Q2. Discuss Ambedkar's views on democracy and social justice.

Similar Question:
1. Discuss political thoughts of Ambedkar.

Introduction:

Ambedkarji was firm believer of democracy. But his thought on democracy was
tempered by his inclination towards socialism and social justice. To him, the democracy
should work towards socialism but have its bases in a regime of individual rights. Thus,
he mixed democracy with socialism. Therefore, he seems to support democratic
socialism. This is the type of democracy, called social democracy, currently followed
in Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark) and in some of the
countries in mainland Europe. In the social democracy of Ambedkar, the form of
government would be parliamentary cabinet based, representative democratic
government, but the state instead of adopting laissez-faire approach, will actively
intervene to bring about social Justice.

He also differentiated between democracy in political and social life. To him political
democracy denotes the institutionalized structure of power whereas democracy in social
life is following the spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity and adopting democracy as
a way of life. To him democracy is a mode of social living which enables individual to
unfold his/ her limitless potentialities to the maximum possible extent without harming
the equality, interest, and aspirations of others.
Ambedkarji is considered as champion of Social Justice. To him, Social Justice is
concerned with ensuring liberty in positive sense, providing fair equality of
opportunity, justice as fairness, and rights to each individual to let him develop his
potentials to the maximum possible without any hindrance. To him, trinity of liberty,
equality, and fraternity may ensure Social Justice with active support of the state/govt.
In Indian context, he was certain that for ensuring social justice, abolition of caste
system was neceSsary.

In the next section oftheanswer, I willtry to briefly explain Ambedkarji's views on democracy,
his concept of democratic socialism, and his thoughts on Social Justice.

His views on Democracy:

Democracy in political vs Democracy in social life:
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" Political Democracy: as the institutionalized structure of power to manage the

political affairs of the society
Social Democracy: Democracy in family, work place, school, and other social
institution. Democracy as way of life.
To him, democracy is a mode of social living which enables each individual to
unfold his/her limitless potentialities to the maximum possible extent without
harming the equality, interest, and aspirations of others.
Influenced by Athenian democracy, that is. Direct democracy or self-governance. He
was also influenced by Lincoln's definition of democracy as the government of the
people for the people and by the people.
However, in view of large size of modern states, he felt that representative Democracy
is better suited for India.

He supported parliamentary democracy because it gave chance even to smaller political

parties to join the Govt. Also, India could learn many things about the parliamentary
Democracy under the British rule, could built some useful democratic institutions,
hence, adopting parliamentary Democracy would be better for India.
But he was against decentralisation and Panchayati Raj system. He supported strong
central Govt. This may be because of his distrust in the caste system which was deeply
entrenched in villages and rural areas. He saw better chance of social reforms by a
strong central Govt.
In his view Indian society was not democratic:
This was because of the caste system which maintained graded inequality. The
Caste System is not compatible to the spirit of liberty, equality, fraternity. Indian
society suffers from ghettoization (people living separately in small isolated
blocs), conformism (instead of applying reason, people just follow the
customs/traditions), authoritarianism, which is in built into the caste system.
Strategy to promote democracy:
Negative strategies: Anti Brhamanism agitation, questioning traditions,
customs, adopting Buddhism, opposing modern forms of
authoritarianism, such as blindly following the dictate of the leaders.
Positive strategies: one man- one vote principle; constitutional
protection to minorities, education, inculcating democratic values in
families and social institutions.

His conception of Democratic socialism:

" Democracyto work towards socialism but have its basis in aregime of rights
His socialism was different from Marxist idea of socialism:

Accepted class struggle, but not the Marxist materialist account of history
Also, against violent revolution, ictatorship of proletariat

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Against curtailment of rights to individuals.

Socialist society/state need moral foundation, which Buddhism may provide.
He wanted socialism to be enshrined in Indian Constitution; unhappy with Congress's
drift from socialism
" His vision of state socialism

State owning and running key & basic industries

Insurance- state monopoly- each adult would have a life policy
Agriculture under state cooperative sector- Agriculture as state industry
" Govt acquiring all land, hand it over to village for collective farming
no Zamindar, no tenant, no labourer, no caste privileges
" Govt. providing all inputs- seeds, fertilizers, irrigation;
Thus, nationalisation of both Agriculture and Industry
Opposed right to property; many of his socialist vision could get space under
Directive principles of state policy.

His views on Social Justice

To him, Social Justice is concerned with ensuring liberty positive sense,

providing fair equality of opportunity and rights to each individual in society.
Securing the highest possible development of the capabilities and potential of
all members of the society may be called social justice.
To him, trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity may ensure social justice.
State should intervene to provide compensatory discrimination (affirmative actions) to
provide preferential access to education, Govt jobs, Legislation, and socio-economic
benefits to historically under-privileged caste/class.
Such preferential benefits should be in the inverse proportion of number and condition
of the minority/marginalized class/untouchables. Thus, the class being somewhat better
off may be given lesser subsidy/quota/ benefits.
Legal remedies and constitutional guaranteesshould be used for ensuring social justice
Preamble of Indian Constitution, reflecting his vision, directs the state to secure
to all its citizens, justice- social, economic and political, along with liberty,
equality and fraternity
To him, abolition of caste system was required for ensuring social justice.

Discussion and Conclusion:

All the vital influences on the political thought of Ambedkarji is reflected in his views
on democracy and Social Justice. Rights, socialism, and democracy are three pillars of
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his political thought. Therefore, he supported democratic socialism in which the

democracy progressively moves towards socialism but keeping the regime of individual
rights intact.
He was also a rationalist humanist. His views on Social Justice were guided by his
rationalist humanism. He was dead against the caste system. He considered it as the
root cause of all social evils in Indian society. He considered the caste system
incompatible with the spirit of democracy. To him, without abolition of caste system
neither political nor economic reforms were possible.
His views on Social Justice were also informed by his views on the caste system. To
him, securing a condition under which every individual is able to develop his faculties
and potential to the maximum possible is social justice. In his conception of social
justice, the modern ideas of justice as fairness, fair equality of opportunity, and
normative values of liberty, equality, and fraternity are clearly visible.
Despite such far-reaching views on democracy and social Justice, he was criticized for
taking a very negative view about Indian society and Hindu religion. Putting the blame
of all the social evil on caste system and asking for its annihilation was taken as extreme
view. Even Gandhiji didn't approve his views on abolition of the caste system and
rejection of Hinduism for securing social justice.
But we must appreciate the context in which he expressed these views. Despite getting
highest possible level of education, rising high in political and administrative ladder,
he had to suffer caste discrimination, humiliation, and oppression. He tried his best to
get justice for the Untouchables within the framework of Hindu religion and social
order, but failed. Hence, to get social justice he had to advocate rejecting not only the
caste system but also the Hinduism itself.