A Stake in the Nation

Selected Speeches

B.R. Ambedkar

Edited by : Bhagwan Das

Introduction by : Anurag Bhaskar

9788194447122

Navayana

Language: English

264 Pages

5.5 x 8.5 Inches

In Stock!

Price INR 399.0 Not Available

Book Club Price INR 339.15 USD

About the Book

Who is an Indian? Who is a nationalist? Who is antinational? This selection of speeches, from 1930 to 1956, shows Dr B.R. Ambedkar as the most original among the architects of modern India as he asks and answers such difficult questions. Whether he was dealing with the British or the Congress, his commitment to equality and justice for minorities remained steadfast.


These twenty speeches tell us a story jettisoned by narratives that valorise a Hinduised ‘idea of India’. Ambedkar addresses various publics: dalit workers in Nashik, British lawmakers in London, the Non-Brahmin Movement in Madras, parliamentarians in Delhi and college students in Jalandhar. He speaks of democracy, labour, minority rights, communalism, brahminism, constitution-making and foreign policy. The prose spans different registers of reason and affect—lyrical and polemical, combative and poignant.

B.R. Ambedkar
Born into an ‘untouchable’ family, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956) was one of India’s most radical thinkers. A brilliant student, he earned doctorates in economics from both Columbia University, New York, and the London School of Economics. In 1936, the year he wrote Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party. The ILP contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively. He was India’s first Minister for Law and Justice, and oversaw the drafting of the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar eventually embraced Buddhism, a few months before his death in 1956.

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Anurag Bhaskar

Anurag Bhaskar teaches at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat. He is an Affiliated Faculty of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, and a Visiting Faculty at Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, Delhi. He holds a Masters in Law degree (2019) from Harvard Law School.

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