Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: “The core of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s thoughts and work was to transform political democracy into social and economic democracy, thereby securing every citizen the right to live with dignity. To achieve this goal through the Constitution, he advocated the concept of state socialism and promoted a planned economy, taking a clear stand that it forms the foundation for building a society based on justice, equality, liberty and fraternity,” opined Vishnu Dhobale, national secretary of the Socialist Jan Parishad.
He was speaking at a programme organised on the occasion of Mahaparinirvan Din (death anniversary) of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on Saturday.
While elaborating at length on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s economic ideas, Dhobale evaluated India’s economic development journey. Dr Ambedkar had argued that by strengthening the public sector and creating permanent employment, citizens’ purchasing power could be increased, the domestic market could be empowered, and the production system could be made export-capable.
This approach was later adopted in the Constitution, which established a mixed economy and pursued national development through Five-Year Plans. As a result, the country achieved substantial progress in education, agriculture, industry, communication systems, foodgrain production and other sectors, he said.
Gautam Salve, Ranjan Dani, Prof Salve, Dr Siddharth Narwade and Adv Khillare also expressed their views.
Prominent personalities present at the programme included Datta Dhobale, DI Waghmare, Gorde Patil, Devidas Kirtishahi, Bhimrao Gankwar and others.
