Shivam Vij commentary in Scroll.in "Roy's new essay about B.R. Ambedkar is being assailed by some Dalit radicals. They are doing him a disservice."
I am not a fan of either Arundhati Roy or Shivam Vij (Shivam probably tries to be contrarian sometimes; see his article on Kashmiri students Meerut is not Srinagar) but agree with Shivam on this. Amdekar seems to have become a deity for some and only they can speak about him. Some object to talking about Gandhi in a book about Ambedkar. D.R. Naaraj remarked " Irony of ironies: to understand the nature of Babasaheb's political career one has to place it along with Ganhiji's, for the apparent diverence between the two will highlight the unique problems of the other".(From the essay "Self-purification vs self-respect:On the Roots of Dalit Movement", in The Flaming Feet). It seems to me that Ambedkar's contributions have been neglected and are gradually being recognized by wider audience recently through Ramachandra Guha and others. Arundhati Roy's efforts should add to that.
I am not a fan of either Arundhati Roy or Shivam Vij (Shivam probably tries to be contrarian sometimes; see his article on Kashmiri students Meerut is not Srinagar) but agree with Shivam on this. Amdekar seems to have become a deity for some and only they can speak about him. Some object to talking about Gandhi in a book about Ambedkar. D.R. Naaraj remarked " Irony of ironies: to understand the nature of Babasaheb's political career one has to place it along with Ganhiji's, for the apparent diverence between the two will highlight the unique problems of the other".(From the essay "Self-purification vs self-respect:On the Roots of Dalit Movement", in The Flaming Feet). It seems to me that Ambedkar's contributions have been neglected and are gradually being recognized by wider audience recently through Ramachandra Guha and others. Arundhati Roy's efforts should add to that.
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