Thus Spoke
Dr.B.R.Ambedkar….
“To idealise the real which more often than not is full of
inequities is a very selfish thing to do. It is only when a person finds a
personal advantage in things, as they are that he tries to idealise the real.
To proceed to make such an ideal real is nothing short of criminal. It means
perpetuating inequity on the ground that whatever is settled is settled for all
times. Such a view is opposed to all morality. No society with ideal conscience
has ever accepted it. On the contrary whatever progress in improving the terms
of associated life between individuals and classes has been made in the course
of history, is due entirely to the recognition of the ethical doctrine that
whatever is wrongly settled is never settled and must be resettled.”
“The conception of secular state is derived from the liberal
democratic tradition of west. No institution which is maintained wholly out of
state funds shall be used for the purpose of religious instruction irrespective
of the question whether the religious instruction is given by the state or any
other body.”
“Untouchability has
ruined the Untouchables, the Hindus and ultimately the nation as well. If the
depressed classes gained their self-respect and freedom, they would contribute
not only to their own progress and prosperity but by their industry intellect
and courage would contribute also to the strength and prosperity of the nation.
If the tremendous energy Untouchables are at present required to fritter away
in combating the stigma of Untouchability had been saved them, it would have
been applied by them to the promotion of education and development of resources
of their nation as a whole.”
“I tell you, religion is for man and not man for religion. If you
want to organise, consolidate and be successful in this world, change this
religion. The religion that does not recognise you as a human being, or give
you water to drink, or allow you to enter in temples is not worthy to be called
a religion. The religion that forbids you to receive education and comes in the
way of your material advancement is not worthy of the appellation 'religion'.
The religion that does not teach its followers to show humanity in dealing with
its co-religionists is nothing but a display of a force. The religion that
teaches its followers to suffer the touch of animals but not the touch of human
beings is not a religion but a mockery. The religion that compels the ignorant
to be ignorant and the poor to be poor is not a religion but a visitation!”
“Positively, my social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in
three words: liberty, equality and fraternity. Let no one however say that I
have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My
philosophy has its roots in religion and not in political science. I have
derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.”
“Caste cannot be
abolished by inter caste dinners or stray instances of inter caste marriages.
Caste is a state of mind. It is a disease of mind. The teachings of the Hindu
religion are the root cause of this disease. We practice casteism and we
observe Untouchability because we are enjoined to do so by the Hindu religion.
A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can be changed. But
poison cannot be changed into nectar.”
“We must begin by acknowledging
that there is a complete absence of two things in Indian Society. One of these
is equality. On the social plane we have an India based on the principles of
graded inequality, which means elevation for some and degradation for others.
On the economic plane we have a society in which there are some who have
immense wealth as against many who live in abject poverty.”
“Anyone who studies
working of the system of social economy based on private enterprise and pursuit
of personal gain will realise how it undermines, if it does not actually
violate the individual rights on which democracy rests. How many have to
relinquish their rights in order to gain their living? How many have to subject
themselves to be governed by private employers?”
“India is a peculiar
country and her nationalists and patriots are a peculiar people. A patriot and
a nationalist in India is one who sees with open eyes his fellow men treated as
being less than man. But his humanity does not rise in protest. He knows that
men and women for no cause are denied their rights. But it does not prick his
civil sense of helpful action. He finds a whole class of people shut out from
public employment. But it does not rouse his sense of justice and fair play.
Hundreds of evil practices that injure man and society are perceived by him.
But they do not sicken him with disgust. The patriot's one cry is power for him
and his class. I am glad I do not belong to that class of patriots. I belong to
that class which takes its stand on democracy and which seeks to destroy
monopoly in every form. Our aim is to realise in practice our ideal of one man
one value in all walks of life - political, economical and social.”
“My definition of democracy is - A form and a method of Government
whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without
bloodshed. That is the real test. It is perhaps the severest test. But when you
are judging the quality of the material you must put it to the severest test.”
“Democracy is not merely a form of Government. It is primarily a
mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is
essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards our fellow men.”
“A democratic form
of Government presupposes a democratic form of a society, The formal framework
of democracy is of no value and would indeed be a misfit if there was no social
democracy. It may not be necessary for a democratic society to be marked by
unity, by community of purpose, by loyalty to public ends and by mutuality of
sympathy. But it does unmistakably involve two things. The first is an attitude
of mind, and attitude of respect and equality towards their fellows. The second
is a social organisation free from rigid social barriers. Democracy is
incompatible and inconsistent with isolation and exclusiveness resulting in the
distinction between the privileged and the unprivileged.”
“Democracy is not a Form of Government, but a form of social
organisation.”
“What we must do is not to content ourselves with mere political
democracy. We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well.
Political democracy cannot last unless there is at the base of it, a social
democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which
recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. These
principles of liberty, equality and fraternity are not to be treated as
separate items. They form a union in the sense that, to divorce one from the
other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy. Liberty cannot be divorced
from equality, nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity.”
“On the 26th January
1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will
have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In
politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote
one value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social
and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value.
How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall
we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to
deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in
peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment else
those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of democracy which
this Constituent Assembly has so laboriously built up.”
“John Dewey said: "Every society gets encumbered with what is
trivial, with what is dead wood from the past and what is positively perverse.
As a society becomes more enlightened, it realises that it is responsible not
to conserve and transmit the whole of its achievement, but only such as makes a
better future society"
“There is nothing fixed, nothing eternal, nothing sanatan;
everything is changing, change is the law of life for individuals as well as
for society. In a changing society there must be constant revolution of old
values.”
“No civilised society
of today presents more survivals of primitive times than does the Indian
society. Its religion is essentially primitive and its tribal code, in spite of
the advance of time and civilization, operates in all its pristine vigor even
today. Indian society still savors of the clan system, even though there are no
clans.”
(These quotations were reproduce from the web page http://www.ambedkar.org/Babasaheb/quotations.htm)
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