Who was Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar?
The messiah of Dalits, Indian expert, jurist, economist, politician and social reformer, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was the first Law Minister of independent India. He was also the author of the Indian Constitution.
Birth and early life of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow military cantonment in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh. His father’s name was Ramji Maloji Sakpal, who was a Subedar in the Indian Army and was posted in Indore. His mother’s name was Bhimabai.
He had received good values from his mother since childhood. Being the 14th and last child of his parents, Bhimrao used to be everyone’s favorite in the house. Bhimrao’s father was posted in Indore. But after 3 years of Bhimrao’s birth, he retired and then the whole family became permanent in Satara, Maharashtra.
His mother died after a few years. Later his father remarried and the entire family shifted to Mumbai. Bhimrao belonged to a Marathi family and the Mahar caste, which is considered untouchable. Being an untouchable, he had to face a lot of difficulties since childhood.
Education of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
Bhimrao used to be a very promising student since childhood. But being a lower caste, Bhimrao had to face a lot of struggle and humiliating situations to get education, yet he never gave up.
Bhimrao’s primary education started from Army School. He did further studies in Bombay. He passed the matriculation examination from Elphinstone High School, Bombay in the year 1908. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Bombay University in the year 1912.
Due to passing his studies till graduation with good marks, he started getting a scholarship of Rs 25 per month from the Gaekwad ruler of Baroda Sahaji Rao I. He decided to pursue further studies with this amount and went to America.
He obtained a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University in 1915. After returning from America, he became Professor of Economics at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, Bombay.
But this was not his destination. Again he thought of further studies and went to England in the year 1920, where he got D.S. degree from the University of London. Received C.
He then obtained a PhD in Economics in the year 1927. Bhimrao was awarded a doctorate degree by Columbia University on June 8, 1927.
Birth of Dalit Movement
Due to caste discrimination, he had to face many humiliating situations, due to which he decided to fight against caste discrimination.
On returning to India after completing his studies, he saw that untouchability and caste discrimination were spreading completely. For the progress of the country, it had become very important to eradicate these diseases from their roots.
Baba Saheb formed an organization for the welfare of Dalits, which started working to get reservation rights for Dalits and other religious outcasts.
In the year 1920, with the help of Maharaja Shahaji II of Kalkapur, he established ‘Mooknayak’ social paper, which created a stir in the social and political field. After this incident people started knowing Baba.
To completely eliminate untouchability and caste discrimination, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar followed the path of Mahatma Gandhi and started the movement for the rights of Dalits at full speed. He was always at the forefront in providing justice to the Dalits and the downtrodden.
Political journey of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
Ambedkar formed the Swatantra Mazdoor Party in the year 1936. One year later, i.e. in the year 1937, his party won 15 seats in the Central Assembly elections. After that he changed his party into All India Schedule Cast Party.
He stood with this party in the Constituent Assembly elections in 1946 but had to face defeat. He contested elections twice for the Lok Sabha seat and had to face defeat both times. Later he was appointed to the Rajya Sabha.
He objected to the name Harijan given to the untouchables by Congress and Mahatma Gandhi. He said that the members of the untouchable community are also equal to other members of the society.
Making of the Indian Constitution
On 29 August 1947, Bhimrao Ambedkar was appointed as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. After about 2 years, 11 months and 7 days of hard work, he gave India the Constitution in which all the citizens of India got the rights of freedom of religion, equality, fraternity.
Acceptance of buddhism
Due to his untouchable caste, he had suffered a lot since childhood, due to which he was fed up with the injustice and inequality of the varna system and caste system of Hindu religion.
After this incident he did not accept any religion. But when he went to Sri Lanka in the year 1950 to attend an intellectual conference. Bhimrao was greatly influenced by Buddhism and wrote a book about Buddhism.
20 years after leaving Hinduism, he thought of adopting Buddhism and in 1955 he founded the Indian Buddhist Mahasabha. Ambedkar along with his five lakh supporters organized a mass meeting on 14 October 1956 and adopted Buddhism.
Married life of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had two marriages in his lifetime. His first marriage took place when he was just 15 years old. His first wife’s name was Ramabai, who was only 9 years old at the time of marriage. Ambedkar married Dr. Sharda Kabir for the second time at the age of 57 due to his illness.
Death of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar had become a victim of diabetes during his lifetime, due to which he had to face many physical ailments.
He died on 6 December 1956 due to diabetes. He had converted to Buddhism only a year before his death. Therefore, his last rites were also performed as per Buddhist policy.
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Jayanti
Baba Saheb has played a very important role in the freedom struggle, in the making of the Indian Constitution, in eliminating the caste system from the country and the evil system in the society. His contribution towards the Nation cannot be forgotten.
Therefore, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated every year on the special occasion of his birthday. Because the coming generations should remember their sacrifice with respect and honor.
Interesting facts about Babasaheb Ambedkar
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s original name was Bhimrao Ambawadekar. But his teacher changed his name from Ambavadekar to Ambedkar in the school records.
Baba Ambedkar, who was promising in studies, had knowledge of 9 languages and had a total of 32 degrees.
He was the first Indian to go abroad and do a PhD in Economics.
Ambedkar was the one who got Ashok Chakra installed in our national flag.
In 1990, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
There were more than 50 thousand books in his personal library.
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