SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHTS IN INDIAN POLITY: CONTRIBUTION OF GANDHI AND

Abstract

when the legitimacy of the emancipator discourse is being challenged, and the dominant discourse upholds capitalism, it is all the more essential to broaden the scope of Gandhian and Ambedkarian discourses.Ambedkar made ceaseless efforts for the removal of untouch ability and firmly believed that the progress of the nation could not be realized without first removing untouchability. Ambedkar held the view that the removal of untouched ability was linked to the abolition of the caste system and that it could be done only by discarding the religious notions from the basis of the caste system. Therefore, in the course of his analysis of the caste system, he examined the Hindu religious philosophy and criticized it. The most creative contribution made by Ambedkar was as an uncompromising fighter for Indian humanity; particularly the humblest, usually described as the dalits or scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Gandhi‟s South African experience added a moral dimension to his thinking. He opposed the racialism imposed by the white minority on a moral plane. Gandhian moral tone has a political meaning. He could create an imagined community in South Africa despite their caste and class differences. The South African experience helped Gandhi to have a better insight into the Indian reality. Furthermore, he found that a section of Indian people facing social discrimination on the plane of caste remained outside the Hindu fold. Gandhi's touch with rural India made his thinking more complex but closer to the Indian reality. There is a common impression in the minds of the post-independence generations that Gandhi was the principal saviour of the untouchable of India. But when we consider the stature and achievement of Ambedkar as an intrepid warrior for social, political and economic liberation of the lowest, especially the dalits and the exploited tribes, there is no doubt that without diminishing the tremendous raising of consciousness of the Hindu community by Gandhi, Ambedkar's ceaseless war on behalf of the proletariat, in its widest connotation is incomparable.Gandhi and Ambedkar were symbols of the revolt against the caste-conscious oppressors within the Hindu fold; they chose different paths, different strategies and different ideologies. If Gandhi was a deliverer of Indians, including the weaker sections, from the British Raj, Ambedkar was the spearhead of Black power against the 'Varna' front. There were many issues on which the giants would not agree for the obvious reason that Gandhi wanted reform to end injustice, while Ambedkar demanded unconditionally for the annihilation of the caste system itself. This paper seeks to explore this debate further.