Sunita Somvanshi
Ambedkar Called Gandhi “Never a Mahatma” — On His Birthday, What Did He Mean?
On October 2, India celebrates Gandhi Jayanti. But in 1955, B.R. Ambedkar told the BBC something that still resonates: “As a politician, he was never a Mahatma. I refused to call him Mahatma.”
The words come from a BBC Radio interview, transcribed and archived by velivada.com and Round Table India (Dalit-rights advocacy archives, not neutral repositories). Ambedkar, nearing the end of his life, spoke candidly about the man he had met as an opponent, not a devotee.
“I met Mr Gandhi first in 1929,” Ambedkar said. “I always say that as I met Gandhi in the capacity of an opponent, I have a feeling that I know him better than most other people, because he had opened his real fangs to me.”
Historians typically place their first meeting at the Second Round Table Conference in London, September–December 1931 — the 1929 date in the transcript may be a misremembering. The claim matters regardless: Ambedkar positioned himself as an opponent who saw Gandhi clearly, not a devotee who saw only the mask.
The Two Papers
Ambedkar’s sharpest charge was about Gandhi’s writing. He said Gandhi published two papers — Harijan in English, and in Gujarati what he called “Deen Bandhu or something like that.” The actual title was likely *Harijan Bandhu*; Gandhi’s earlier Gujarati paper was *Navajivan* (1919–1931). Harijan launched in 1933. The alleged divergence between English and Gujarati editions spans different periods.
“In the English newspaper, he posed himself as an opponent of the caste system and untouchability,” Ambedkar said. “But if you read his Gujarati magazine, you will see him as the most orthodox man. He has been supporting the caste system, the Varnashrama dharma, and all the orthodox dogmas which have kept India down all through ages.”
He urged biographers to compare the two. “All the biographies that have been written of him are based upon his Harijan and the Young India, but not upon the Gujarati writings of Mr Gandhi.”
This claim has been challenged. The Print notes that CWMG volumes now include Gandhi’s Gujarati writings, and that Gandhi consistently opposed untouchability even while defending the caste structure.
Poona Pact
Ambedkar also recounted the Poona Pact. The Ramsay MacDonald government’s Communal Award of August 1932 had awarded separate electorates for Dalits. Gandhi fasted in protest. Ambedkar compromised.
“I said nothing to him. I’m prepared to save your life, provided you don’t make hard turn,” Ambedkar recalled. “I’m not going to save your life at the cost of lives of my people.”
The Poona Pact gave Dalits reserved seats, not separate electorates. Ambedkar framed this as a sacrifice under pressure.
What It Means on Gandhi Jayanti
Publishing Ambedkar’s critique on Gandhi Jayanti asks India to hold two truths at once: Gandhi led the independence struggle, and Ambedkar said he was a politician, not a Mahatma. Both are documented. Both are defensible.
The question is whether Indian public discourse can absorb Ambedkar’s words without collapsing into either hero-worship or polemic.
*Sources: BBC Radio 1955 transcript (velivada.com, Round Table India), The Print rebuttal, Outlook India.*
