India observed Ambedkar Jayanthi

Any failure to protect the fundamental rights of minorities means damaging the very soul of the Constitution, and violating the core teachings of Ambedkar

New Delhi: 131^st birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr B.R. Ambedkar was celebrated across political parties and social organisations, cutting caste, class, religion and ideological differences. The actions of these parties and organisations remind us that Ambedkar is increasingly being revered in India, but are his teachings getting similar importance?

This is a pertinent question today as we constantly hear news of minorities being targeted or attacked. Such incidents damage the image of India, and need urgent attention. We need to re-read Ambedkar’s thoughts on minorities and how to handle their issues.

Ambedkar’s idea of minority

Nowadays, the term ‘minority’ has been reduced to mean religious minorities. But Ambedkar’s definition of minorities was not limited to the numerical minority, instead it included communities that had been excluded, suppressed and oppressed. Ambedkar said in his evidence before the Southborough Committee in 1928, “I think we must be very careful in using the word ‘minority’. I do not think simply because a community happens to be a community composed of small numbers it is therefore necessarily a minority for political purposes. A minority which is oppressed, or whose rights are denied or the majority, would be a minority that would be fit for consideration for political purposes”.  

Ambedkar argued that the Oppressed Classes/Scheduled Castes were a minority community in the Indian subcontinent because they did not have adequate share in socio-political and economic power. Although Ambedkar had initially defined minorities in terms of power-sharing, he did not completely discard the idea of a numerical minority. The idea of numerical minority started figuring clearly in his writings and speeches during and after the framing of the Indian Constitution. In one of his addresses at Siddharth College on 25 September 1947, he elaborated on the idea of a numerical minority.