"Dr. Ambedkar has become a saint, and his opinions can now only be recited and quoted as final authority, but not subjected to any criticism on penalty of being dubbed "Brahminical reactionary". Dr. Ambedkar was a complex personality, not fit for simple glorification, nor of course for vilification. Undoubtedly, he was a very strong man, who stood his ground, and who rendered sterling services to the nation. On his intellectual achievements, our judgment will be more diversified. He was essentially a Western-educated man, and had imbibed some of the condescending incomprehension so typical of westernized Natives. Yet, among this class of Western-educated Indians, there is hardly any who has to such extent freed himself from pervasive prejudices and fashionable beliefs, such as the claim of a racial basis of caste. Because he himself had suffered the humiliation which many caste Hindus kept on inflicting on the untouchables, it is not abnormal that he was intemperately bitter against Hinduism. Nevertheless, he remained loyal to Hinduism in the broad sense, and rejected eager offers to take his followers into mass conversion to soul- greedy and imperialist religions. If we have uttered some criticism of his intellectual shortcomings regarding specific subjects, we could do so in a spirit of respect because we are also aware of his substantial intellectual qualities and merits, apart from his well-known political achievements for his country and his community. As an independent thinker, Dr. Ambedkar contrasts brightly with wind-bags like M.N. Roy and Jawaharlal Nehru, whose parrotting of fashionable slogans has not prevented them from remaining trendsetters for the secularist elite which is still ruling India. If he was not perfect in every respect, we would say that there is only so much which a man can do in a lifetime, so if a busy politician could not always find the time to seek out all the historical facts about complex subjects, it is really not abnormal."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Civil rights activistsRevolutionariesHuman rights activistsFounding Fathers of IndiaMinisters of Law and Justice (India)
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Elst K. Indigenous Indians: Agastya to Ambedkar (1993)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
B. R. Ambedkar
118 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by B. R. Ambedkar →
Related Quotes
"I am coming from a 'backward section of society,' and was prime minister today only because of Ambedkar."
"There was one portrait. And interestingly, it was not of the leader of the Shiv Sena or of Shivaji, the Sena's warrio…"
"Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was fearless. He propogated love and humanity. He loved people and gave them a thought of huma…"
"He [Ambedkar] was quite clear that Muslims proposed to hold to their demands for 50:50 and so gradually lay the found…"
"Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar like God to me, I am President because of him. I feel happy and privileged that I am attending…"
"B R Ambedkar deserves to be remembered always by us because of his fight against social injustice. The great service …"
"Ambedkar took a cool and hard look at Islam as a sworn enemy of Hindu society, even while being bitterly critical of …"
"The year 1940 was coming to an end when Ambedkar's magnum opus, Thoughts on Pakistan, was published. Written at a psy…"
"The House is perhaps aware that of the seven members nominated by you, one had reigned from the House and was never r…"
"We believe that the future is what we make it. We believe that no matter who you are or where you come from, every pe…"