Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a champion of Dalit rights and the principal architect of the Indian Constitution, was born on April 14, 1891, in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, and his birth anniversary is commemorated each year as Ambedkar Jayanti to honour his countless contributions in the formation of today’s independent India. After years of study, Ambedkar, a member of the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable in Hinduism, converted to Buddhism on October 14, 1956, in Nagpur, with 500,000 supporters.

Also Read|Ambedkar Jayanti 2021: History, significance, all you need to know

He is well-known not only for his significant influence in eradicating the social scourge of untouchability in India but also for having led a crusade for the upliftment and empowerment of Dalits in the country, despite his belief that Dalits could never obtain their rights within Hinduism. Dr BR Ambedkar experienced economic and social discrimination as a child due to his Mahar caste before converting to Buddhism, and most of these painful experiences that honed Babasaheb’s life have been penned down by him in his autobiographical book ‘Waiting For A Visa.’

Also Read|Telangana govt to install 125-ft tall Ambedkar statue by December: Minister

He was chosen as head of the Constitution Drafting Committee for the constitution of independent India on August 29, 1947, and following Independence, he was appointed as India’s law minister. By writing the Indian Constitution, he not only broke social conventions that encouraged Hindu Shudras to imitate caste supremacists, changed their mindsets, and urged them to educate and fight for their rights, but he also ended the monopoly of Hindu Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas in education, military, trade, and social standards.

Also Read|Prez greets citizens on the eve of Dr B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary

7 most inspiring quotes by Dr Ambedkar.

1. I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress that women have achieved.

2. I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality, and fraternity.

3. Cultivation of the mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.

4. Equality may be fiction but one must accept it as a governing principle.

5. So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.

6. Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.

7. Religion and slavery are incompatible.