From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 19:46:20 +0530 (IST)
Subject: London memorial for Ambedkar
To:
"... Most importantly, he will be remembered as the emancipator of other
untouchables and the jurist in charge of drafting the constitution of the
Indian republic. Ambedkar fought for a free India, and for the freedom of
all castes within that state. He sought advancement not just for himself,
nor for those like him, but also for Brahmins, Muslims, Sikhs and
Buddhists. His time at the bar in London and at the LSE, but most of all
his sterling example, surely make him more than deserving of public
memorial here. ..."
Unthinkable? An Ambedkar memorial - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/30/unthinkable-ambedkar-memorial
Born 'untouchable', he fought for freedom and emancipation of all castes
and helped to draft the constitution of India
The Guardian, Saturday 30 April 2011
Among the most tiresome of all observations made about the royal wedding
was that it represented some kind of triumph of social mobility. The new
Duchess of Cambridge is the great-great-granddaughter of a coalminer, runs
this story, and her mother worked as an air hostess. Never mind that she
also went to Marlborough College. Such cant brings to mind a more potent
example of social mobility – and of that mobility being put to significant
purpose.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891, an untouchable in an India run by
the British – that is to say a subaltern twice over, subjugated by an
imperial government and by high-caste Indians. He died in 1956, with
doctorates from Columbia University and the LSE. Most importantly, he will
be remembered as the emancipator of other untouchables and the jurist in
charge of drafting the constitution of the Indian republic. Ambedkar
fought for a free India, and for the freedom of all castes within that
state. He sought advancement not just for himself, nor for those like him,
but also for Brahmins, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists. His time at the bar
in London and at the LSE, but most of all his sterling example, surely
make him more than deserving of public memorial here. "How long shall we
continue to deny equality in our social and economic life?" asked
Ambedkar. "If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by
putting our political democracy in peril." His message, intended for
20th-century India, is just as relevant for 21st-century Britain.
--
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