Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar`s Slogan Based on Buddhist Philosophy: Educate, Agitate, Organise
Bhimrao was born in 1891, in a Mahar family in Mhow to an Army man, Ramji Sakpal. The family moved to Satara in Maharashtra on his father`s retirement, where his mother died when he was barely five. A Brahmin teacher, Madhav Ambedkar, noticed his intelligence, guided him and eventually gave him his own name. In his early education, he lived through many insults recounted as No Peon No Water, in his book waiting for a visa. He was the first untouchable to enter the Elphinstone College, University of Bombay.` Graduating in Economics and Political Science, he entered the service of the Maharaja of Baroda who noticed his brilliance and gave him a scholarship to study in Columbia University where he encountered the Afro-American community, which propelled him to campaign for human rights. Obtaining his doctorate in economics, he then attended the London School of Economics and passed the Bar at Gray`s Inn.
He returned to India in 1917 and his patron, the Maharaja of Baroda, awarded him the position of Military Secretary in the Government. Still being treated as an untouchable, he resigned from his post and applied his energies towards the sufferings of millions of his fellow men.` He moved to Mumbai as Professor of Political Economy in Sydenham College, where he was very popular with his students, but faced discrimination from his colleagues. This only reinforced his determination and he founded a weekly Mooknayak ` Leader of the Silent. He struggled and summarized it in beautiful words `Educate, Agitate, Organise` which is still the motto of his followers.
He was the messiah of his times and converted his followers into Buddhism in 1935 to overcome the stigma of untouchability. In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which won 15 seats in the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly. His book The Annihilation of Caste in the same year, based on his thesis at Columbia, attained immense popular success. Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy`s Executive Council as minister for labour.
On India attaining Independence, his knowledge and understanding of the political climate led to his becoming the Father of the Constitution of India. Today he is the most respected icon of the Dalits and is revered as much as ever.