The Constitution Of India: Role of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar—Legend and Reality

Dr. Ambedkar played a seminal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution, and is therefore called the architect of the Indian Constitution. The text prepared by Ambedkar provided for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and outlawing of all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and also won the Constituent Assembly’s support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs for members of the SC and the ST.
In his capacity as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, he hammered out a comprehensive and workable Constitution into which he incorporated his valuable views. He gave free India its legal framework, and the people, the basis of their freedom. His contribution is thus significant, substantial, and spectacular.
The book not only evaluates Dr. Ambedkar’s role in the making of India’s Constitution, but also lays bare the agonies of his mind while doing so. Drawing from his scholarly speeches, the book tells us about the important issues which afflicted his mind. He was of the opinion that being divided by thousands of castes, India cannot be united in the social and psychological sense. According to him, economic disparities led to graded inequalities in Indian society. Such a life of contradictions could not continue without putting political democracy at peril. Though he felt grateful to the Constituent Assembly and the Drafting Committee for the trust and confidence reposed in him, he was agonized by inequalities inherent in the society, and called himself a hacker, not the maker of the Constitution. He went to the extent of saying that he shall be the first person to burn it as it did not suit anybody.
The book is an attempt to give credit to Dr. Ambedkar, not only as the maker of India’s Constitution, but also as one of India’s leading citizens, a great social reformer and valiant upholder of human rights.
It will be useful for the students and teachers of political science, researchers in this field, as well as common readers interested in knowing about the making of India’s Constitution.