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Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar: 130 quotes6 likes

“It is a notorious fact that many prominent Hindus who had offended the religious susceptibilities of the Muslims either by their writings or by their part in the Shudhi movement have been murdered by some fanatic Musalmans…. This is, of course, a very short list and could be easily expanded. But whether the number of prominent Hindus killed by fanatic Muslims is large or small matters little. What matters is the attitude of those who count towards these murderers. The murderers paid the penalty of law where law is enforced. The leading Moslems, however, never condemned theses criminals. On the contrary, they were hailed as religious martyrs and agitation was carried on for clemency being shown to them. As an illustration of this attitude, one may refer to Mr. Barkat Ali, a Barrister of Lahore, who argued the appeal of Abdul Qayum. He went to the length of saying that Qayum was not guilty of murder of Nathuramal because his act was justifiable by the law of the Koran. This attitude of the Moslems is quite understandable. What is not understandable is the attitude of Mr. Gandhi.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Source: Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946), p. 157

“On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which is Assembly has to laboriously built up.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“Every progress has its bill of costs and only those who pay for it will have that progress.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in the Bombay Legislature https://archive.org/stream/Ambedkar_CompleteWorks/13A.%20Dr.%20Ambedkar%20in%20the%20Bombay%20Legislature%20PART%20I_djvu.txt

“Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as governing principle.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“I will choose only the least harmful way for the country. And that is the greatest benefit I am conferring on the country by embracing Buddhism; for Buddhism is a part and parcel of Bhâratîya culture. I have taken care that my conversion will not harm the tradition of the culture and history of this land.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Quoted in Dhananjay Keer: Ambedkar, p.498. (Dr. Ambedkar, Life and Mission. Popular Prakashan, Bombay 1987 (1962).)

“Summarizing the evidence relating to the slaughter of the Buddhist Monks perpetrated by the Musalman General in the course of his invasion of Bihar in 1197 AD, Mr. Vincent Smith says, "…. Great quantities of plunder were obtained, and the slaughter of the 'shaven headed Brahmans', that is to say the Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed, that when the victor sought for someone capable of explaining the contents of the books in the libraries of the monasteries, not a living man could be found who was able to read them. 'It was discovered,' we are told, 'that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindi tongue they call a college Bihar.' " Such was the slaughter of the Buddhist priesthood perpetrated by the Islamic invaders. The axe was struck at the very root. For by killing the Buddhist priesthood, Islam killed Buddhism. This was the greatest disaster that befell the religion of the Buddha in India.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

"The Decline and Fall of Buddhism", in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol. III (1987), Government of Maharashtr­a, p. 229-388

“I was born a Hindu because I had no control over this, but I shall not die a Hindu.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“I was born a Hindu but will not die one.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

As quoted in "The bogey of forced conversions", in The Hindu (26 October 2008) http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/10/26/stories/2008102650150500.htm

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

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Speech delivered to the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference (31 May 1936)

“A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be servant of the society.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“Indians today are governed by different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the Preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules, it ceases to be a religion, as it kills responsibility which is an essence of the true religious act.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Radical Equality: Ambedkar, Gandhi, and the Risk of Democracy https://books.google.co.in/books?id=K3c-CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA303&lpg=PA303&dq=Religion+must+mainly+be+a+matter+of+principles+only.+It+cannot+be+a+matter+of+rules.+The+moment+it+degenerates+into+rules,+it+ceases+to+be+a+religion,&source=bl&ots=Z580zN8EaN&sig=pw39zHdZTHfmGbLTLRRVLNX-WwA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC4Q6AEwA2oVChMIxLm9qfeSyAIViAuOCh2Phg9p#v=onepage&q=Religion%20must%20mainly%20be%20a%20matter%20of%20principles%20only.%20It%20cannot%20be%20a%20matter%20of%20rules.%20The%20moment%20it%20degenerates%20into%20rules%2C%20it%20ceases%20to%20be%20a%20religion%2C&f=false

“To the Muslims, a Hindu (and any non-Muslim) is a Kafir. A Kafir (non-believer in Islam) is not worthy of respect. He is a low born and without status. That is why a country ruled by the kafir (non-muslim) is a ‘Dar ul harb’ (i. e. the land of war) to a Muslim, which must be conquered, by any means for the Muslims and turned into ‘Dar ul Islam’ (i. e., land of Muslims alone). Given this, not further evidence seems necessary to prove that the Muslims will not obey a Hindu (or for that matter any non-Muslim) government.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Source: Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946), p. 301

“Everybody infers that Islam must be free from slavery and caste. Regarding slavery nothing needs to be said. It stands abolished now by law. But while it existed much of its support was derived from Islam and Islamic countries.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

228-230
Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)

“According to Muslim cannon Law the world is divided into two camps, Dar-ul-Islam (abode of Islam) and Dar-ul-Harb (abode of war). A country is Dar-ul-Islam when it is ruled by Muslims. A country is Dar-ul-Harb when Muslims only reside in it but are not rulers of it. That being the Cannon Law of the Muslims, India cannot be the common motherland of the Hindus and the Musalmans-but it cannot be the land of the ‘ Hindus and Musalmans living as equals’. Further, it can be the land of the Musalmans only when it is governed by the Muslims. The moment the land become subject to the authority of a non-Muslims power, it ceases to be the land of the Muslims. Instead of being Dar-ul-Islam it becomes Dar-ul-Harb.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

294
Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)

“If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“Thus the Koran, in this matter of slavery, is the enemy of mankind … While the prescriptions by the Prophet regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the Koran are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support to the abolition of this curse.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Source: Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946), p. 228

“For Islam divides as inexorably as it binds. Islam is a close corporation and the distinction that it makes between Muslims and non-Muslims is a very real, very positive and very alienating distinction. The brotherhood of Islam is not the universal brotherhood of man. It is the brotherhood of Muslims for Muslims only. There is fraternity but its benefit is confined to those within that corporation. For those who are outside the corporation, there is nothing but contempt and enmity.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Source: Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946), pp. 330-331

“Majorities are of two sorts: (1) Communal majority and (ii) political majority. A political majority is changeable in its class composition. A political majority grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to a political majority is open. The door in a communal majority is closed. The politics of political majority are free to all to make and unmake. The politics of community majority are made by its own members born in it.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Political Science for Civil Services Main Examination (2010)

“The Mussalman invaders sacked the Buddhist universities of Nalanda, Vikramshila, Jagaddala, Odantapuri to name only a few. They razed to the ground Buddhist monasteries with which the country was studded. The monks fled away in thousands to Nepal, Tibet and other places outside India. A very large number were killed outright by the Muslim commanders. How the Buddhist priesthood perished by the sword of the Muslim invaders has been recorded by the Muslim historians themselves.”

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

"The Decline and Fall of Buddhism", in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol. III (1987), Government of Maharashtr­a, p. 238