Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s interactions with the British colonial regime were compounded and calculated. Instead of joining the mainstream nationalist struggles, he believed in dealing with the colonial government to plead the cause of the underprivileged, especially the Dalits.​

During World War II, Ambedkar became a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council as Labour Member, a place where he could lobby for labor reforms and social justice measures. He felt that participation within the system would bring certain gains to the downtrodden classes.

Ambedkar’s support for the British was not unwavering. He was critical of their policies when they did not seek to address social inequality and caste discrimination. His first loyalty was to the cause of social justice, and he used every platform available to him to advance the cause.​

In reality, Ambedkar’s engagement with the British was motivated by pragmatism in order to deliver social reform. He was not a loyalist in the conventional sense but a reformer who wanted to leverage available structures in order to implement change.