Bahishkrit Bharat (Untouchable India) The following is from an editorial (translated from Marathi) written by Babasaheb Ambedkar for one of the issues of the newspaper Bahishkrit Bharat published in 1927! This translation was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kolhapur. Translated by Dr. B.R. Kamble. ~ …
From the pages of Mook Nayak
The following is the first editorial (translated from Marathi) written by Babasaheb Ambedkar for the very first issue of Mook Nayak published in January 1920! This translation was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kolhapur. Translated by Dr. B.R. Kamble. ~ Mumbai, Saturday 31st January 1920 [Issue No.1]. …
Theatre, Spectacle and Politics of “Indian” imagination
Kaustubh Naik Attempts to rewrite, and often overwrite, historical narratives have to be always critically examined. This critical examination is especially important in timeswhen people learn their history through mediums which are motivated by agendas of various hues and colours. In light of this context, Vande Mataram, a play that was recently staged in …
A Reply To The Mahatma By Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
(This reply was included as Appendix II in the second edition of Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar‘s ‘Annihilation of Caste’) I appreciate greatly the honour done me by the Mahatma in taking notice in his Harijan of the speech on Caste which I had prepared for the Jat Pat Todak Mandal. From a perusal …
Guja-raatri, the unending night of terror
Kuffir GujaratIs an experimentTo see if a state would growWhen you sow blood ~ Netala Pratap Kumar Not just Gujarat, but the whole of India has been an experiment, in essence, since its formation as a state herding together disparate pieces of political, cultural and social geography into a make-believe nation. In the process …
‘It’s no alliance’
Zafar Agha Uttar Pradesh is the cradle of Brahminism: Kanshi Ram BSP supremo Kanshi Ram spoke to Special Correspondent Zafar Agha from his Escorts Heart Institute bed in Delhi. Excerpts: Q. When did your relations with Mulayam Singh Yadav reach a turning point?A. The panchayat elections were the turning point. There was rigging, booth-capturing, …
A Visit to Bhima Koregaon
Pradnya Mangala They cannot make history who forget history. ~ Dr. Ambedkar. History plays a very important role in a person’s life. To know our roots, we need to know our history, know where we belong, to make sense of our existence. The identities that we carry by virtue of being born in a …
December 6th at Chaityabhoomi
Round Table India at Chaityabhoomi Barely able to speak in Hindi or Marathi, Rakhuma,18, and her husband Girish Madiga, 19, Friday jostled their way from Dadar station to Chaityabhoomi to pay homage to their icon Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar on his 57th death anniversary. The newlywed had boarded a train from Gulbarga to come to …
Riddle No. 1: The difficulty of knowing why one is a Hindu
(From ‘Religious Riddles‘ in Part I of the book ‘Riddles in Hinduism‘ by Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar) India is a congeries of communities. There are in it Parsis, Christians, Mohammedans and Hindus. The basis of these communities is not racial. It is of course religious. This is a superficial view. What is interesting to …