Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (BRA) – jurist, social reformer, and chief architect of the Indian Structure – was born on April 14, 1891. He was the 14th youngster, the final of his mother and father. This 12 months for the primary time within the historical past of UN, world leaders of 195 nations celebrated his start anniversary for 2 days on April 18 and 23.
He suffered all through his education from the curse of untouchability. After graduating, he was chosen as a scholar to check within the US, which marked a turning level in his life. Spending three years at Columbia College, he accomplished 29 programs in economics, 11 in historical past, six in sociology, and 5 in philosophy, incomes his MA and PhD in 1915 and 1916, respectively. He then continued his research in London, the place he was admitted to Grey’s Inn for Regulation and pursued a DSc on the LSE. Regardless of having to return to India, he later went to the UK, acquiring his Bar-at-Regulation and DSc diploma. He additionally studied at Bonn College in Germany for a interval.
Throughout 1935-36, upon his return to India, he authored “Ready for a Visa”, a 20-page autobiographical story reflecting his experiences with untouchability. The guide is now a textbook at Columbia College. On January 12, 1953, Osmania College awarded him one other doctorate.
The Mahad Satyagraha of 1927 marked a pivotal second in Ambedkar’s political ideology. Main a bunch of Dalits to drink water from Chavdar Lake, a public water supply, he initiated the motion for Dalit emancipation. Ambedkar emphasised that their motion wasn’t merely about consuming water, however about asserting their humanity and equality. This sentiment reverberates in Article 15 of the Structure, which prohibits discrimination primarily based on faith, race, or caste in using public wells, tanks, and bathing ghats. Presumably, no person may have at the moment thought that it will change into a part of the Structure.
BRA is the daddy of the Structure. Mahatma Gandhi had envisioned that the chief architect of the Indian Structure needs to be a scholar from the depressed lessons. Accordingly, he persuaded prime leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel to nominate Ambedkar because the chairman of the drafting committee. Ambedkar’s exceptional scholarship, erudition, mental prowess and intensive studying outfitted him to navigate by means of varied amendments proposed through the drafting course of. When amendments have been mentioned within the Constituent Meeting (CA), Ambedkar eloquently articulated his viewpoints, persuading the Meeting whereas respecting the democratic course of.
Among the many seven authentic members of the drafting committee, a current analysis by Aakash Singh Rathore in “Ambedkar’s Preamble” (2020) reveals that 5 had minimal involvement. The burden of drafting fell on Ambedkar, who authored the Preamble, born on February 6, 1948, with 81 phrases. In 1976, 4 phrases have been added with out deletion. The 75-year constitutional journey demonstrates the Preamble’s pivotal position because the lens by means of which your entire Structure is interpreted, affirmed by constitutional courts as its integral and unalterable basic structure.
BRA’s DNA runs by means of the Preamble and the Structure. In 1952, Columbia College conferred on him the diploma of LL.D. This was in recognition of the work achieved by him because the chief architect of the Structure.
BRA gave us the Indian-nized Structure. Historian Granville Austin described our Structure as probably the most progressive and revolutionary political doc of the time.
Indians initially struggled to stick to constitutional self-discipline, prompting Ambedkar to say that adherence is paramount, no matter a structure’s high quality. Deeply harm, BRA mentioned, burn the Structure if you happen to can not comply with it. He by no means needed to burn it. It was a press release made in desperation. Crafting a structure isn’t arduous, however its implementation calls for seriousness, accountability, and self-discipline. The story of 75 years of Indian Structure is the story of defending its fundamental construction. We are going to proceed to be ruled by the holy guide. Allow us to look ahead to the primary centenary (2050) celebrations of the Structure.
Simply as I mirrored on the youthfulness of the US Structure in 1987 (even after 200 years of its creation in 1787), in 2050 we’ll marvel on the enduring vitality of the Indian Structure. Constitutions, like vegetation, don’t age; they develop into bushes, sustaining the nation. Ambedkar finally resigned as India’s first regulation minister.
The Indian Parliament deserted the great Hindu Code Invoice, which included key provisions akin to inheritance rights for ladies, mutual divorce rights for each genders, and remarriage rights for widows and divorcees. Ambedkar advocated for ladies’s rights, emphasising the significance of mutual respect and equality in marriage.
BRA was distinctive in numerous methods. His pondering. His imaginative and prescient. His statesmanship. How we want he had lived longer.
(The author is Professor Emeritus and former director of the Nationwide Judicial Academy)