[Buddha-l] New book based on Dr Ambedkar's writings

[JKirkpatrick]

Review found at :
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=25315
Narender Kumar, Sukhadeo Thorat, eds. B. R. Ambedkar:
Perspectives on Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008. 432 pp.

Excerpts:
...Topical collections of Ambedkar's writings are relatively
rare, and as such, the editors have produced not only a valuable
resource for seasoned scholars and activists, but also an entree
to sections of Ambedkar's oeuvre that have not been published
individually, and are therefore comparatively little known.
Thorat and Kumar present Ambedkar's writings over a nearly
four-decade period (from 1919-55) as representing a
straightforward elaboration of thought in which the forms of
discrimination against untouchables, as well as the kinds of
redress necessary, are expressed with greater perspicuity over
time. 

...Thorat and Kumar present Ambedkar's writings over a nearly
four-decade period (from 1919-55) as representing a
straightforward elaboration of thought in which the forms of
discrimination against untouchables, as well as the kinds of
redress necessary, are expressed with greater perspicuity over
time. 

...Dalits must themselves be personally involved in the
legislature--they must be "law-makers" and not just "electors"
(p. 70). [But] ...A Legislature is the product of a certain
social condition, and its power is determined by whatever
determines society. This is too obvious to be denied" (pp.
80-81). The Congressite claim to distinguish social and political
questions rested on an interested refusal to acknowledge this
fact of government....The Gandhian conception of untouchability,
which disallowed political redress, focused exclusively on the
religio-moral transformation of caste Hindus and denied the
necessity of socioeconomic change, became the party line of
Congress very early on.

... In the proximity of caste Hindus, emancipation for
untouchables would be impossible--because the two were, according
to Ambedkar, "separated by a fundamental and deadly antagonism"
(p. 245). Sharing the village meant that "a perpetual war is
going on everyday" (p. 248).

...only minorities identified unambiguously *by differences of
religion* were granted a place in devolutionary negotiations.
[Ambedkar's Scheduled Castes Federation] responded by staging
satyagrahas against Congress meetings that only succeeded, in the
fervor of "Quit India," in producing the *widespread view
(actively promoted by Congress) that Ambedkarite politics was
antinational*.
[More in the review]
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Comment:	
It was probably this slant of the Congress, to identify
minorities based only on religion, that led Ambedkar to begin
checking out various religions and finally settling on Buddhism
as the way to go with his political leadership of the Dalits. We
should not forget that decades later (not so long ago) the Hindu
right parties declared Buddhism to be Hindu, another move to
thwart/deny Dalit participation in politics and their conversions
to Buddhism as real conversions. 

However, it isn't clear,  from this review that the book said, or
did not say, anything about the Buddhist end phase of Ambedkar's
career and life. Still, as he is one of the 20th century heroes
of Buddhism in its land of origin, the book might be worth a
read.

Joanna K.