Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000)

Mammootty: Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

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Quotes 

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : If you believe in living a respectable life, you believe in self-help, which is the best help.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Educate your children. Inculcate in them the idea that they are destined to be great. For ours is not a battle for wealth and power. It's a battle for freedom and self-respect. And with justice on our side, I do not see how we can lose the battle.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : My language offended them. I just called a spade a spade.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : This conference that has been called to inaugurate an era of equality in India, has no parallel in Indian history. I can only compare this to a meeting held in France in 1789, that ushered the French revolution. Our conference is the beginning of such a social revolution in India. We are here to declare a war. Our goal is not only the abolition of untouchability, but a war against the caste system itself.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : We hold that the problem of the depressed classes will never be solved, until they get power in their own hands.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : The actions of the District Magistrate, and the threat to withdraw the police, indicates that the government is not willing to use the power to help the people who are struggling for their rights. Such a government is no good for anybody.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : They raised violent protest against the insulting treatment meted out to Indians in South Africa. And to Indian students in Britain. And at the same time, denying human rights to their own countrymen and co-religionists in India. I find this attitude inconsistent, selfish, and shameless, which is why my editorial says, that we must act in a forcible way, so as to let the caste Hindus know, that to observe untouchability is a risk, as dangerous as bearing live coals on their tongues.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : You cannot untwist a 2000 year old twist of human mind and turn it in the opposite direction.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Deadly diseases require drastic remedies.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : We must establish the principle that status in India shall not be determined by birth, but by merit alone. We must rearrange Indian society on the principles of a castless, classless society. We must adopt the principle that all men are born equal and die equal.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : I didn't invent imperialism. They did.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : I am the most educated person amongst us. Still I am treated as an untouchable in this society.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : History tells us that Mahatmas are like fleeting phantoms. They raise dust, but raise no levels.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Our first priority is to arm the depressed classes with political power. That's the only way.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : When the jewel himself is here, what's the need for jewelry?

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : The time when Britishers were to choose, and India was to accept, is gone. Never to return.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Gandhi-ji, I have no homeland.

  Mahatma Gandhi : But this is your homeland, Dr. Ambedkar, and from the reports that have reached me of your work at the Round Table Conference, I know that you are a patriot of sterling worth.

  Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : How can we call this land our home when we are treated worse than cats and dogs? And the injustices inflicted upon us are so enormous that if we should ever be disloyal, the fault will lie with this land, and not with us. The Congress men oppose our movement and dub me a traitor, and you call me a patriot. All I know is, I have been trying to win elementary human rights for my people without meaning or doing any harm to this land. You can call me a traitor or a patriot. I don't care for either label.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : The rights and the liberties of the people are far more important than the stability of the government.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Educate, agitate, and organize.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Just as Swaraj is necessary for India, so is change of religion necessary for the untouchables. The underlying motive in both is the desire for freedom.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Let's not demean ourselves by seeking mercy from a god that does not care for us.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : [to Gandhi]  Don't use the weapon of fast too often. Your life is so precious, and the country needs you.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Oppressors never become saviors, which is why I want political power. Not well-meaning words, not good intentions, and no charity.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : We unclean untouchables have been the contaminators, the pollutants of you pure Aryans. Won't our leaving cleanse your religion of all impurities?

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Our salvation lies in political power, not in making pilgrimages, or observance of fasts.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Why go to a god who does not bless us?

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : To leave inequality between class and class, sects and sects, as in Hindu society, untouched, and to go on passing legislation on economic reforms, is to make a farce of our constitution, and to build a palace on a dung heap.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : There have been many Mahatmas in India whose sole objective was to remove untouchability. Every one of them failed in his mission. Mahatmas have come and Mahatmas have gone, but the untouchables have remained untouchables.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : The Mahatma's ways are unfathomable to us mere mortals. But the Mahatma is not an immortal person. Nor is the Congress.

• Rosa Epstein : [referring to Gandhi]  He is supposed to be a great saint. Surely he can see the justness of your cause.

  Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Saint? He is a seasoned politician, my dear. When everything else fails, Gandhi will resort to... to intrigue.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : It will be no exaggeration to say that I am the most hated man in Hindu India today. I am represented as a traitor, cursed as a destroyer of Hinduism, branded as the greatest enemy of this country. But after the dust settles down, and a review of my life is taken objectively, by the future historians, perhaps they will reclaim my services to the nation.

  Rosa Epstein : And? If they don't?

  Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : If they don't, I don't care. I know the depressed classes have implicit faith in my work. They'll hold me close to their heart. Of that, I am certain.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Buddhism is the only religion that preaches the three principles of Prajna... knowledge... Karuna... compassion... and Samata... equality. Buddhism is the answer to the exploitation in the world. People today somewhat try to relate Buddhism with communism. But communism is based on force. And Buddhism is Ahimsa. It's a democratic system, which is why I have made up my mind to advise the millions of untouchables to embrace Buddhism.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : We are no longer dumb animals. The time has come to put an end to this harassment and indignities. Let's leave this cesspool of caste which made us worse than worms. Break these shackles. Destroy the social prisons. Let's choose a new religion, which will guarantee us equality of status and opportunities. Unfortunately I was born a Hindu untouchable. It was beyond my power to prevent that. But it is within my power to refuse to live under these humiliating conditions. Though I was born a Hindu, I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : I shall not enter into the merits of the constitution because I feel, however good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad, because those who were called to work it happened to be a bad lot. However bad a constitution may be, it may turn out to be good, if those who were called to work upon it, happened to be a good lot. It is therefore futile to pass any judgment upon the constitution, without reference to the part which the people and their parties are likely to play.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : A god that discriminates is not God. It's just a stone.

• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : [explaining why he converted from Hinduism to Buddhism]  Because Buddha's religion is based on morality and ethics, and has no caste. Because the social gospel of Hinduism is inequality, whereas Buddhism is all for equality. Because Buddha's teachings are modern, rational, and ever contemporary. There is no dogma. He makes you think, and live by reason. Except Buddha, all founders of religions claimed for themselves the role of savior. Buddha was satisfied with being simply a guide.