Ambedkar’s Constitution: Radical Constitutionalism and Anti-Caste Mobilisation in India

This paper examines the emergence of “Ambedkar’s Constitution” as a radical, popular, and mobilisational form of constitutionalism articulated through Dalit political practice in postcolonial India. Moving beyond elite, juridical, and institution-centred interpretations that treat the Constitution primarily as a legal framework, the article argues that Dalit constitutionalism constitutes an anti-caste project grounded in lived experience, collective assertion, and sustained social struggle. For Dalit communities, the Constitution functions not merely as a juridical document but as a moral, symbolic, and political resource through which dignity, citizenship, and democratic belonging are actively claimed and enacted.

Ambedkar; Constitution; Dalits; anti-caste movement

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