“We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well.”–B.R. Ambedkar
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, envisioned a republic built not just on paper laws but on the lived reality of social justice, liberty, and fraternity. His foresight was prophetic. As India steps into the 21st century, Ambedkar is not a relic of the past, he is a radical compass pointing toward an egalitarian future we have yet to realize.
The Contradictions Ambedkar warned us in his famous Constituent Assembly speech (November 25, 1949), stated, “On the 26th of 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” This contradiction now defines the soul of modern India. While India boasts being the fifth-largest economy globally, over 22 crore Indians still live below the poverty line (NITI Aayog, 2023). According to the Oxfam Inequality Report (2023), the top 1% of Indians own over 40.5% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50% hold only 3%.
Caste Domination is India’s open secret, despite constitutional safeguards, caste continues to govern access to dignity. In 2022 alone, over 57,000 cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes were registered (NCRB). This is merely the tip of the iceberg. Social discrimination and economic exclusion operate silently and pervasively. Manual scavenging, a practice Ambedkar compared to slavery, is still exists with over 66,692 manual scavengers officially identified in 2023, 95% of whom are Dalits. In rural India, Dalit households are nearly three times more likely to live in kutcha houses than upper-caste families (Census 2011). In education, the dropout rate among Dalit students remains disproportionately high, especially at the secondary and higher levels, due to entrenched prejudice and institutional neglect.
The Political Crisis and Institutional Backsliding is another grave concern. India’s democratic fabric is being strained by rising majoritarianism, erosion of federalism, and shrinking space for dissent. The Global Democracy Index 2024 categorizes India as a “flawed democracy,” and Reporters Without Borders ranks India 161st in press freedom, underscoring a chilling decline in democratic indicators. Ambedkar warned against hero-worship in politics, asserting: “In politics, bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and eventual dictatorship.” He cautioned that centralized power, cult politics, and identity-based mobilization dominate the political discourse.
Reclaiming Ambedkar, requires a lot of commitment not reduced to mere statues or tokenism on Constitution Day. His economic vision must be advocated for land reforms, labour rights, and state socialism. Agricultural land ownership among Dalits is still abysmally low, and only 7.2% of Dalit households own more than 1 hectare of land (Agri Census 2016). Economic reservations and welfare schemes have often failed to translate into structural empowerment due to flawed implementation and elite capture.India doesn’t just need Ambedkar in textbooks, it needs him in policy, in technology, in economy, and in governance. His call for “constitutional morality”, public conscience, and inclusive development can no longer remain academic slogans.
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To honour Ambedkar today means to confront the uncomfortable truths of modern India. To question why Dalit representation in higher judiciary is negligible, Why Adivasi displacement continues in the name of development, and why democratic dissent is labelled anti-national. As India modernizes technologically, it must not fossilize socially. Ambedkar’s relevance lies in bridging this gap, in making democracy work not just for the powerful, but for the poorest and the most silenced.
Dr Md Afroz, Researcher/Author & faculty in the department of Political Science, (MANUU), Hyderabad. He has penned many articles in Journals, research papers, his Upcoming books “Bridging Divides: Federalism in Theory and Practice” and “Comparative Government and Politics in the Digital Age” capture the new age politics.
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Email: [email protected].
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Dr. Md Tabrez Alam, Consultant at the Centre for Child Rights-NUSRL, Ranchi. He earned MSW/MPhil/PhD in Social Work, a co-founder of Social Works Collectives and Associate in Rising Tree Foundation. His research/work areas are discrimination, segregation, inclusion and development policy advocacy.
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Email: [email protected]
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