A Congress MP Shashi Tharoor stated at the launch of his book, Ambedkar: A Life, at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library on Thursday evening that B R Ambedkar would not have accepted the inheritance principle because he was “never convinced by the logic of the caste system”.
When asked whether political parties are consolidating power in their respective first families, Tharoor, who is running for Congress president against Mallikarjun Kharge, replied, “I could tell you that though he (Ambedkar) has not written about it, It is a pretty safe assumption that he would have disapproved; in fact, he would have been quite critical of the idea that political leadership comes from inheritance rather than election.”
Ambedkar did not write about this particular aspect, so this is a guess.
Earlier today, Tharoor told the media that there was an “uneven playing field” in the election of the party president and that several state leaders and chiefs of Congress did not meet with him during his visits to their states, even though Kharge had spared time for him.
The book also discusses Ambedkar’s disputes with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi (Aleph Book Company; Rs 599)
A panel discussion on “Ambedkar, Constitutional Morality and Casteism” was held as part of the launch event, featuring Supreme Court advocate Karuna Nandy, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur, and economist and former Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar.
