Abolition of Untouchability under the Constitutional Scheme of India.
History
The period from 1947 to 1951 was for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar a period a creative co-operation with the Congress Government. It is interesting to note that once Dr. B.R.Ambedkar became the first Law Minister of India, he fell in line with the views of Gandhi as far as the emancipation of the Untouchables was concerned. He decided to give up the concept of separate electorates for Scheduled Castes and accepted that the Scheduled Castes were not a minority but were an underprivileged part of Hinduism and required safeguards for a temporary period to become an integral part of their community . The greatest contribution of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and the Congress Government, which
He favored centralized government, integration of Indian states with the union of India, Hindi as the optional language for every province and joint electorates . When Gandhi talked of Swaraj, he meant the achievement of the same ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity espoused by Ambedkar, which were ultimately enshrined in the preamble to the constitution of India. Gandhi's endeavor was that socio-economic justice should be available to all classes, irrespective of caste, creed, or religion. Ambedkar wanted a separate identity for the depressed classed first and swaraj afterwards. To Gandhi this was placing the cart before the horse. To Gandhi, once swaraj was attained, other freedoms would follow, whereas Ambedkar's suspicion was that after independence, nobody would bother about the upliftment of the depressed classes. Gandhi wanted to remove untouchables from the hearts of the caste Hindus and absorb the Scheduled Castes as an integral part of the Hindu community. Ambedkar wanted the Scheduled Castes to organize themselves politically as a distinct entity and fight for their rights . Lealah Dushkin, in The Policy of the Indian National Congress, writes: "probably nowhere in the world is so large a lower class minority granted so much favourable treatment by the Government as are the Depressed Classes of India today." This would not have been possible without the efforts of Gandhi amongst the caste Hindus and Ambedkar amongst the Scheduled Castes. The policies pursued by Gandhi and Ambedkar, in the ultimate analysis, worked in conjunction with each other. Both Gandhi and Amedkar were great men. While Gandhi was the Father of the Nation, Ambedkar was the Father of the Indian Constitution. While Gandhi was an apostle of peace and non-violence, Ambedkar became a convert to Buddhism, which preached universal peace and non-violence. Both of them