Writes: Bhikkhu Bodhipala
Today is the 61st death anniversary of Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Being a pioneer social reformer he was one of the important architects of modern India.
He was the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee and the onus goes to him to incorporate thoughts and measures for an inclusive society based on democracy, justice, liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism. Being influenced by the the Buddhist ideals and it’s motto of inclusiveness Ambedkar too used these in Constitution so that the country could grow in strength taking all sections together.
The India that we see today is not only 60-70 years old but the ethos and pathos of many centuries starting from Emperor Devanampiya Ashoka to Emperor Akbar who laid out the fabric of an inclusive society. Just as the saying g goes Rome was not built in a day so also the case with India and it has taken centuries to come where we stand today and it cannot be wished away with our fanciful thoughts and imaginations and machinations.
Today also is a day which will be remembered as a sad day in history as the day when the Babri Masjid was demolished thereby creating a divide. The talk of constructing a Ram Temple and a Masjid side by side on the same land today should have happened 25 years ago and the Constitution too would not have had to bear the brunt of the stab by the very people who swear to live by it.
Dr.Ambedkar had said “To open or not to open the temples is a question for you to consider and not for me to agitate. If you think it is bad manners not to believe in the sanctity of human beings, then throw open the doors and be a gentleman, but if you wish to remain a orthodox Hindu then shut the doors and damn yourself, for I don’t care to come.”
Wish we studied Ambedkar as a nation builder and not branded him as leader of only that of the Dalits because he had the cause of India in his mind like any other leader of India.
Bhikkhu Bodhipala is a Buddhist monk and can be reached at: Bodhipala.bdg@gmail.com
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