The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) invites you to a book discussion on:
Becoming Baba Saheb
by Aakash Singh Rathore
Panel:
Prof. Priya Mirza, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
Prof. Jadumani Mahanand, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global University
Prof. Aakash Singh Rathore, International Fellow, ETHOS, Rome, Italy
Thursday, 20th April 2023, 11:00 AM IST onwards.
The event will be held in the CPR office conference room (Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi)
About the Panelists
Professor Priya Mirza teaches political science at Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi. She works on the intersections of sovereignty and technology in colonial and postcolonial India. Her podcast, The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza, explores how the constitution affects the everyday lives in India. She is also a practicing visual artist.
Professor Jadumani Mahanand is an assistant professor at Jindal Global Law School, O P Jindal Global University, Sonipat, (NCR). PhD from Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He did Master and M. Phil from University of Hyderabad. He was a DAAD research fellow at CeMIS during his doctoral work (2016). He has published in reputed peer-review Scopus index journals and contributed to the edited volumes in the reputed publication. He is working on a book project called: Ambedkar’s Theory of Recognition. He teaches political science.
Professor Aakash Singh Rathore is a philosopher of international repute and the author of nine books, including Ambedkar’s Preamble: A Secret History of the Constitution of India (2020). He has also edited over a dozen books, including B.R. Ambedkar’s The Buddha and His Dhamma: A Critical Edition (2011) and, more recently, B.R. Ambedkar: The Quest for Justice (a box set of five volumes, 2021). His Hegel’s India was shortlisted for the Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the Tata Literature Live! Book Awards 2017. Professor Rathore has taught politics, philosophy and law at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. He is international fellow at ETHOS, Rome, and was previously fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.
About the Book
There are many intellectual biographies of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, but until now none has sought to reveal the personality of the man. They will tell you what he thought or what he wrote, but will remain silent on who he actually was, his inner struggles, how he felt. They give information about Ambedkar, but do not talk about his interior life, his personal growth or how he came to be the man who left such an indelible mark on modern India’s constitutional, political, social and religious landscapes.
The first of an ambitious two-volume biography of Ambedkar, Becoming Babasaheb by Aakash Singh Rathore traces his life journey, from his birth in 1891 to the transformative Mahad Satyagraha in 1927. It takes a fresh look at Ambedkar’s lived experiences and teases out the nature and character of the man behind the legend. It offers an extensive, personality-driven narrative that covers Ambedkar’s life, along with salient aspects of his contemporary legacy, unfolding as a tale of remarkable tenacity, which it chronicles in all its rich vitality.
Ambedkar’s books and speeches are publicly available, so tomes will forever appear interpreting his writings and presenting his ideas. Meanwhile, old myths and inaccurate facts about his thoughts, life events – even his relationships – will persist. Becoming Babasaheb has been written on the basis of entirely original archival research, to be able to set the historical record straight. A vivid portrait of the man in his times, both volumes of this biography will present readers with a new Ambedkar the true Ambedkar.
