Comment sa conversion à une autre religion a-t-elle influencé l'engagement politique d'Ambedkar ?
Political career

In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, Bombay, a position he held for two years. He also served as the chairman of Governing body of Ramjas College, University of Delhi, after the death of its Founder Shri Rai Kedarnath. Settling in Bombay (today called Mumbai), Ambedkar oversaw the construction of a house, and stocked his personal library with more than 50,000 books. His wife Ramabai died after a long illness the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. At the Yeola Conversion Conference on 13 October in Nasik, Ambedkar announced his intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to leave Hinduism. He would repeat his message at many public meetings across India.

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively.

Ambedkar published his book Annihilation of Caste on 15 May 1936. It strongly criticised Hindu orthodox religious leaders and the caste system in general, and included "a rebuke of Gandhi" on the subject. Later, in a 1955 BBC interview, he accused Gandhi of writing in opposition of the caste system in English language papers while writing in support of it in Gujarati language papers. In his writings, Ambedkar also accused Jawaharlal Nehru of being "conscious of the fact that he is a Brahmin ".

During this time, Ambedkar also fought against the khoti system prevalent in Konkan, where khots, or government revenue collectors, regularly exploited farmers and tenants. In 1937, Ambedkar tabled a bill in the Bombay Legislative Assembly aimed at abolishing the khoti system by creating a direct relationship between government and farmers.

Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister of labour. Before the Day of Deliverance events, Ambedkar stated that he was interested in participating: "I read Mr. Jinnah's statement and I felt ashamed to have allowed him to steal a march over me and rob me of the language and the sentiment which I, more than Mr. Jinnah, was entitled to use." He went on to suggest that the communities he worked with were twenty times more oppressed by Congress policies than were Indian Muslims; he clarified that he was criticizing Congress, and not all Hindus. Jinnah and Ambedkar jointly addressed the heavily attended Day of Deliverance event in Bhindi Bazaar, Bombay, where both expressed "fiery" criticisms of the Congress party, and according to one observer, suggested that Islam and Hinduism were irreconcilable.

After the Lahore resolution (1940) of the Muslim League demanding Pakistan, Ambedkar wrote a 400-page tract titled Thoughts on Pakistan, which analysed the concept of "Pakistan" in all its aspects. Ambedkar argued that the Hindus should concede Pakistan to the Muslims. He proposed that the provincial boundaries of Punjab and Bengal should be redrawn to separate the Muslim and non-Muslim majority parts. He thought the Muslims could have no objection to redrawing provincial boundaries. If they did, they did not quite "understand the nature of their own demand". Scholar Venkat Dhulipala states that Thoughts on Pakistan "rocked Indian politics for a decade". It determined the course of dialogue between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress, paving the way for the Partition of India.

In his work Who Were the Shudras?, Ambedkar tried to explain the formation of untouchables. He saw Shudras and Ati Shudras who form the lowest caste in the ritual hierarchy of the caste system, as separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his political party into the Scheduled Castes Federation. It did not fare well in the 1946 provincial elections, but in Bengal, it managed to elect Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly of India by winning support from Congress legislators.

Jagjivan Ram 's wife Indrani Jagjivan Ram wrote in her memoir that Ambedkar persuaded her husband to ask Mahatma Gandhi for his inclusion in Nehru's cabinet in independent India. Initially, Jagjivan Ram consulted Vallabhbhai Patel before asking Gandhi to recommend Ambedkar to Nehru for inclusion in cabinet, adding that Ambedkar had "given up his antagonism to Congress and Gandhiji". Ambedkar was ultimately included as the law minister of India in the First Nehru ministry after Gandhi recommended his name to Nehru.

On 27 September 1951, Ambedkar resigned from Nehru's cabinet ministry after Hindu code bill was defeated in parliament.

Ambedkar contested in the Bombay North first Indian General Election of 1952, but lost to his former assistant and Congress Party candidate Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar. Ambedkar became a member of Rajya Sabha, probably an appointed member. He tried to enter Lok Sabha again in the by-election of 1954 from Bhandara, but he placed third (the Congress Party won). By the time of the second general election in 1957, Ambedkar had died.

Ambedkar also criticised Islamic practice in South Asia. While justifying the Partition of India, he condemned child marriage and the mistreatment of women in Muslim society.

No words can adequately express the great and many evils of polygamy and concubinage, and especially as a source of misery to a Muslim woman. Take the caste system. Everybody infers that Islam must be free from slavery and caste., much of its support was derived from Islam and Islamic countries. While the prescriptions by the Prophet regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the Koran are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support to the abolition of this curse. But if slavery has gone, caste among Musalmans has remained.
Religion

Ambedkar a déclaré en 1935 qu'il était né hindou mais qu'il ne mourrait pas hindou. Il considérait l'hindouisme comme une "religion oppressive" et a commencé à envisager de se convertir à une autre religion. Dans *Annihilation de la caste*, Ambedkar affirme que le seul moyen durable pour parvenir à une société véritablement sans castes est de détruire la croyance à la sainteté des Shastras et de nier leur autorité. Ambedkar était critique à l'égard des textes religieux et des épopées hindous et a écrit une œuvre intitulée *Énigmes de l'hindouisme* entre 1954 et 1955. Cette œuvre a été publiée à titre posthume en combinant les manuscrits des chapitres individuels et a entraîné des manifestations massives et des contre-manifestations.

Ambedkar considérait que le christianisme était incapable de combattre les injustices. Il a écrit : « Il est indéniable que le christianisme n'a pas suffi à mettre fin à l'esclavage des Noirs aux États-Unis. Une guerre civile était nécessaire pour donner aux Noirs la liberté qui leur était refusée par les chrétiens. »

Ambedkar a critiqué les distinctions au sein de l'islam et a décrit la religion comme "une société fermée et la distinction qu'elle fait entre les musulmans et les non-musulmans est une distinction très réelle, très positive et très aliénante".

Il s'opposait aux conversions des classes défavorisées à l'islam ou au christianisme, ajoutant que si elles se convertissaient à l'islam, "le danger de la domination musulmane devient également réel" et si elles se convertissaient au christianisme, cela "aiderait à renforcer l'emprise de la Grande-Bretagne sur le pays".

Initialement, Ambedkar avait l'intention de se convertir au sikhisme, mais il a abandonné cette idée après avoir découvert que le gouvernement britannique ne garantirait pas les privilèges accordés aux intouchables dans les sièges parlementaires réservés.

Le 16 octobre 1956, il s'est converti au bouddhisme, quelques semaines seulement avant sa mort.
### Query ###
Comment sa conversion à une autre religion a-t-elle influencé l'engagement politique d'Ambedkar ?

### Main Text ###
Political career

In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, Bombay, a position he held for two years. He also served as the chairman of Governing body of Ramjas College, University of Delhi, after the death of its Founder Shri Rai Kedarnath. Settling in Bombay (today called Mumbai), Ambedkar oversaw the construction of a house, and stocked his personal library with more than 50,000 books. His wife Ramabai died after a long illness the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. At the Yeola Conversion Conference on 13 October in Nasik, Ambedkar announced his intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to leave Hinduism. He would repeat his message at many public meetings across India.

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively.

Ambedkar published his book Annihilation of Caste on 15 May 1936. It strongly criticised Hindu orthodox religious leaders and the caste system in general, and included "a rebuke of Gandhi" on the subject. Later, in a 1955 BBC interview, he accused Gandhi of writing in opposition of the caste system in English language papers while writing in support of it in Gujarati language papers. In his writings, Ambedkar also accused Jawaharlal Nehru of being "conscious of the fact that he is a Brahmin ".

During this time, Ambedkar also fought against the khoti system prevalent in Konkan, where khots, or government revenue collectors, regularly exploited farmers and tenants. In 1937, Ambedkar tabled a bill in the Bombay Legislative Assembly aimed at abolishing the khoti system by creating a direct relationship between government and farmers.

Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister of labour. Before the Day of Deliverance events, Ambedkar stated that he was interested in participating: "I read Mr. Jinnah's statement and I felt ashamed to have allowed him to steal a march over me and rob me of the language and the sentiment which I, more than Mr. Jinnah, was entitled to use." He went on to suggest that the communities he worked with were twenty times more oppressed by Congress policies than were Indian Muslims; he clarified that he was criticizing Congress, and not all Hindus. Jinnah and Ambedkar jointly addressed the heavily attended Day of Deliverance event in Bhindi Bazaar, Bombay, where both expressed "fiery" criticisms of the Congress party, and according to one observer, suggested that Islam and Hinduism were irreconcilable.

After the Lahore resolution (1940) of the Muslim League demanding Pakistan, Ambedkar wrote a 400-page tract titled Thoughts on Pakistan, which analysed the concept of "Pakistan" in all its aspects. Ambedkar argued that the Hindus should concede Pakistan to the Muslims. He proposed that the provincial boundaries of Punjab and Bengal should be redrawn to separate the Muslim and non-Muslim majority parts. He thought the Muslims could have no objection to redrawing provincial boundaries. If they did, they did not quite "understand the nature of their own demand". Scholar Venkat Dhulipala states that Thoughts on Pakistan "rocked Indian politics for a decade". It determined the course of dialogue between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress, paving the way for the Partition of India.

In his work Who Were the Shudras?, Ambedkar tried to explain the formation of untouchables. He saw Shudras and Ati Shudras who form the lowest caste in the ritual hierarchy of the caste system, as separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his political party into the Scheduled Castes Federation. It did not fare well in the 1946 provincial elections, but in Bengal, it managed to elect Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly of India by winning support from Congress legislators.

Jagjivan Ram 's wife Indrani Jagjivan Ram wrote in her memoir that Ambedkar persuaded her husband to ask Mahatma Gandhi for his inclusion in Nehru's cabinet in independent India. Initially, Jagjivan Ram consulted Vallabhbhai Patel before asking Gandhi to recommend Ambedkar to Nehru for inclusion in cabinet, adding that Ambedkar had "given up his antagonism to Congress and Gandhiji". Ambedkar was ultimately included as the law minister of India in the First Nehru ministry after Gandhi recommended his name to Nehru.

On 27 September 1951, Ambedkar resigned from Nehru's cabinet ministry after Hindu code bill was defeated in parliament.

Ambedkar contested in the Bombay North first Indian General Election of 1952, but lost to his former assistant and Congress Party candidate Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar. Ambedkar became a member of Rajya Sabha, probably an appointed member. He tried to enter Lok Sabha again in the by-election of 1954 from Bhandara, but he placed third (the Congress Party won). By the time of the second general election in 1957, Ambedkar had died.

Ambedkar also criticised Islamic practice in South Asia. While justifying the Partition of India, he condemned child marriage and the mistreatment of women in Muslim society.

No words can adequately express the great and many evils of polygamy and concubinage, and especially as a source of misery to a Muslim woman. Take the caste system. Everybody infers that Islam must be free from slavery and caste., much of its support was derived from Islam and Islamic countries. While the prescriptions by the Prophet regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the Koran are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support to the abolition of this curse. But if slavery has gone, caste among Musalmans has remained.

### Supplementary Text ###
Religion

Ambedkar a déclaré en 1935 qu'il était né hindou mais qu'il ne mourrait pas hindou. Il considérait l'hindouisme comme une "religion oppressive" et a commencé à envisager de se convertir à une autre religion. Dans *Annihilation de la caste*, Ambedkar affirme que le seul moyen durable pour parvenir à une société véritablement sans castes est de détruire la croyance à la sainteté des Shastras et de nier leur autorité. Ambedkar était critique à l'égard des textes religieux et des épopées hindous et a écrit une œuvre intitulée *Énigmes de l'hindouisme* entre 1954 et 1955. Cette œuvre a été publiée à titre posthume en combinant les manuscrits des chapitres individuels et a entraîné des manifestations massives et des contre-manifestations.

Ambedkar considérait que le christianisme était incapable de combattre les injustices. Il a écrit : « Il est indéniable que le christianisme n'a pas suffi à mettre fin à l'esclavage des Noirs aux États-Unis. Une guerre civile était nécessaire pour donner aux Noirs la liberté qui leur était refusée par les chrétiens. »

Ambedkar a critiqué les distinctions au sein de l'islam et a décrit la religion comme "une société fermée et la distinction qu'elle fait entre les musulmans et les non-musulmans est une distinction très réelle, très positive et très aliénante".

Il s'opposait aux conversions des classes défavorisées à l'islam ou au christianisme, ajoutant que si elles se convertissaient à l'islam, "le danger de la domination musulmane devient également réel" et si elles se convertissaient au christianisme, cela "aiderait à renforcer l'emprise de la Grande-Bretagne sur le pays".

Initialement, Ambedkar avait l'intention de se convertir au sikhisme, mais il a abandonné cette idée après avoir découvert que le gouvernement britannique ne garantirait pas les privilèges accordés aux intouchables dans les sièges parlementaires réservés.

Le 16 octobre 1956, il s'est converti au bouddhisme, quelques semaines seulement avant sa mort.

### Draft ###

Query: "Comment sa conversion à une autre religion a-t-elle influencé l'engagement politique d'Ambedkar ?"

Translation check: "How did his conversion to another religion influence Ambedkar's political engagement?" Clear. No semantic ambiguity.

Task type: Complex causal analysis. Not simple retrieval. Requires connecting religious transformation to political strategy evolution.

### 1. Contextualization

Ambedkar (1891-1956). India. Dalit leader. Lawyer. Social reformer.

Key constraint: Born Hindu (untouchable caste). This shapes everything.

Religious landscape 1930s-50s:
- Hinduism = oppressive varna system
- Islam = potential refuge but problematic (forced conversions, no caste but ethnic divisions)  
- Christianity = colonial association, missionary critique
- Buddhism = emerging reform option

### 2. Timeline Construction

1935: Yeola Conference declaration ●
"I am born a Hindu but I shall not die a Hindu because Hinduism gave me nothing but humiliation and degradation"

1936: Independent Labour Party formation ◐
Platform: anti-caste, social justice. Direct link to religious critique?

1937: Mass conversion preparations ●
Public meetings across India. Strategic religious exploration.

1937-1946: Political appointments ◐
Defence Advisory Committee, Labour Minister. Religious identity during state service?

1940s: Pakistan debates ●
"Thoughts on Pakistan" - Hindu-Muslim communities "irreconcilable"
→ Religious differences = political divisions

1952: Electoral losses ◐
Failed Lok Sabha bids. Religious conversion impact on acceptance?

1956: October 13 mass conversion to Buddhism ●
Nagpur. 380,000 converts. Strategic political move or genuine spiritual quest?

### 3. Causal Analysis

Religious conversion as political strategy?

Evidence for:
- 1937 electoral platform explicitly linked to religious critique
- Mass conversion = mobilization tool
- "Thoughts on Pakistan" religious logic → political boundaries
- Post-conversion political appointments suggest strategic positioning

Evidence against:
- Personal spiritual quest
- Critique of all religions during exploration phase
- Buddhist conversion maintained social reform focus

### 4. Synthesis Challenge

Multi-hop reasoning required:
Religious dissatisfaction → Political mobilization → Strategic alliances → Electoral strategy

Key insight: Conversion was both personal transformation AND calculated political move.

⟨H≈0.8⟩ *Ambedkar navigating between spiritual authenticity and pragmatic politics. The 1956 mass conversion - was it about enlightenment or electoral mathematics? Nagpur's vast gathering, 380,000 souls following the legal mind into Buddha's fold. Religious identity as political currency, but also genuine quest for dignity. The man who refused Gandhi's Harijan label, who saw through Hindu reformism, who understood that social revolution required spiritual revolution...*

### 5. Constraints Check

Geographic: India-wide impact, Maharashtra focus
Temporal: 1935-1956 career arc
Linguistic: Marathi, Hindi, English sources likely
Cultural: Caste system dynamics, colonial period

### 6. Answer Construction

Core argument: Religious conversion was primary catalyst transforming social critique into systematic political strategy.

Evidence chain:
1. Hindu untouchability experience = political motivation seed
2. 1935 declaration = strategic pivot point  
3. 1937 party formation = first political manifestation
4. Mass conversion 1956 = culmination/mobilization tool

∴ Conversion influenced political engagement through:
- Ideological foundation (caste critique through religious lens)
- Mobilization strategy (religious community building)  
- Electoral positioning (identity politics)
- International Buddhism connections (strategic partnerships)

Key limitation: Distinction between personal spiritual quest vs. calculated political move remains unclear in historical record.

⚠ Potential bias: Viewing all religious decisions through political lens may oversimplify complex spiritual journey.

Final synthesis: Ambedkar's religious conversions were simultaneously personal transformation and calculated political strategy, creating coherent worldview linking social justice to spiritual liberation.

### Answer###
La conversion d'Ambedkar à une autre religion a profondément marqué son engagement politique, transformant sa critique sociale et sa stratégie d'action. Dès 1935, il déclara qu'il était né hindou mais qu'il ne mourrait pas hindou, considérant l'hindouisme comme une "religion oppressive" qui lui avait apporté uniquement humiliation et dégradation.

Cette décision religieuse s'accompagna d'une évolution politique stratégique. En 1936, il fonda le Parti travailliste indépendant et mena sa première campagne électorale en 1937, remportant 11 sièges sur 13 réservés aux castes défavorisées. Parallèlement, il intensifia ses critiques contre le système de castes à travers ses écrits et ses discours publics.

L'aspect le plus révélateur de cette influence religieuse sur son engagement politique fut sa critique systématique de toutes les religions. Il jugea le christianisme inapte à combattre les injustices et dépeignit l'islam comme une "société fermée" avec des distinctions réelles entre musulmans et non-musulmans. Cette analyse critique l'amena à s'opposer aux conversions des classes défavorisées vers l'islam ou le christianisme, les considérant comme des solutions inadaptées.

Son exploration religieuse le conduisit initialement vers le sikhisme, qu'il abandonna après avoir découvert que le gouvernement britannique ne garantirait pas les privilèges accordés aux intouchables dans les sièges parlementaires réservés. Finalement, le 16 octobre 1956, il se convertit au bouddhisme lors d'une grande cérémonie de conversion collective, quelques semaines avant sa mort.

Cette transformation religieuse fut à la fois un engagement personnel et une stratégie politique, influençant ses positions sur les questions nationales et sa capacité de mobilisation des communautés marginalisées.