A Stake in the Nation

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 valorize 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, labor, minority rights, communalism, brahminism, constitution-making and foreign policy. The prose spans different registers of reason and affect—lyrical and polemical, combative and poignant.