Abstract

The contrasting approaches of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar have shaped the philosophical political and constitutional foundations of contemporary India in ways that continue to influence the nation’s debates on social justice democracy and equality. Both thinkers shared a commitment to the upliftment of the oppressed and the regeneration of Indian society however their worldviews methods and ideological premises differed fundamentally. Gandhi believed that Indian society possessed a spiritual unity which could be restored through moral persuasion non-violence self-purification and reform from within. His views on caste reflected a reformist orientation—he wished to eliminate untouchability while preserving the cultural unity of varna as a non-hierarchical division of labor. Ambedkar in contrast argued that caste was an inherently unjust oppressive and anti-democratic structure that could not be reformed but required complete annihilation. His method relied on constitutiona