Ambedkarism

{{Short description|Philosophy or ideology of B. R. Ambedkar}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2024}} right|thumb|B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) '''Ambedkarism''' is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar, an Indian economist, barrister, social reformer, and the first of Minister of Law and Justice in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Ambedkar completed his doctoral studies at the Columbia University under the guidance of his professor John Dewey. Dewey's philosophy of Pragmatism heavily influenced Ambedkar's worldview.<ref>{{cite web | last=Anguyo | first=I | title=The Evolution of Pragmatism in India: Ambedkar, Dewey, and the Rhetoric of Reconstruction – review | website=LSE Review of Books - The latest social science books reviewed by academics and experts | date=9 November 2023 | url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2023/11/09/the-evolution-of-pragmatism-in-india-ambedkar-dewey-and-the-rhetoric-of-reconstruction-review/ | access-date=3 March 2026}}</ref> Ambedkarism includes special focus on subjects such as fraternity, democracy, communal electorates, conversion out of Hinduism, political power, rule of law, Navayana, among others.

An '''Ambedkarite''' is one who follows the philosophy of Ambedkar. Icons of Ambedkarite ideology also include Periyar, Jyotirao Phule and others.<ref name="OUP, India">{{cite book | author=Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Peter Ronald deSouza | title=Keywords for India: A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-350-03925-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6XFDwAAQBAJ | pages=201–202}}</ref>

==Social philosophy== According to B. R. Ambedkar "Society is always composed of Classes." Their foundations could be different. A person in a society is always a member of a class, whether it is economic, intellectual, or social. This is a universal truth, and early Hindu culture could not have been an exception to this rule, and we know it was not. So, which class was the first to transform into a caste, because class and caste are, in a sense, next-door neighbours, separated only by a chasm. "A caste is a closed social group."<ref>Moon, Vasant (Comp), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and Speeches, Vol. 1, p. 15, Bombay: The Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, (1979).</ref>

Untouchables were forced to not wear good clothes but for Ambedkar, the suit was a strategy for political resistance, an assertion of power, a means to break the caste barrier in a society that is caste ridden.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Masoodi |first=Ashwaq |date=2017-04-21 |title=The changing fabric of Dalit life |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/avsrwntNuBHG3THdAb5aMP/The-changing-fabric-of-Dalit-life.html |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=mint |language=en}}</ref>

Ambedkar proposed a Separate Electorate for the untouchables to send their own representatives in assembly but it was opposed by Gandhi and resulted in his defeat after the Poona Pact but later he advocated for the establishment of Settlement Commission that would provide separate villages for the Scheduled Castes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RAS {{!}} B R Ambedkar on Caste and Land Relations in India |url=http://ras.org.in/b_r_ambedkar_on_caste_and_land_relations_in_india |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=ras.org.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Balakrishnan |first=Uday |date=2020-04-14 |title=Ambedkar and the Poona Pact |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/ambedkar-and-the-poona-pact/article31333684.ece |access-date=2022-09-09 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== * {{cite book |last1=Omvedt |first1=Gail |title=Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste |date=18 August 2003 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-9664-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSF8b5hbyP0C |language=en}}

Category:B. R. Ambedkar Category:Eponymous political ideologies