ABSTRACT
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's socio-political ideas were a novel discourse on equality. Within his specific conceptual universe, Ambedkar built his model of constitutional democracy when he was given the responsibility to frame and also defend a liberal constitution for independent India. Challenging the effort to label Ambedkar merely as a Dalit thinker, this chapter argues that not only were his concerns universal in character, he also had evolved theoretical/conceptual parameters which are equally applicable to comprehend social, economic and political circumstances responsible for disenfranchisement of mass of human beings by their powerful counterparts for partisan goals. As a student of history and historical processes, Babasaheb always endeavoured to conceptualize the gender issue in a historical perspective. Babasaheb's sustained concern for gender justice was given a concrete shape in the 1951 Hindu Code Bill, a bill that never became an act though it was a harbinger of radical social transformation as far as gender relations were concerned.
