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What did Dr Ambedkar mean when he said that In politics we will have equality, and in social and economic life we will have inequality?

Dr. Ambedkar argued that with the establishment of a constitutional democracy in independent India, people would have political equality. Every citizen of India would have the right to vote and to stand for elected public offices. However, he also argued that the mere establishmet of political equality would not lead to social and economic equality. India society was divided along lines of caste which led to a system of social hierarchy. Political equality would not lead to the immediate removal of such age-old inequalities. India was also riven by economic inequalities with huge differences in the wealth levels of a few rich individuals and the vast majority of the poor. Again, political equality was not sufficient to remove such economic inequality. 

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According to Dr Ambedkar, political democracy had to be accompanied by economic and social democracy. Giving the right to vote would not automatically lead to the removal of other inequalities such as between rich and poor, or between upper and lower castes. He believed that India needed to work towards eradicating all forms of inequality in the economic and social spheres. Only then would the equality granted by the Constitution in the sphere of politics (i.e., one vote for every adult Indian citizen) be of any value. Otherwise, India would just be a land of contradictions—following the principle of one man, one vote and one value in its political life, and denying the principle of one man, one value in its economic and social lives.

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