Ambedkar’s Blueprint for Justice, Dignity and Equality

A Democratic Republic Where Every Citizen Could Live With Dignity

April 14, 2025

Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, where B.R. Ambedkar, along with over half a million followers, converted to Buddhism on Oct. 14, 1956.

As India marks Ambedkar Jayanti today, citizens would do well to revisit B.R. Ambedkar’s vision for the country—as a scale by which to measure the conduct of governments and political parties.

First, the fight against caste lay at the core of Ambedkar’s political philosophy; as the principal architect of India’s Constitution, he viewed caste as the greatest obstacle to building an equal and democratic society. He believed that any attempt to build a democratic nation without dismantling the caste system was bound to fail. To him, caste was a deeply embedded structure of power and exclusion.

He rejected the idea that reform could happen within the existing framework, which he saw as fundamentally rooted in inequality. His long battle for temple entry rights, access to water and representation in government services was aimed at eliminating caste altogether. He called for a complete annihilation of caste and insisted that a modern India must be based on the principle that one’s birth should never determine one’s social status, rights or dignity.

“Caste is not just a division of labour, it is a division of labourers,” he wrote in the 1936 book “Annihilation of Caste.”

Second, Ambedkar stressed on constitutional morality – which is the practice of upholding the values and principles enshrined in the Constitution—such as justice, liberty, equality and fraternity—over personal, religious or majoritarian preferences.

He warned that India’s future as a democracy would depend not just on the institutions created by the Constitution, but on how people respected and upheld constitutional values in practice.

For him, democracy was a way of life—a commitment to resolving conflicts through reason, not force. He feared that if political elites and citizens did not internalise democratic norms, then the Constitution would be rendered hollow. In other words, even the best-drafted Constitution could be subverted if those in power chose to ignore its spirit.

Ambedkar believed that Indians must learn to place the rule of law and the principles of justice above loyalty to individuals, religions or social groups.

“Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it,” he said in a Constituent Assembly debates on Nov. 4, 1948. And he wrote in the 1936 book, “Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.”

Third, Ambedkar believed the State had a duty to actively correct historical injustices – which did not mean fuelling communal memory or weaponising history for political gains.

He did not accept the idea that freedom meant leaving things to market forces or traditional hierarchies. For him, liberty had no meaning if it did not come with equality. This is why he advocated for reservations in education, public employment and political institutions—not as charity, but as a necessary corrective to centuries of oppression. He viewed these as instruments to ensure that Dalits and other marginalised groups could compete on equal footing and participate fully in public life.

He also advocated land reforms and labour protections, believing that without economic justice, political freedom would remain out of reach for many.

“We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy,” he said at the Constituent Assembly on Nov. 26, 1949.

During a debate on the Draft Constitution, he said, “What is the use of fundamental rights to the millions of people who cannot get a square meal to satisfy their hunger?”

Fourth, Ambedkar saw education, gender justice and rational thinking as central to building a modern nation. He was convinced that social progress could not happen without enlightened citizens.

“Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence,” he said at a speech in Delhi’s Ramjas College in 1942.

He encouraged Dalits to “educate, agitate, and organise,” urging them to break free from superstition and dependence on upper-caste patronage.

Ambedkar also argued for equal rights for women in property and marriage, ahead of his time in many respects. “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved,” he said in his 1942 speech at the Women’s Council in Nagpur.

His vision was to shift India from a society dominated by birth-based privilege to one governed by merit, justice and dignity. It was to build a democratic republic where every citizen, regardless of caste, class, or gender, had the right and the means to live with dignity.