Step 1: Understanding the context.
B.R. Ambedkar was a social reformer and a prominent figure in the fight for the rights of Dalits (Untouchables). He criticized India's villages for being sites of social injustice, ignorance, and oppression, particularly highlighting their narrow-mindedness and communal divisions.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
- (A) Correct, B.R. Ambedkar famously criticized India's villages for their backwardness and oppression. He saw them as places of ignorance and communalism.
- (B) Incorrect, M.K. Gandhi had a more idealized view of India's villages, believing they were the backbone of the country’s cultural and spiritual identity.
- (C) Incorrect, Jawaharlal Nehru focused on industrialization and modernity and did not describe villages in the same critical terms as Ambedkar.
- (D) Incorrect, S.S. Jodhka has written on rural India, but the quote in question is most commonly attributed to Ambedkar.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answer is (A) B.R. Ambedkar.