What didDr Ambedkar mean when he said that “In politics we will haveequality, and in social and economic life we will have inequality”?
What didDr Ambedkar mean when he said that “In politics we will haveequality, and in social and economic life we will have inequality”?
Accordingto Dr Ambedkar, political democracy had to be accompanied by economicand social democracy. Giving the right to vote would notautomatically lead to the removal of other inequalities such asbetween rich and poor, or between upper and lower castes. He believedthat India needed to work towards eradicating all forms of inequalityin the economic and social spheres. Only then would the equalitygranted by the Constitution in the sphereof politics (i.e., one vote for every adult Indian citizen) be of anyvalue. Otherwise, India would just be a land ofcontradictions—following the principle of “one man, onevote and one value” in its political life, and denying theprinciple of “one man, one value” in its economic andsocial lives.
Accordingto Dr Ambedkar, political democracy had to be accompanied by economicand social democracy. Giving the right to vote would notautomatically lead to the removal of other inequalities such asbetween rich and poor, or between upper and lower castes. He believedthat India needed to work towards eradicating all forms of inequalityin the economic and social spheres. Only then would the equalitygranted by the Constitution in the sphereof politics (i.e., one vote for every adult Indian citizen) be of anyvalue. Otherwise, India would just be a land ofcontradictions—following the principle of “one man, onevote and one value” in its political life, and denying theprinciple of “one man, one value” in its economic andsocial lives.
