Ambedkarite thoughts relevant to modern India

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said that Ambedkarite thoughts continue to be  relevant at a time when  polarization is dividing  Indian society.  He was talking to Meena Kandasamy at  MBIFL on Sunday. “B. R. Ambedkar was against majoritarianism  and always stood for the  annihilation of the caste  system,” he said. Calling Ambedkar the first male ‘feminist’,  Tharoor said, “Ambedkar  urged women not to  allow themselves to be forced into marriage and to delay marriage and  childbirth.

As a member  of the Mumbai Legislative  Assembly, he asserted  that women should get  equal wages as men.” Referring to Dr Ambedkar’s speech in the  Constituent Assembly in  1949 on the adoption of  the Constitution of India,  Tharoor said, “He was the  Chairman of the drafting  committee of the Constitution, an outstanding Parliamentarian and an  economist of considerable  distinction. No one can  match Ambedkar in  output. He had  astonishing achievements to his name.”