Interwar India through Bhimrao Ambedkar’s Eyes

Abstract

This article is an analysis of the political thought of Bhimrao Ambedkar, anti-caste activist, author of the Indian constitution and first law minister of independent India. His personal writings are analyzed, and the origins of his ideas are situated within larger contexts- both national and international. He was representative of the increased radicalism of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1920s and 30s, but he stood apart from the mainstream of the movement on key issues. Above all, the most formative influence on his political philosophy was the fact that his experience of interwar India was mediated through his position at the lower rungs of the caste hierarchy. He brought his unique perspective to bear on some of the most pressing topics that radical nationalists were debating in the interwar period: communism and political economy, defining nationhood, and the caste system. A discussion of Ambedkar’s views on these three key subjects forms the analytical basis of this article, with an eye towards the continued relevance of his thought.