When BR Ambedkar Stormed Out of Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet Over Appeasement Politics

New Delhi: Over the past couple of days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly trained his guns at the Congress and its manifesto over wealth distribution, claiming that the Grand Old Party was defying Dr BR Ambedkar's constitution by trying to introduce quota along religious lines, favouring the minorities, especially the Muslims. Interestingly, India's first Law Minister Ambedkar had expressed concerns over then-Jawaharlal Nehru government's appeasement politics and its affinity towards Muslims in his post-resignation speech at the Parliament back in 1951.

In a speech delivered on September 27, 1951, Ambedkar asked in the floor of the House whether no community, apart from Muslims, deserve the attention of the Government. Wondering why Nehru's "whole time is devoted to the protection of Muslims," Dr Ambedkar said that there are several SC/ST communities that require the attention of the Indian government than Muslims. "...why is no relief granted to the Scheduled Castes? Compare the concern the government shows over safeguarding the Muslims. The Prime Minister’s whole time is devoted to the protection of Muslims… what I want to know is, are the Muslims the only people who need protection? Are the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Indian Christians not in need of protection? What concern has he shown for these communities? So far as I know, none and yet these are the communities which need far more care and attention than the Muslims," Dr Ambedkar had said.

Dr Ambedkar had to step down as Union Law minister as the codification of Hindu laws were being introduced. Failing to reach a consensus over Uniform Civil Code as a law after facing backlash from the Muslim orthodoxy, Dr Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly, "I am afraid I cannot accept the amendments which have been moved to this article. I therefore submit that there is no substance in these amendments and I oppose them." Instead, there was an Article 44 that was introduced under Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP). It is to be remembered that DPSPs are not enforceable in the court of law. 

Meanwhile, the resignation letter of Ambedkar is nowhere to be found. Last year, the President's Secretariat informed the Central Information Commission (CIC) that no official record of Ambedkar's letter was found even after conducting a thorough search in the Constitutional Affairs Section. This was in response to an RTI query to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Cabinet Secretariat, and the President’s Secretariat seeking details mentioned in Ambedkar's resignation letter to the President.