18 January 1939: Dr. Ambedkar addressed a large gathering at Rajkot in Gujarat.
Dr. Ambedkar had flown to Rajkot, as a state guest, to study the problems of the Scheulded Castes. He interviewed His Highness Thakore Saheb Dharmendrasinhji Lakhajiraj, the ruler of Rajkot.[1]
18 January 1943: Dr. Ambedkar delivered the lecture on “Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah” on the occasion of 101st birthday celebration of Ranade in Gokhale Memorial Hall, Pune.
Some highlights of the lecture:
“Entrenched behind the plaudits of the Press, the spirit of domination exhibited by these two Great Men (Gandhi and Jinnah) has transgressed all limits. By their domination they have demoralised their followers and demoralized politics. By their domination they have made half their followers fools and the other half hypocrites. In establishing their supremacy they have taken the aid of “big business” and money magnates. For the first time in our country, money is taking the field as an organised power…… Politics in the hands of these two Great Men have become a competition in extravaganza. If Mr. Gandhi is known as Mahatma, Mr. Jinnah must be known as Qaid-i-Azim. If Gandhi has the Congress, Mr. Jinnah must have the Muslim League…. The session of the Congress must be followed by a session of the League…. If the Congress passes a Resolution of 17,000 words, the Muslim League’s Resolution must exceed it by at least a thousand words…. Jinnah insists that Gandhi should admit that he is a Hindu. Gandhi insists that Jinnah should admit that he is one of the leaders of the Muslims…. Neither will consider a solution of the problems which is not eternal. Between them Indian politics has become “frozen,” to use a well-known Banking phrase, and no political action is possible.”
Do visit http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_ranade.html for the full lecture.

Jinnah, Periyar and Ambedkar
18 January 1948: Economic losses for mills due to strike by dalit mill workers[2].
The strike by dalit milll workers in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) from 15 January 1948 in support of the Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple Entry Agitation led to economic losses for the mills, estimated at Rs. 5 lakhs on 18 January 1948.
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