BR Ambedkar
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 December 2017
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was a schoolboy, he was not allowed to drink from the same tap as his fellow students because he was a member of what was then known as an "untouchable" caste. But he went on to become a prominent leader in the campaign for Indian independence and oversaw the writing of the Indian constitution - which made the idea of "untouchability" illegal. A hero to many, he died in December 1956.
Lucy Burns hears recordings of BR Ambedkar from the BBC archives and speaks to biographer Ananya Vajpeyi.
Picture: A member of the Indian Congress Party places flowers on a statue of BR Ambedkar to mark the 122nd anniversary of his birth in Amritsar on April 14, 2013 (NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images)
Transcript
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