B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the principal architect of the Indian constitution, the foremost leader of the Dalit movement, and Gandhi's sharpest opponent within the independence struggle. Born in 1891 in Mhow into a Mahar family, then treated as untouchable, he sat apart from other pupils at school, was not permitted to drink from the common water source, and could not be handed a book by a teacher. He was among the first from his community to attend university in India, and studied at Columbia University under John Dewey and at the London School of Economics, taking doctorates at both and qualifying at Gray's Inn. Few Indians of any caste were as highly educated. He led temple-entry and water-access campaigns from the 1920s, including at Mahad in 1927, where he publicly burned the Manusmriti, the text sanctioning caste. In 1932 the British granted separate electorates for the Depressed Classes; Gandhi began a fast unto death against it, holding it would divide Hindu society permanently, and Ambedkar signed the Poona Pact conceding reserved seats within a joint electorate — a compromise he made under duress and resented. Annihilation of Caste, published in 1936, argued that caste could not be reformed away because it was licensed by scripture. He was law minister in Nehru's first cabinet and chaired the drafting committee of the constitution adopted in 1949, which abolished untouchability and established reservations in education and public employment. He resigned in 1951 when the Hindu Code Bill, which would have reformed inheritance and marriage law for women, was blocked. In October 1956 he converted to Buddhism with hundreds of thousands of followers at Nagpur. He died weeks later.
- Lived: 1891 CE – 1956 CE
- Nationality: Indian
- Roles: jurist, social_reformer
