Ambedkar, Gandhi and Empowerment of Dalit

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869-30 January 1948) was an Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian Independence Movement against British colonial rule. Employing Non-Violent Civil Disobedience, Gandhi led India to Independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards the untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting the rights of women and labor. He was independent India's first law and justice minister, the architect of the Constitution of India, and a founding father of the Republic of India. In India and elsewhere.

Aditya Dubey born on 29th August, 1967 in Faizabad, UP. He is a renowned Sociologist and feminist scholar. He has been Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. He completed his bachelor's and Master's degrees from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, and obtained his Ph.D. degree from CCS University, Meerut, UP. He is Professor of Sociology. His major areas of interest are sociological theory and the sociology of consumption. He has written many more on sociology, anthropology, political science, women studies, geography, environment, literature, economics etc.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was a rarity in our polity. He had to fight against heavy odds, being a Dalit, and facing poverty, humiliation, social deprivation and other forms of injustice and segregation. He fought his way up on the ladder of politics and gave himself a good education both in India and abroad. He got a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a D.Sc. from the London School of Economics, the first Dalit to do so. During his stay in the U.S., he observed the living conditions of African-Americans in Harlem. He realised there was a similarity between untouchables in India and the blacks in the U.S., but that untouchability was "far worse than slavery." When Ambedkar became a staunch defender of Dalit rights, he had to contend against Mahatma Gandhi whose views on Hindu society were at variance with his. Gandhi had an overarching view of Hinduism and pleaded that it was the duty of those in the Hindu fold to safeguard interests of all its members, including Dalits. It was a clash between two values which led to a political malaise over the reservation issue for years until it was resolved after Independence with the adoption of the Constitution, which Ambedkar helped draw up. Sadly, during his lifetime, neither his intellectual rigour nor political sagacity received recognition. In recent years, Dalit scholars like Narendra Yadav, Anand Telumbde and Gail Omvedt have tried to make amends. In his detailed narrative, which was in the works for 15 years, Raja Sekhar Vundru deals with an important aspect of Ambedkar's life - his role in devising our electoral system.

**Contents and Sample Pages**