Author: Acharya Pawan Tripathi
The two great personalities who have influenced the political and social scenario of India the most in the 20th century are Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. If it is said that the great contribution of both the virtuous souls is beyond evaluation, then it will not be an exaggeration. Gandhiji himself used to say that Dr. Ambedkar’s achievements are the ‘wonderful result of determination’. Today is the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti. This is the moment to imbibe the life of Babasaheb in totality. Babasaheb’s life was not just a period, but such a story of struggle, in which some ideals and values are inherent for every section of the society. In his life, dedication towards the society and a wonderful resolution for society-building is clearly visible. There is hardly any other example of the struggles and obstacles in which Babasaheb lived his life.
Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar was not only a professional lawyer, but also a great writer, economist, jurist, social worker and erudite. Babasaheb’s understanding of Indian social system, economic system, political processes and achievements of civilization was incomparable. Due to this special talent, he became the first law and justice minister of independent India. He was the father of the Indian Constitution and one of the founders of the Republic of India. He is called the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’ for his phenomenal contribution in the making of the Indian Constitution. Babasaheb, who made a valuable contribution to the Indian Constitution and gave a new direction to this country, was a natural symbol of the beauty of equality, freedom and harmony. His feeling towards the constitution was so much attached that he used to say- ‘Constitution is not just a document of lawyers, but the medium of our life.’ He had also said, ‘If I feel that the constitution is being misused, I will be the first to burn this constitution.’
After the country’s independence, the biggest challenge before the country was to create such an inclusive, ideal and futuristic constitution, which could give a direction to the country and continue to strengthen the roots of Indian democracy in the coming period. Today we have such a comprehensive, strong and inclusive constitution, in which all sections of the society, caste, religion or community feel proud. The full credit for this goes to Babasaheb only. The most beautiful thing about this constitution is that it talks about taking all sections of the society with equality, uniformity and unity. Babasaheb, a supporter of equality, considered education to be gender-neutral and had said, ‘Women have as much right to education as men.’
In 1951, Babasaheb established the ‘Financial Commission of India’. To strengthen the democracy in the country, he had envisaged the fair Election Commission. The happy result of his thinking is that today India is well established as the largest and most powerful democracy in the world. This vision, this vision can be seen today in the working style of Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. His thinking of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’ is 100% inspired by Babasaheb’s life-experience and ideals. Once the Honorable Prime Minister had said about Babasaheb that ‘If Babasaheb had not been there, I would not have been there today either!’ Definitely, it is the result of Babasaheb’s vision that the person standing at the last end of the society can achieve the highest peak with his own strength. Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a living example of this.
Modi ji has always been influenced and inspired by the thoughts of Babasaheb. When he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2010, he organized a grand ‘Samvidhan Gaurav Yatra’. He is the first and only politician in the country to do so. Not only this, this padayatra of his is a reflection of his unwavering faith and loyalty towards the thoughts of Babasaheb and the Constitution. We got a glimpse of this when he came to the Parliament for the first time after taking oath as the Prime Minister, he bowed down not only to the Parliament but also to the Constitution and paid homage to Babasaheb in the same high and lofty spirit.
Babasaheb’s thoughts regarding the progress and upliftment of society and nation are exemplary. He always believed that if you want to measure the progress of a society, then check the level of education of the women there. Honorable Prime Minister’s thinking of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ is an extension of his thinking, which has been implemented by Modi ji as a policy. His efforts like Swachh Bharat, Antyodaya Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, DBT, Jan Dhan Account, National Education Policy are unique efforts to fulfill Babasaheb’s dreams of economic-social empowerment.
Babasaheb’s thinking and his views on the Kashmir subject were very clear. At the time of the framing of the Constitution, when Article 370 was being discussed, it is very important to know an incident. Prime Minister Nehru had advised Sheikh Abdullah to meet Babasaheb and discuss the matter. Dr. Ambedkar said during the meeting with Sheikh Abdullah, ‘If you want India to protect your borders, build your roads, provide you food, grains, then this state should also get the same status as other states of the country. belongs to the states. On the contrary, you want the Government of India to have limited powers in your state and Indian people to have no rights in Kashmir, if you want my approval on this proposal, I would say that it is against the interests of India. According to an Indian Law Minister, I would never do this.
His words are so clear that there is no doubt that Babasaheb was not at all in favor of giving special status to Kashmir. On August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Modi did the historic work of fulfilling his dream, for which Syama Prasad Mookerjee had sacrificed his life. Prime Minister Modi has developed and added five special places related to Babasaheb’s life as ‘Panch Teerth’, so that the coming generations continue to get inspiration from his life and ideals. Dr. Ambedkar used to say, ‘We are Indians from beginning to end and I want every man in India to be an Indian, to be an Indian to the end and to be nothing but an Indian.’ According to him, ‘Nothing is valuable in this world except great efforts.’
Today, Modi ji has imbibed these ideals of Babasaheb in the form of the principle of ‘nation first, always first’. As a responsible citizen, we have to dedicate ourselves to the nation by taking his call of ‘Be educated, stay united, struggle’ as a mantra, so that a strong, prosperous and harmonious nation can be built. Once again let us make another statement of his the motto of our life- ‘Life should not be long, but should be big and great.’ This will be our true tribute to Babasaheb on his birthday.
Acharya Pawan Tripathi is the Vice President of Mumbai unit of BJP.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own.