AMBEDKAR IDEAL DEMOCRACY

1. Context

2. About Dr. B.R.Ambedkar

• Dr.Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was one of the main architects of the Indian Constitution.
• He was a very well-known political leader, philosopher, writer, economist, scholar, and social reformer who dedicated his life to eradicating untouchability and other social inequality in India.
• He was born on 14 April 1981 in Madhya Pradesh in Hindu Mahar Caste. He had to face severe discrimination from every corner of society as the Mahar caste was viewed as "untouchable" by the upper class.

3. Essence of Democracy

• He had complete faith in democracy. While a dictatorship may produce quick results, it can not be a valid form of government. Democracy is superior as it enhances liberty. He supported the parliamentary form of democracy, which aligns with other national leaders.
• He emphasized 'democracy as a way of life', i.e. democracy not only in the political sphere but also in the personal, social and economic sphere.
• For him, democracy must bring a drastic change in the social conditions of society, otherwise the spilt of political democracy i.e., 'one man and one vote' would be missing. Democratic government can arise only from a democratic society, so as long as caste hurdles exist in Indian society, real democracy can not operate. So he focused on the spirit of fraternity and equality as the basis of democracy to bring out social democracy.
• Along with the social dimension, Ambedkar focused on the economic dimension also. while he was influenced by liberalism and parliamentary democracy, he also found their limitation of them. As per him, parliamentary democracy ignored social and economic inequality. It only focused on liberty while true democracy must bring both liberty and equality.
• Furthermore, Ambedkar gave utmost importance to practicality. For him, concepts and theories needed to be tested as they were supposed to be practiced in society. He used rationality and critical reasoning to analyze any subject matter, because he believed that a subject must first pass the test of rationality, failing which, it must be rejected, altered, or modified.
• Ambedkar used the lens of morality in investigating the caste system, the Hindu social system, the nature of religion, and Indian history. It was difficult to place Ambedkar's framework of democracy within this rigid religious structure and socio-political system, especially since he brought the most marginalized communities into the fold of democracy. Thus, Ambedkar attempts to construct a new structure based on the principles of Buddhism.
  
  

4. Types of Morality according to Ambedkar

• Ambedkar divides morality into social morality and constitutional morality.
• He explains that social morality was built through interaction and such interaction was based on the mutual recognition of human beings.
• Yet, under the rigid systems of caste and religion, such interaction was not possible as one did not accept another person as a respectable human being due to their religion or caste background.
• Social was based on equality among human beings and a recognition of respect. Constitutional morality for Ambedkar was a prerequisite to maintaining a system of democracy in a country.
• He believed that only through a negation of hereditary rule, laws that represented all people, with people's representatives, and a state which has the confidence of the people, can democracy be maintained. One single person or political party could not represent the needs or will of all the people.
• Ambedkar realized that the caste system did not go hand in hand with such an understanding of moral democracy. This was because the traditional caste structure was of a hierarchical rule, with no mutual respect among individuals, and complete subjugation of one group by another.

5. Ambedkar's concept of Moral Democracy

• Ambedkar's concept of moral democracy must also be studied through the lenses of particularism (a political theory where one group promote its interests without regard to the interests of larger groups) and universality.
• His analysis of Indian society explains that the caste system is a negative particularistic value in the Hindu religion. The upper castes according to Ambedkar, universalize the negative particularity (their dominance over the other groups) and particularise the negative universal morality (wherein the caste system and the subsequent alienation of certain groups are justified).
• This negative social relation is essentially 'undemocratic'. It is to fight such separation that Ambedkar attempted to bring the democratic processes of Buddhism into the discourse of modern democracy. According to him, Buddhist sanghas were spaces where debates, discussions, and dissent were encouraged.
• Moreover, the practice of 'Voting', which they called 'Salapatraka Grahakas, began in sanghas, lying down moral grounds or principles of social freedom and public reason.
• According to Ambedkar, the roots of democracy lie within the realm of religion, without which associated living was not possible. Thus, instead of removing aspects of religion completely, he attempts to reconstruct a new version of democracy that accepts the democratic aspects of religions like Buddhism.
• In The Buddha and his Dhamma, Ambedkar elaborates how the concepts of Dhamma, which include Prajna or thinking and understanding, sila or good action, and finally Karuna or kindness, emerge as a 'morally transformative' concept that dismantles regressive social relations. An integration of such rules helps in transforming the traditional approach to democracy to create a new form of democracy based on the concepts of morality.
• Ambedkar's Conceptualisation of moral democracy rejects the traditional caste-based religion that hinders social interaction and universalizes negative particularistic values, replacing them with positive particularistic values and moral orders that bind human beings together.

For Mains