vote. Additionally, for the original 71 reserved seats, Dr. Ambedkar convinced Gandhi ji to increase it to 148.
Political agenda aside, talking about social reforms, Dr. Ambedkar contributed a lot to it.
His strategy was very simple to educate, agitate, and organize.
- A major example of this is the 1927 Mahad satyagraha. in Maharashtra, there is a municipality Mahad. He went there with many followers to drink water. Seems very simple but many upper-caste Hindus of the time were totally against it. The situation turned almost riotous and the police had to interface. This upper caste Hindus’purified’ the water tank with things like milk and curd.
- On the same year, 25 December Dr. Ambedkar and many of his followers started a campaign to burn the ‘manusmriti’, and the day they did it was celebrated as “manusmriti Dahan Divas”.
- Another famous movement was at Nashik’s Balaram temple where Dalits were forbidden to enter the temple. He started a procession March against it.
- he was also inspired by the ideas of the French revolution “liberty, equality, and fraternity”
Not only did he mention these in the constitution but he also wrote them in the preamble. And he mentioned these in the Mahad satyagraha as well.
- Another huge achievement of Dr. Ambedkar has been bringing in the Hindu code Bill along with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. This was a very progressive step for Hindu women which helps to protect them. Unfortunately, at that time, it couldn’t be brought in for the other religions because of the tense situation.
But the uniform civil code is much talked about.
Conclusion:-
Not in any country’s constitution the Rights of equality, liberty, and fraternity were written before, even though it took America around 75 years to add in their constitution that slavery should be abolished.
Today all of us could learn a lot from the ideas and ideologies of Dr. Ambedkar. If we really want to pay a tribute to him these principles of liberty equality and fraternity should be implemented in the truest sense for all.
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