Babasaheb Ambedkar is undoubtedly the most educated person of his time in India by any standards!

What distinguishes him

from others in his unconditional, uncompromising service for the humanity, especially for making sure social justice for all! He is
considered the chief architect of modern India due to his contributions not only to Constitution of India but also his
contributions in various fields from political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, religion, history, law to science &
technology.

Babasaheb brief Life Sketch:

On 14th April 2016, Babasaheb would have been 125 years old!

At age 24, he did his masters from Columbia University, USA. At age 25, he joined London school of economics and Grays Inn,
London for his economics and Law studies. Later on, he went on to complete his PhD and Bar at law!

At age 29, he started weekly “Mooknayak”. Later on, he started Bahiskrit Bharat, The Janata and Prabhudha Bharat.

At age 36, he led the first major agitation of India “Mahad Satyagraha” for right to drinking water for all! Later, he led the
Kalaram temple agitation and many more similar agitations.

At age 39, he fought tooth and nail in Round Table Conference of London & other places for rights of oppressed bahujan. He had
to defy Mr. Gandhi in RTC, who was 61 years old and had all the backing of powerful people at that time.

At age 59, he drafted the Constitution of India replacing the draconian law “ManuSmriti” once and for all. For more than 2000
years no God had helped 90% of people of India to enjoy basic rights. It was Babasaheb Dr. B.R.Ambedkar who empowered
these 90% of people to enjoy basic rights by incorporating these rights in the constitution as Fundamental Rights for every
citizen of India.

At age 65, he embraced Buddhism and revived Buddhism in India with a huge following of more than 5 lakhs people who
converted to Buddhism along with him. Within 2 months on this, he attained parinirvana.

Babasaheb managed to do all the above and many more great things like conversion to Buddhism, in spite of the fact that he
had to build the movement from scratch, with little support of people who did not have education, money or basic civil rights.
Babasaheb himself was living life under poverty and 4 of his 5 children had to die at very young age due to lack of medicines as
he was not able to afford it due to his busy schedule of studies, agitations and other activities of the movement. He sacrificed
everything for us, his own youth, his time, his family, his children and his life!
This seems to be an apt time to see what his followers have learnt from him and how one can pay tributes to this man and his
movement. With so much work happening in the name of Babasaheb, the 2 key questions that bother many are:
1. Have we made any progress after parinirvana (death) of Babasaheb?
2. Are we moving in the right direction?
No matter whom we talk to, we get the answer that yes, we may have made some progress but we are not progressing as much
as we should have! If that is case, what are we missing?

1. M.B.B.S (Meri Biwi aur Bacha Syndrome – My wife and my kids Syndrome) – It seems in spite of so much work being done, the
Bahujan society is struggling with Meri Biwi aur Bacha Syndrome (My wife and my kids Syndrome!). Many well to do people in India
and most of the NRIs abroad seem to have taken for granted the rights they received. Their lives seem to be revolving around their
wife, kids, bungalow, car and tiny bit (less than 1% of their salaries) of charity)!
Babasaheb lost 4 of his 5 children during their infancy! He could have chosen to settle in any country he wanted
but he returned to India and fought for our rights at the cost of even lives of his wife and children. Babasaheb fought his way up
alone. We are because He was! We need to think what should be our priorities in life?

2. Babasaheb KO Maanthe hai but Babasaheb KI Nahin Maanthe (We believe in Babasaheb but we don’t believe in what
Babasaheb said) – Many people deliberately choose not to read writings and speeches of Babasaheb under senseless pretexts. They
find time for long vacations, expensive family celebrations etc but have no time to read Babasaheb books or buy rich Bahujan
literature. In their ignorance, they seem utterly confused and say things like Political work is important work and social & religious is
waste of time, focus your work only amongst only SCs as SC, ST, OBC & Minorities can never come together etc. Some even claim
that Congress only is our natural ally and Brahmanism is not an issue. It is like “Jai Bhim” bolo and kidar bhi chalo (say “Jai Bhim” and
do whatever you want)!
Babasaheb was so much hard pressed for time and also money. In spite of that he has written vast volumes like
“What Congress and Gandhi have done to Untouchables”, “Riddles in Hinduism”, ”Buddha and his Dhamma” for us. Some say lot of
Babasaheb’s work is burnt or buried by his opponents. But still, 22 volumes are published! If we do not read even these volumes,
what justice are we doing to those precious moments Babasaheb spent in writing? We need to think twice, are we using our lives or
its precious time effectively!

3. Power Vs Position – The opponents of Bahujan ideology time and again bribed our so called leaders by giving them some positions
to act against our own community interests. This led to creation of many stooges and agents. We need to carefully understand the
difference between POSITION and POWER. POSITION gives us designation but no POWER to fight for the rights of the community.
Sometimes people in POSITION are used as stick by manuvadi forces against Bahujan interests. Gullible people misunderstand stick
as the real problem and are unable to see who is holding the stick.
Babasaheb did not even take well paid jobs that he thought will not help him fight for the rights of the people, not to
mention about taking positions! Towards the end of his life, he also resigned from Law Ministry for the rights of the people. People in
positions must think twice, whether their POSITION is giving POWER to him/her to fight for rights of the people or not! We need to
be vigilant about whether POSITION is given to one so as to make entire community POWERLESS or to make it POWERFUL.

4. Hide Vs Highlight – We are living in a global village and an Information Age. Media is 4th pillar of democracy and is used as most
potent weapon to fool & rule. Firstly, so called mainstream media does not highlight any of the real issues of India (Poverty, illiteracy,
Students/Farmers suicides, Inequality and Injustice perpetuated on basis of caste/gender etc). Secondly and alarmingly, it uses the
non-issues coverage to hide the real burning issues. For example, more than 1.4 lakhs crores are swallowed by so called meritorious
corporates almost bringing the banking sector to zilch but we find no serious debates on it in Media!
Babasaheb started Mooknayak weekly in 1920 and then went to start Bahiskrit Bharat, Janata and Prabhudha
Bharat. We need to think, why we can’t at least try to start one National TV or Internet channel which would telecast Ambedkarite
movement 24x7 nationally and internationally. Money should not be an issue as many in India and NRIs have big bungalows, posh
cars and properties in multiple countries! Skills are not an issue as we have good work done by Dalit Camera, Roundtable, Awaaz
India etc. Commitment and Collaboration from all will do lot of good!

5. Action Vs Reaction – There are lakhs of followers who are committed and dedicated. Somehow, it seems, most of the energies are
spent on Reaction. Reacting after a student commits suicide or some activist is murdered etc. It feels as if the reaction has become so
predictable that the enemies of justice are misusing it to misguide our genuine resources. The sad part of it is that this drains lot of
our precious energies & resources without resolving the root cause of the issue and leaves us with very less to plan for real Action.
Babasaheb ran Simon Commission movement, the Mahad Satyagraha movement, Kalaram Temple movement and
various other agitations at very young age with meagre resources in hand. All these and other movements were ACTIONS and not
REACTIONS. Because of this ACTION which was precisely planned and meticulously executed, he could win so many rights for all of
us. Let us learn from it before it is too late!
6. We don’t have even one Good Leader Pessimism – Many people do lot of great work but there are some who choose to be arm
chair critics. They tend to spread pessimism amongst the masses by saying things like we don’t have unity, there are factions in
groups, we don’t have a single leader etc. We hear this mostly from our educated folks who love sitting in front of big TVs with arm
chairs in AC rooms!
Babasaheb started everything (agitations, media, research in every topic, organizations in every field etc) from
scratch. He wrote several volumes. One cannot see a single instance in his writings where Babasaheb wrote words that can lead to
pessimism. He fought all his life and inspired all his people in worst times. He said, “My final words of advice to you are Educate,
Agitate and Organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle.” The minimum one can
do is to look around and encourage & enable as many as we can who are doing good work. Spread optimism around! If not, at least,
shut up and keep quiet!

We are completing almost 60 years now of Babasaheb’s parinirvana (death). It is time for us to not only pay tributes
to this great man but also to introspect on whether we have lived up to his expectations. Living up to his expectations is much more
important than celebrating his birthdays!
We are not in a race to prove X is great Ambedkarite and rest is not! It is time to study Babasaheb’s life and
movement again! Folks who are above 40 years old should ask how many less than 35 year olds is he/she mentoring or enabling
today. How many young people (especially > 18 & <35 years old) including their own kids can come forward and say with proud that
yes, I am mentored/enabled in Ambedkarite values by him/her. There are so many young who are waiting for elders to help and
mentor. They just need a small helping hand, some good words, a shoulder to lean on. Rohith Vemula was one such example.
Today, many young people, after completing their studies are working as full timers 24x7 for Babasaheb’s
movement, many who after marriage got family planning operation done and both wife and husband are dedicating their lives for
the movement, many who work in night shifts so that during day they can work for the movement, many who quit their jobs and
working 24x7 for the movement. There are many who are willing to do anything if they receive decent support. All they ask for is
some motivating words and any support one can give in terms on time/talent/treasure. If we care for our country & Ambedkarite
mission, then we need to reach them out to them before it is late, before they are forced into committing suicides or engaged by
forces which work totally against Ambedkarite values and mission!
Enemies of Ambedkarite values divided us into more than 6000 castes to oppress us. Babasaheb Ambedkar took them
head on by uniting us into 4 major groups Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Castes (OBC) and Converted
Minorities. Even constitution of India recognizes 5 groups: SC, ST, OBC, Minorities and GEN (general). Unity is our strength.
Today, many are adopting, “Mulnivasi” identity. “Mulnivasi” is not only just an identity but it is the powerful medium which is
giving all 85% oppressed (SC, ST, OBC and Converted Minorities) a common identity. We know what the common identity
“Scheduled Caste” given by Babasaheb to all untouchables. Same goes with Scheduled Tribes, OBC and Minorities. Imagine, what
nightmares these partial unity is giving to manuvadi forces and then Imagine what common identity of “Mulnivasi” is going to do
when power of these 4 come together.
As Babasaheb clearly mentioned in the preamble of the constitution of India, our Objective is a system based on Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity and Justice for all!
Babasaheb declared Mahatma Phule, Kabir Das and Buddha as his 3 gurus. Our Ideology is nothing but path shown by Phule-
Shahu-Ambedkar and all our forefathers! Ideology which believes in uniting all oppressed (SC, ST, OBC and Converted Minorities)!
As a mark of respect to Babasaheb on his 125th birth anniversary, hope all will do their best to achieve the objective
set by Babasaheb using the strength of our identity and ideology. I hope, for the common good of the mission, people will forget
minor mistakes and forgive others and work together ego free. Avoid loose talk & back biting and give up pessimism which harms
the common good. With sincere Jai Bhim salutes to Babasaheb Ambedkar! The man of the millennium, whose mere name inspires
crores to give their lives for noble cause of justice for all!

Jai Bhim! Jai Bharat! WE are because HE was!!