Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Prakāśa Yaśavanta Āmbēḍakar) (born 10 May 1954), popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, social activist, writer and lawyer. He is the president of

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

called the

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi The Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (translation: Deprived Majority Front; VBA) is an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 20 March 2018. The party is primarily based in Maharashtra state. History and background On 1 January 20 ...

. He is a three-time

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP). He is the grandson of

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

. He was a member of the

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

and

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

Akola constituency of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He has served in both houses of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

Personal life

Prakash Ambedkar is the eldest grandson of

and

Ramabai Ambedkar Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar (7 February 1898 – 27 May 1935) was the first wife of B. R. Ambedkar, who said her support was instrumental in helping him pursue his higher education and his true potential. She has been the subject of a number of biog ...

. His father's name is

Yashwant Ambedkar Yashwant Bhimrao Ambedkar (12 December 1912 — 17 September 1977), also known as Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar, was an Indian socio-religious activist, newspaper editor, politician, and activist of Ambedkarite Buddhist movement. He was the first and on ...

(Bhaiyasaheb) and mother's name is Meera. The

Ambedkar family The Ambedkar family is the family of B. R. Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) who was an Indian polymath and the chairman of the Constituent Drafting Committee. The patriarch Ambedkar is popularly known as Babasaheb ( Marathi: ende ...

are followers of Navayana Buddhism. He has two younger brothers Bhimrao and Anandraj, and a sister Ramabai who is married to

Anand Teltumbde Anand Teltumbde (born 15 July 1950) is an Indian scholar, writer, and civil rights activist who is a management professor at the Goa Institute of Management. He has written extensively about the caste system in India and has advocated for the ...

. Prakash Ambedkar is married to Anjali Maydeo, with whom he has a son.

Early life and education

Prakash Ambedkar was born on 10 May 1954 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(now

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

). In 1972 he completed his higher secondary education from St. Stanislaus High School, Mumbai. In 1978, he received

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) from Siddhartha College of Arts, and in 1981 he got

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(LLB) in

Siddharth College of Law, Mumbai Siddharth College of Law was founded in Mumbai in 1956. It is run by the ''People's Education Society'' which was formed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on 8 July 1945. The college is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The college was formed ...

Political career

On 4 July 1994, Prakash Ambedkar established the

Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (IAST: Bhāripa Bahujana Mahāsaṅgha; BBM) was an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 4 July 1994. The party was a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and had its roots in the Sched ...

. This party was a splintered group amongst other factions of the

Republican Party of India The Republican Party of India (RPI, often called the Republican Party or simply Republican) is a political party in India. It has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The 'Training School for Entrance to Polit ...

which was constituted on directions of his grandfather after his death. The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangha contested established political parties like

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

and

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

in the Akola municipal elections, emerging victorious. The success was gained through the new social engineering brought by Prakash Ambedkar which later known as "Akola Pattern". The expansion of the party continued after 1995, that some of the non-Dalit parties and organisations have joined the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh. Ambedkar was a member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

during 1990 - 1996. He was elected in the

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

elections from Akola Lok Sabha constituency in 1998 as a candidate of the

. Second time from the same constituency in 1999, he was elected as the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh's candidate for the

elections and he was a member of the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

till 2004. Ambedkar followed a policy, on the one hand, of regrouping the Dalits, and on the other of following a moderate line seeking alliance with those opposition parties which sympathised with the Dalit cause. It was with their support that he twice contested elections to the parliament from non-reserved constituencies. Though not successful in getting elected, he polled a sizeable number of votes on both the occasions. The RPI organised a march from Nashik to Mumbai to press its demands, prominent among which was the transfer of vatan lands to their Dalit cultivators. (Both before and after the British Raj, certain lands were given to people for services rendered by them to the government or to the community or to both. These lands are also called "watan lands" in local legislation and in Maharashtra many of the watans were abolished between 1950 and 1960.) In response, the government appointed a committee with Prakash Ambedkar as a member. The RPI's greatest success was in 1988 when Ambedkar, in alliance with other Dalit organisations, took out a massive demonstration in Mumbai. The occasion was the controversy regarding a move to delete from the official publication of B. R. Ambedkar's writings a portion called ''Riddles of Hinduism''. The deletion move was supported by

which by this time was emerging as a Hindu political organisation. To bring all Dalit organisations together for this purpose, Prakash Ambedkar formed Ambedkar Vichar Samvardhak Samiti (AVSS). Under the leadership of Prakash Ambedkar, R. S. Gavai and others on 5 February 1988, Dalits put on a massive show of strength which brought more than four to five

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

followers of

into the heart of Mumbai city from different parts of Maharashtra and also from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and other states. Within days of the Dalit demonstration in Mumbai, the 'Riddles' issue was resolved at a meeting on February 10 of representatives of the

, the Maratha Mahasangh and the various groups of the

and the

Dalit Panthers The Dalit Panthers are a social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination. It was led by a group of Mahar writers and poets, including Raja Dhale, Namdeo Dhasal, and J. V. Pawar in some time between the second and the third semes ...

called by the state chief minister. It was agreed at the meeting that the relevant appendix would be retained intact in the fourth volume of Ambedkar's works; only a line would be added to clarify that the Maharashtra government did not agree or disagree with B. R. Ambedkar's comments on the Hindu gods. Bahujan Mahasangh, a political formation working in close association with the Bharatiya Republican Party led by Prakash Ambedkar, was formed in February 1993. In the summer of that year, its candidate won Kinwat legislative assembly seat in Nanded district, defeating Congress and BJP contestants. The alliance between Bharatiya Republican Party and Bahujan Mahasangh visualised a joint front of Dalits and OBCs whose cultural identity was essentially non-Brahmin. Bahujan Mahasangh argued that in the Brahminical social order, both Dalits and OBCs find themselves equally oppressed culturally. Bahujan Mahasangh had defined the Bahujan category to include Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Muslims, as well as caste groups such as Shudra (OBCs) and ati-Shudra (Dalits), tribes, women, poor Marathas, and poor Brahmins, thus including all those who are subjugated through caste, class and gender exploitation. In memory of

Mahar Mahar, meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra" (in various languages), is an Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in ...

soldiers who fought in the

Battle of Koregaon The Battle of Koregaon was fought on 1 January 1818 between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon Bhima. A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II whilst on their way to attack the ...

, their descendants (

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

) visit

Koregaon Bhima Koregaon Bhima is a panchayat village and census town2011 Census Village code for Koregaon Bhima = 555672, in the state of Maharashtra, India,2001 Census Village code for Koregaon Bhima = 03050100, on the left (north) bank of the Bhima R ...

on 1 January every year to honor them. On 1 January 2018,

, as well as some

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

dalit, OBC and

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

people visited the 'Jay sthambh' (victory pillar) at

Pune district Pune district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uɳeː is the most populous district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The district's population was 9,429,408 in the 2011 census, making it the fourth most populous district amongst I ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

.Prakash Ambedkar accused Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote of seducing the invading Hindutva people and demanded the police investigation and strict action against the two. But the Maharashtra government and the state police did not take any action against the culprits. So on 3 January 2018, he called on the people of Maharashtra to call "Maharashtra Bandh". This call to shut down Maharashtra received a huge response from the people and the bandh was a success. The bandh was seen across Maharashtra including

. According to Ambedkar, more than 50% Maharashtrian people participated in the bandh. Earlier only

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra. ...

of Shiv Sena had the power to shut down Mumbai. Subsequently, Prakash Ambedkar's political power increased. He came to the center of Ambedkarite and Bahujan community. The youth group in particular became his supporters. Prakash Ambedkar founded new political party the ''

'' on 20 March 2018 with its ideology primarily emphasizing

Constitutionalism Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

Ambedkarism Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian econonist, polymath, barrister, social reformer, human-rights advocate, and the architect of Indian Constitution. Ambedkarism includes the principles of Nava ...

Secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

Socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

Progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...

. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi registered as a political party a year later on 15 March 2019, prior to the 2019 elections for

. It is supported by nearly 100 small political parties and social organizations. Prakash Ambedkar is the supremo of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. On 14 March 2019, Ambedkar has announced the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh will merge with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. He said that, despite the 'Akola pattern' of social engineering through the success of the Bharipa-Bahujan Mahasangh, the word 'Bharipa' (RPI) had limited the expansion of the party. He said that after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharip-Bahujan Mahasangh will merge with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, because the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is acceptable in a broad sense. Ambedkar contested and lost from both

Akola Akola () is a municipal corporation and the third largest city in Vidarbha after Nagpur and Amravati and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second capital, Nagpur. Akola ...

and

Solapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with a branch line ...

in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Controversy

Prakash Ambedkar courted controversy by asking his supporters to resort to violence against trolls and those who criticised his statement asking for proof on surgical strikes conducted by

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. Many critics called it militant Dalit politics.

Writings

*''Ambedkari Chalval Sampli Ahe'' (The Ambedkarite Movement Has Ended) *''Andheri Nagari Chaupat Raja'' *''Maharashtracha Uddyacha Mukhyamantri Varkari ani Varkarich'' *''Can It Be Stopped!'' *''

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

Cha Vaicharik Bhrashtachar'' (Ideological Corruption of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) *''Aetehasik Ambedkar Bhawanacha Varasa Aapan Japanar Ki Nahi ?'' (The Historic Heritage Of Ambedkar Bhavan Will We Preserve It?)

Positions held

Ambedkar has held following positions, *1990-96: Nominated Member,

from 18 September 1990 to 17 September 1996. *1992-96: Member, Committee on Rules *1993-96: Member, Committee on Communications * 1998-99: Elected to 12th

, (1st term) Leader,

Parliamentary Party * 1998-99: Member, Committee on Food, Civil Supplies and Public Distribution; Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development * 1999–2004: Re-elected to 13th

(2nd term); Leader,

Parliamentary Party,

* 1999-2000: Member, Committee on Energy * 2000–2004: Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Railways

References

External links

Parliament Biography

75 Years of Poona Act
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambedkar, Prakash Yashwant Living people 13th Lok Sabha members 12th Lok Sabha members Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha 1954 births Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh politicians People from Akola district Politicians from Mumbai Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra Indian Buddhists 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists Republican Party of India politicians Prakash Dalit politicians Ambedkarites 20th-century Indian lawyers 21st-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian writers Marathi-language writers Activists from Maharashtra Indian political party founders Indian writers Writers from Maharashtra Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi politicians