Friday 14 April 2023

Ambedkar's Vision for a Just Society: Ambedkar Quotes Explained

The Relevance of Ambedkar's Quotes in Today's India

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (also known as B R Ambedkar) was an Indian jurist, economist, politician, and social reformer who is best known for his role in drafting the Constitution of India. He was born on April 14, 1891, in Mhow, present-day Madhya Pradesh, India. Ambedkar belonged to the Dalit community (formerly known as "untouchables"), who were at the bottom of the caste system in India. Despite facing discrimination and hardship, Ambedkar pursued his education and went on to study law at Columbia University in the United States.

Ambedkar Jayanti Quotes

Throughout his life, Ambedkar fought for the rights of Dalits and other marginalized communities in India. He was a leading figure in the Indian independence movement and a founding member of the Indian National Congress, although he later resigned from the party due to disagreements over its approach to social and economic reform. 

Bheem Rao, also known as Bhimrao, is likely a reference to Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who was an Indian jurist, economist, politician, and social reformer. Ambedkar is best known for his role in drafting the Constitution of India and his advocacy for the rights of Dalits and other marginalized communities in India.

In 1947, Ambedkar was appointed as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Indian Constitution. He played a key role in shaping the Constitution, which includes provisions for affirmative action and other measures to address social inequality. Ambedkar also established the Buddhist movement in India and converted to Buddhism himself in 1956, along with hundreds of thousands of Dalits, as a rejection of the caste system and Hinduism's treatment of Dalits. 

Ambedkar passed away on December 6, 1956, but his legacy continues to inspire social justice movements in India and around the world. He is remembered as a champion of human rights and social equality, and his contributions to Indian society are widely recognized and celebrated.


Top 100 BR Ambedkar Quotes:


1) "Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience."

2) "I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality, and fraternity."

3) "If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it."

4) "A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society."

5) "I do not want that our loyalty as Indians should be in the slightest way affected by any competitive loyalty whether that loyalty arises out of our religion, out of our culture or out of our language."

6) "Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind."

7) "The sovereignty of scriptures of all religions must come to an end if we want to have a united integrated modern India."

8) "The relationship between husband and wife should be one of closest friends."

9) "Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle."

10) "I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved."

11) May equality and justice prevail in society, and may all individuals be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their caste, creed, or gender.

12) May education be accessible to all, and may it empower people to break free from the shackles of oppression and discrimination.

13) May the Constitution of India be upheld and used as a tool to protect the rights of all citizens and to promote social welfare and progress.

14) May the marginalized communities in India, including Dalits and other oppressed groups, be able to achieve true social, economic, and political equality.

15) May the practice of untouchability and discrimination based on caste be eradicated from Indian society, and may people from all backgrounds be able to live together in harmony.

16) May people of all religions be able to coexist peacefully and respect each other's beliefs and practices.

17) May the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity continue to guide the Indian nation and its people towards a brighter future.

18) May the voices of the oppressed be heard and their struggles recognized, and may those in positions of power use their influence to uplift and empower those who are marginalized.

19) May the values of democracy, secularism, and social justice be upheld, and may India continue to be a beacon of hope and progress for the world.

20) May the legacy of B R Ambedkar continue to inspire people around the world to fight for the rights and dignity of all human beings, and to work towards creating a more just and equitable society for all.

21) "Constitution is not a mere lawyer's document, it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of age."

22) "Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realize that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic."

23) "However good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot."

24) "A democratic form of government presupposes a democratic form of society. The formal framework of democracy is of no value and would indeed be a misfit if there was no social democracy."

25) "If I was asked to name any particular article in this Constitution as the most important, an article without which this Constitution would be a nullity, I could not refer to any other article except this one. It is the soul of the Constitution, and the very heart of it, and I am glad that the House has realized its importance."

26) "The Constitution is not a mere matter of administrative detail. It is a document of life, a living instrument, which makes the people of India what they are; it is the very basis of our national existence."

27) "We are a nation of communities. There are communities in the North, in the South, in the East, in the West. Religion, language, custom, and tradition all separate us. What brings us together is the Constitution. It is the only cement that can hold us together."

28) A constitution is not a mere lawyers' document, it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age."

29) “Independence is no doubt a matter of joy".

30) "I feel that the constitution is workable; it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile."

31) "The Constitution of India is the modern Magna Carta, the greatest charter of human liberty the world has ever known."

32) "The Constitution is not a mere lawyer's document, it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age."

33) "We are Indians, firstly and lastly."

34) "There is no nation of Indians in the real sense of the world, it is yet to be created."

35) "I do not want that our loyalty as Indians should be in the slightest way affected by any competitive loyalty whether that loyalty arises out of our religion, out of our culture or out of our language. I want all people to be Indians first, Indian last and nothing else but Indians."

36) "Freedom of mind is the real freedom."

37) "I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality."

38) "The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of the human personality."

39) "I do not want that our loyalty as Indians should be in the slightest way affected by any competitive loyalty whether that loyalty arises out of our religion, out of our culture or out of our language. I want all people to be Indians first, Indian last and nothing else but Indians."

40) "Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence."

41) "Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government."

42) "I am proud of my country. But we need to recognize that to be a developed country, we must first empower our women."

43) "A good society is not one that allows everybody to do as he likes; it is one that allows everybody to do as he must."

44) "The history of India is nothing but a history of a mortal conflict between Buddhism and Brahminism."

45) "Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle."

46) "Life should be great rather than long."

47) "Educate, agitate, organize": This slogan was a call to action for the oppressed and marginalized communities to educate themselves, raise their voices, and organize themselves to fight for their rights.

48) "Be Educated, Be Organized, Be Agitated": This slogan emphasizes the importance of education, organization, and agitation to achieve social change and equality.

49) "Annihilation of Caste": This slogan calls for the elimination of the caste system in India, which Ambedkar considered to be a major obstacle to social justice and equality.

50) "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

51) "Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules, it ceases to be a religion, as it kills responsibility which is an essence of the true religious act."

52) "History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics."

53) "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

54) "Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered."

55) "I am not a saint, I am a sinner who keeps on trying."

56) "The only way to bring about equality is to make the lower classes upwardly mobile through education."

57) "I do not want that our loyalty as Indians should be in the slightest way affected by any competitive loyalty whether that loyalty arises out of our religion, out of our culture or out of our language. I want all people to be Indians first, Indian last and nothing else but Indians."

58) "I am an Indian first, and last."

59) "I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them."

61) "The only way to reform them is to kill them."

62). "I am convinced that the real remedy is inter-marriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling - the feeling of being aliens - created by Caste will not vanish."

63) "The caste system is not merely a division of labor; it is also a division of laborers."

64) "The caste system is a social evil that has to be eradicated."

65) "The caste system is an organic system of division of labor, and every caste is a body of vocational specialists."

66) "The caste system is based on the principle of graded inequality."

67) "Caste is a system which recognizes only the rules of endogamy and which treats the members of each caste as a group of people who are not only different from others but also unequal to them."

68) "Caste is not a religion. It is a disease of the mind."

69) "Untouchability is a blot on humanity."

70) "The untouchables have suffered for centuries, and they should suffer no more."

71) "The untouchables are not a sub-human species; they are human beings, and they should be treated as such."

72) "The problem of the untouchables is not a problem of a single community but a problem of the whole nation."

73) "The untouchables should be treated as citizens of the same status as others and should be given equal opportunities for education and employment."

74) "The system of untouchability is a negation of the principle of fraternity enshrined in the Constitution."

75) "The untouchables should be treated not as a problem but as an opportunity for the nation to demonstrate its capacity to eradicate discrimination and injustice."

76) "I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh nor shall I worship them."

77) "We must stand on our own feet and fight as best as we can for our rights. So carry on your agitation and organize your forces."

78) "Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy."

79) "I shall have no faith in 'Gauri', Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.

80) "A people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people."

81) "The basic idea underlying religion is to create an atmosphere for the spiritual development of the individual."

82) "Liberty and equality are twin ideals of democracy. Without liberty, equality becomes a privilege. Without equality, liberty becomes a license."

83) "Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth."

84) "The history of India is nothing but a history of a mortal conflict between Buddhism and Brahmanism."

85) "The Constitution is not a mere lawyer's document, it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of age."

86) "I am proud of being an Indian. I am part of the indivisible unity that is Indian nationality."

87) "Equality before the law and equal protection of the laws for all."

88) "One man, one value."

89) "We are all born equal, but some are born more equal than others."

90) "Organize to educate, educate to organize."

91) "Fight for your rights and the rights of others."

92) "Educate, Agitate, Organize, Strategize."

93) "Political power is the key to all social progress."

94) "Educate, Unite, Agitate."

95) "Be Educated, Be Organized, Be Agitated."

96) "Educate, Organize, Agitate."

97) "Annihilation of caste is the first step towards the creation of a casteless society."

98) "Castes are anti-national."

99) "Educate, organize, and awaken."

100) "Unity, liberty, and equality."

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