NEW DELHI: As India commemorates the 135th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, his ideas today are not merely confined to history books or ceremonial tributes, but they continue to shape the vocabulary of resistance — echoing in courtrooms, classrooms, protests, and digital spaces–where debates on caste, equality, and democracy are far from settled.Widely revered as the principal architect of the Indian Constitution, Ambedkar, whose birth anniversary is being marked across the country, was more than a jurist.He was a revolutionary thinker whose blueprint for an egalitarian, caste-free India remains deeply relevant to the nation’s contemporary socio-political discourse.Dalit rights activist Dr Suraj Yengde said Ambedkar’s image is often used for political gain, but without acknowledging his strong criticism of the caste system.”Ambedkar’s image is used to silence Dalit rage around any issue, to the benefit of the oppressor, who is more than happy to co-opt Ambedkar into their vicious programme of hatred and violence,” Yengde wrote in his book Caste Matters.He pointed out how leaders turned to the Constitution during the 2024 general elections as a symbol of defiance.”They found it a more appealing idea to attract the common mass towards Samvidhaan, as opposed to other traditional issues at hand, such as social justice, welfare programmes, education, health, taxation and the protection of the working class,” he said.Born in 1891 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, Ambedkar belonged to a Dalit family and battled systemic exclusion from an early age.However, his relentless pursuit of education, including doctorates from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, transformed him into one of India’s most formidable intellectuals and social reformers.Ambedkar’s most scathing critique of the caste system came in his 1936 essay Annihilation of Caste, originally written as a speech that was never delivered due to its bold content.”Caste is not a division of labour; it is a division of labourers. It is a hierarchy in which the division of labourers is graded one above the other,” he wrote — words that continue to resonate in classrooms, protests and policy debates around caste, reservation, and social justice.
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