Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambdekar, popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, is a towering figure in the history of modern India. Known better as the emancipator of Dalits and backward castes, Dr Ambdekar, India’s first law minister, epitomizes an inspirational story of self-fashioning amid trying circumstances and the will to move beyond self to the larger cause of social justice and national renaissance. A multi-faceted man, Dr Ambedkar has, unfortunately, been boxed in a niche as primarily a liberator of untouchables and depressed classes, says Narendra Jadhav, author, economist, policy-maker and educationist.
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambdekar, popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, is a towering figure in the history of modern India. Known better as the emancipator of Dalits and backward castes, Dr Ambdekar, India’s first law minister, epitomizes an inspirational story of self-fashioning amid trying circumstances and the will to move beyond self to the larger cause of social justice and national renaissance. A multi-faceted man, Dr Ambedkar has, unfortunately, been boxed in a niche as primarily a liberator of untouchables and depressed classes, says Narendra Jadhav, author, economist, policy-maker and educationist.A chief architect of the Constitution of India, Dr Ambedkar had so many sides to him: he was an economist, philosopher, jurist, orator and a scholar of comparative religion. But he is rarely appreciated as a national leader with a pan-India vision of a modern country underpinned by ideals of social justice and equality. This gap in scholarly and public perception of Dr Ambedkar is what goaded Jadhav to compile a monumental trilogy of some 301 speeches given by Dr Ambedkar over more than three decades in four languages, English, Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi. Entitled Ambedkar Speaks (Konark Publishers), the trilogy is the first-ever attempt to compile a comprehensive bibliography of Ambdekar’s speeches and provide them thematic and historical context. The speeches give a rare insight into the intricate thought processes of the man who emerged as what the author calls the “social conscience-keeper of modern India.”
In a wide-ranging conversation with Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief, India Writes (www.indiawrites.org), Jadhav speaks about his labour of love in making the full range of Ambedkar’s speeches accessible to scholars and ordinary readers and hopes that it will inspire a fresh re-appraisal of Dr Ambedkar’s thoughts and ideas, sans idolatry
Sitting in his office in Yojana Bhavan, home of India’s Planning Commission in the Indian capital New Delhi, Jadhav speaks passionately about the current play of social justice in India nearly six decades after Ambedkar’s death and how the gap between promise and delivery continues to haunt the nation’s efforts at achieving ideals of equality and social cohesion.
(Excerpts from the interview):
Q) There are so many books on Dr B.R. Ambedkar. What inspired you to embark on this monumental three-volume anthology of speeches of Dr Ambedkar?
A: Dr Ambedkar is the source of my inspiration. I have been studying Ambedkar’s writings and thoughts for 20 years or more. Yes, there are many books on him. The Maharashtra government, for example, has put together 22 volumes of all his writings and articles. Now, they deserve rich compliments for putting it together, but they have done an extremely poor job of it, making those volumes virtually useless. They have put everything together without any method in terms of order and the selection of subjects. They are also devoid of any contextualization. The point is Dr Ambedkar’s writings encompassed a wide range of subjects and themes — social, economic, political, religion, law and constitution. You expect each subject to have one volume. Besides, there should be a chronological order. The books provide a mere narration of events – for example. Dr. Ambedkar came by the Frontier Mail, then he was received by 8000 people, then they chanted slogans, and so many people garlanded him. What’s the point of all these details? Clearly, what’s important are his thoughts and ideas, and they seem to be missing in those books.
That’s why I decided to do this three-volume compilation of his speeches and provided his speeches with chronology and thematic contextualization. There has been no complete bibliography of his speeches – this is the first time a complete bibliography of Dr. Ambedkar’s speeches has been made in these three volumes. I have provided contextualization to each speech in four-five lines as a footnote, giving the essence of the context is which he was writing. More importantly, I have presented an extensive overview of all his speeches through graphs and figures. In one chapter, I have given the overview and analysis of those speeches, connecting them with various phases of his life. The most important contribution this book makes is that I have divided his speeches into different categories: Volume I: Autobiographical Speeches: Social Speeches; Guidance to Followers. Volume II: Economic; Religion; Law and Constitution; Volume III: Political Commentary. Within each category, there are sub- categories. For example, under his social speeches there are four categories, the first on caste and untouchability, the second one on education, the third on democracy and so on. In 30-35 years, Dr Ambedkar gave seven speeches on democracy. His reflections on democracy in the first speech are very different from the ones he made later. Pick up one speech and look at his thoughts on democracy – you will get his thinking about democracy at that particular point of time and how it has evolved over the years.
Q: So, what was the transformation in his thought from his first speech on democracy to his seventh?
A: I think there is a great degree of erudition and maturity that comes through as you read carefully his speeches over more than three decades. In his initial speeches, he comes across as a young militant revolutionary who wants to change the system. Towards the end, he comes as a saint, a rishi, who has seen it all, known it all. This transformation and evolution of his thoughts has happened with every subject. The speeches reflect the curve of his thoughts and the evolution of his thinking on diverse issues of national importance over the years.
Q: What is the idea of India that’s crystallized in Dr Ambedkar’s writings?
A: We have to understand it theme-wise, but take the case of 10 speeches that Dr Ambedkar made at the Round Table Conferences. Of these, only one or two are about dalit causes and the remaining ones are focused on the national cause. This is very important. We don’t understand, or we choose not to understand this, which is very regrettable. He has always had this national perspective as far as the British were concerned and before Independence, he was talking about what would be the future of the country and what the future of various sections like dalits and Muslims and so on, would be when there was a transition of power from Britain to India. After Independence, he made a wide range of contributions in terms of laying the foundations of modern India.
Q: What were those outstanding contributions?
A: Dr Ambedkar was a pre-eminent economist, but we don’t recognise that. He had an MA and a PhD in economics from Columbia University. He got a doctorate from the London School of Economics and the books and dissertations that he wrote, particularly The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India; The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution; and Administration and Finance of the East India Company, underline his credentials as an outstanding economist. His thoughts are often used today in analysing contemporary issues, but nobody recognises that it is coming from an economist of great repute. Take a look at the books on Indian economic thought, some 20 years ago. Just about anybody was quoting from his articles but the man who made such a massive contribution is not even mentioned in the footnote. Now, of course, things are changing.
The other important contribution he made was his role in giving equal rights to women. When he could not get the Hindu Code Bill through the Parliament he resigned from the cabinet post, and this man is never recognised as a champion of women’s rights. Also, take the example of the contribution that he made by writing the constitution. These are all broad causes in the wider interest of the nation as a whole. In the first few years of his public life, he tried to reform the Hindu religion by remaining within the religion. He made a historic announcement in 1935 that he was born a Hindu but he will not die one. Just imagine what would have happened to the minorities problem if he had converted to Islam, what would have happened at one point when he was contemplating a conversion to Sikhism. What would have happened to the problem of Khalistan if he had taken all these dalits to accept Sikhism; you know these are the issues you have to know to understand that why he chose Buddhism.
Q: You have been studying Dr Ambedkar’s thoughts for decades now. In the process of compiling these 301 seminal speeches, what was the new insight you gained into his thinking?
A: Putting together all the speeches gave me a deep insight into multi-dimensional thoughts of this great human being. In the process of studying his speeches closely and compiling then, I got a holistic view of this multi-faceted man, along with the trajectory of the evolution of his ideas. The 22-volume anthology that the Maharashtra government produced are all bought by dalits, but they are kept there like the idols. The idea is even if they want to read it, they will not be able to understand them. I have, therefore, presented these speeches in such a manner which will make them easier to understand the compass of his thoughts in their entirety.
Let’s move beyond politics of tokenism
Q: What’s your view of the political uses and abuses of Dr Ambedkar? He has been roped in as a Dalit icon by many political parties in India.
A: First of all, you have to understand that regrettably what has happened is that Dr Ambedkar, for a variety of reasons, has been unfortunately confined to his role as a leader or an emancipator of untouchables. Of course, he was an emancipator of dalits, but to box him in as a dalit leader is doing a grave injustice to a diverse range of contributions that he made for the nation as a whole.
Q: Yes, Dr Ambedkar was a national leader with a vision that transcended much beyond Dalit empowerment.
A: Of course, he was a messiah of dalits and an emancipator of dalits, but he was not confined to that only. In every walk of life, be it social, economic, political, cultural, religious, he has made immense contribution. I think Dr Ambedkar is the social conscience of modern India and by that I don’t mean only his contribution to dalits. He is a national leader, if you look at the wide range of contributions that he has made to the national cause. In fact, Dr Ambedkar is the national conscience of modern India.
Q: Talking of socio-economic empowerment, many politicians speak in his name and leverage Dr Ambedkar to project themselves as champions of the disadvantaged. But there is an overwhelming realization that these so-called self-proclaimed messiahs of the historically disadvantaged haven’t delivered. What do you think of this politics of tokenism, token social justice where the government spends billions of rupees on pro-poor welfare programmes like MNREGA? How do you look at the politics of empowerment? Where do you think it is going wrong? What needs to be put on course?
A: I wish it was politics of empowerment; it is not politics of empowerment, it is pure politics. And I am not a politician. On the contrary, it is politics of self-aggrandizement, using emotional weapons, which is not necessarily working towards the empowerment of dalits. Way back in 1979, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi started a wonderful scheme called Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan wherein funds should be earmarked for the advancements of dalits in proportion at least to their share in the population. At the national level, according to 2001, the share of dalits is 16.2% and tribals are 8.2%. Under the scheme, every ministry must spend 16.2% at least on empowerment of dalits and 8.2% at least for the betterment of tribes. In the states, it depends on the ratio of their population. For example, in a particular state if there are 20% dalits and 5% STs, then they should spend at least 20% on dalits and at least 5% on scheduled tribes. Do you know that after more than three decades in operation, this scheme has gone nowhere; the gap has come down but the scheme, if it was implemented properly, would have made a huge difference and the gap would have been narrowed. In 2004 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that in 10 years we want to eliminate the gap between SCs and STs on one hand and rest of the population on the other, the gap has come down, but still it remains at an unacceptably high level. One of the major reasons why that has happened is because the schemes and the mechanism, wherein the instruments of change which have been available for more than three decades, have not been used properly at all. You talk about politics of empowerment, how many political factions of the dalit leaders have raised this issue over the last three decades, none have done that. So, they are doing politics of tokenism, emotional charging and so on but not taking concrete steps. This is the sad part of the politics of tokenism. That’s why Ambedkar’s speeches and thoughts need to be studied and analysed closely by everyone who cares for social justice in modern India.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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