Babasaheb Ambedkar: A Dalit leader or a national leader: A critical analysis

Abstract

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, popularly known as Babasaheb, dedicated his entire life to the upliftment and empowerment of Dalits and worked relentlessly for the rights of the depressed class in society. He tried various strategies during his four-decade-long public career to eradicate the prevalent caste system and, more especially, to emancipate the Dalits from this oppressive social system. However, considering Ambedkar just as a Leader of the depressed class, we ignore his multi-faceted personality and reduce the significance of his outstanding contributions to Indian society, in terms of eliminating discrimination, achieving social justice, and establishing equality, freedom, and true democracy. Hence, this paper puts forward a proposition to regard Babasaheb as a National leader, a nationalist hero.