Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches Vol. 1

by B.R. Ambedkar

DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR
WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
VOL. 1

563 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 28, 2017

About the author

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 into an “Untouchable” family of modest means. One of India’s most radical thinkers, he transformed the social and political landscape in the struggle against British colonialism. He was a prolific writer who oversaw the drafting of the Indian Constitution and served as India’s first Law Minister. In 1935, he publicly declared that though he was born a Hindu, he would not die as one. Ambedkar eventually embraced Buddhism, a few months before his death in 1956.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is certainly one of the most erudite, intelligent, and rational Indian writers I have ever read. He tackles each topic with a great level of detail and care, usually being careful not to strawman or use manipulative argumentative tactics. He also roots a lot of what he says in empirical analysis. He is far more intelligent than anyone who has followed in his footsteps in advocacy for sudras and untouchables. He is also more conservative than most who have followed in his footsteps. For instance, he thought that Hindi should be the national language, and that those who oppose this are essentially traitors. He also thought that Pakistan was a good idea so that it would take away the option of a united India coming under Muslim domination at the expense of the Hindus. In fact it is clear throughout that despite explicitly not identifying as a Hindu, he thinks of himself as closer to them than to any other group besides the untouchables. In the first speech he even all but admits that the reason why he claims to not be a Hindu is because Hinduism is too difficult to reform from the inside (i.e. if he thought that Hinduism was more amenable to reforming casteism out of it, he would have remained one)

Nevertheless, Ambedkar is basically wrong about most things he writes about, despite arguing his incorrect position very nicely. Some of that is because he is working with old information on Indian archeology and genetic science, but given his leanings he might make some of the same remarks today. For instance he seems very confused about the genetic relationships between untouchables and brahmins. He also seems way to enthralled with state socialism, collectivized agriculture, affirmative action, and a whole slew of state policies.

His understanding of how to organize a state is fairly good though, in terms of political structure and design. He also understands the basics of homogeneity = good, diversity = bad, another conservative principle which seems to have been lost over time amongst his followers. He just was very poor at economics, and didnt understand human biodiversity.