The Library
14 curated items — speeches, quotes, and primary archives spanning over four decades of Ambedkar's intellectual and political life.
Showing 14 items
Annihilation of Caste (1936)
The undelivered presidential address to the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal — the most systematic intellectual assault on the Hindu caste system ever written. Ambedkar argued that caste cannot be reformed; it must be annihilated, root and branch.
Final Speech to the Constituent Assembly (1949)
On November 25, 1949 — the eve of the Constitution's adoption — Ambedkar delivered his closing address. He warned of three dangers to Indian democracy: hero worship, a life of contradictions, and neglect of social democracy in favour of political democracy.
Presidential Address at the Labour Conference (1938)
Ambedkar addressed the trade union movement in Bombay, arguing that the labour movement in India could never succeed unless it confronted caste. Untouchable workers, he argued, were the most exploited class — doubly oppressed by capital and by social hierarchy.
Address at Columbia University Alumni Dinner (1930)
Speaking at his alma mater, Ambedkar reflected on what education meant for the oppressed — not a credential, but a weapon. A rare and intimate address in which he acknowledged the intellectual debt he owed to John Dewey and his years in New York.
The Conversion Address at Nagpur (1956)
On October 14, 1956, Ambedkar led 600,000 followers in the largest peaceful mass conversion in recorded history. In his address, he explained why Buddhism — not Hinduism, not Islam — was the only path consistent with reason, equality, and human dignity.
"Educate, Agitate, Organise"
Ambedkar's three-word political programme — delivered as a rallying call — became the founding philosophy of the Dalit movement. Each word carries a precise meaning: education as awakening, agitation as resistance, organisation as power.
"A Constitution is not a mere lawyer's document"
"A constitution is not a mere lawyer's document, it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of an age." — Ambedkar on why constitutional interpretation must be living, not originalist. One of his most cited aphorisms.
"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved"
Spoken at a conference of the Depressed Classes in 1942, this remains one of Ambedkar's clearest statements on the link between gender liberation and social justice. He consistently argued that untouchable women faced the sharpest edge of caste oppression.
"I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity"
The philosophical bedrock of Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism. He argued that no religion which institutionalises inequality — as the caste system does — can be called religion at all. Religion, for him, was either liberating or it was nothing.
"Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy"
From his final Constituent Assembly speech. Ambedkar warned that India was entering political democracy with a deeply inegalitarian social structure — and that this contradiction, if unresolved, would tear the Republic apart.
The Buddha and His Dhamma — Complete Text
Ambedkar's last major work, completed days before his death and published posthumously. He reinterpreted the Buddhist canon through the lens of social liberation — arguing that the Buddha's path was not passive meditation but active engagement with suffering and injustice.
Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development (1916)
Ambedkar's first major scholarly work — a paper presented at Columbia University at age 25. He argued that caste was not merely a religious phenomenon but a social endogamy system maintained through the control of women's sexuality. Revolutionary for 1916.
States and Minorities (1947) — Memorandum to the Constituent Assembly
A constitutional memorandum submitted to the Constituent Assembly on behalf of the Scheduled Castes Federation. Ambedkar argued for state socialism in agriculture and industry as the only means of preventing economic exploitation of the Depressed Classes.
Waiting for a Visa — Autobiographical Notes
Ambedkar's account of personal experiences of untouchability — being refused lodging, water, and basic hospitality because of his caste. Written in plain, devastating prose, these notes were intended as evidence against the practice of untouchability.