POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR: VIEWS ON DEMOCRACY

Democracy is a form and a method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without bloodshed     - Ambedkar

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was a prominent political thinker of our times. His political philosophy associates with the grand political streams such as liberalism, conservatism, Marxism and communitarianism. At the same time he differentiates himself with these dominant political traditions in his own authentic and indigenous way. Ambedkar’s philosophy is essentially ethical and religious. For him, social precedes the political. Social morality is the central to his political philosophy. His conception of democracy internalizes the principles of equality, liberty, and fraternity in its true spirit. For him, democracy was the end and the means of this ideal. It was the end because he ultimately considered democracy as coterminous with the realization of liberty, equality and fraternity. At the same time, democracy was also the means through which this ideal was to be achieved. Ambedkar says: “Democracy is not a form of government, but a form of social organization. The roots of democracy are to be searched in social relationship, in terms of the associated life between the people who form the society”. This paper will discuss about Dr. Ambedkar’s political philosophy with special reference to democracy.