Dalit Emancipatory Movements and Ambedkar’s Neo-Buddhism: An Assessment

Abstract

This study analyses the Dalit emancipatory initiatives of Dr B. R. Ambedkar and his continuous effort to effect radical social change in modern India. In a land where many social reformers of all hues pitched in against the injustices and inequities besetting the Dalit communities, few succeeded in leaving their mark to the extent that Ambedkar did. He counts among the few who have successfully worked to uplift the suppressed communities, women, backward castes and minorities as he dedicated his life to ensuring their human dignity and self-respect. The Hindu social structure built on the varna system, to Ambedkar, breeds inequality and nurtures the caste system along with the attendant practices like untouchability—inequality in its most atrocious form. Hence, he believed that the most effective path to social justice for the Dalit community was a complete break away from the Hindu fold by converting to another religion. He favoured and chose Buddhism as the least harmful option, also due to the fact that he considered Buddhism ‘part and parcel of Bharatiya culture’. Apart from urging members of the depressed communities to take the path of conversion, he wanted to usher in radical social change and an ideological revolution in the Hindu mind.