Emulating Dr. Ambedkar

Most of us would not hesitate to presume that the thinking language of Dr. Ambedkar was English. Besides his towering intellect and eminent leadership, his mastery in English was an important force wielding which he was able to win rights for the Depressed Classes (i.e the Unmarriageables). 'Emulating Dr. Ambedkar' is an attempt to celebrate his command over this vocabulary-rich beautiful language which is dominant as ever in the international discourses.

In this compilation drawn from Volume 1, 5 and 9 of 'Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches' (BAWS), even some simple sentences have been accommodated in order to enable the readers to hunt and equip themselves with the writing style of the learned Doctor. We need to consciously seek the alternate words preferred by Babasaheb in the place of mundane substitutes that we routinely use. It is desired that the readers not only imbibe the manner of usage of words so typical of Doctor but also draw lessons from his arguing style and submission of statements.

The remarks made by him while submitting his own arguments or while destroying the contention of his opponents are especially noteworthy. These remarks, on many instance, illuminates the structure and the nature of arguments made by him and others. Dr. Ambedkar also had the trait to alarm the audience or readers if his speeches or writings happened to be too long or tiring or straightforward or even harsh.

How he had used idioms and phrases is undoubtedly astounding. Some of his own phrases should be rightly construed as a warning or advice to the Unmarriageables. Though there is a separate book series titled 'Mastering Babasaheb: Essential Thoughts of Dr. Ambedkar' that has been made available to the readers, a glimpse of his thoughts are scattered in this compilation too.

Collection of words used by the Doctor is presented on the back cover of the book itself and in it there is a miniscule addition of words used by others but quoted in BAWS. This has been included to enable the readers to engage with BAWS effectively.

It is earnestly desired that this compilation would inspire the Unmarriageables not only to acquire mastery in English but to also inculcate it as their thinking language.

The compilation of 'Emulating Dr. Ambedkar' was done by A.B. Karl Marx Siddharthar. He is the author of 'UNCASTE' otherwise subtitled as 'Understanding Unmarriageability: The Way Forward To Annihilate Caste'.