Professor Aishwary Kumar on Ambedkar's Thought and the Futures of Democracy
In this interview with Huzaifa Omair Siddiqi, research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the renowned historian and philosopher Aishwary Kumar – currently Professorial Fellow at Centre for South Asia, Stanford University and the author of Radical Equality: Ambedkar, Gandhi and the Risk of Democracy (Stanford, 2015) – discusses the enormous significance Dr.B.R. Ambedkar holds for the future of democratic thought.
On the occasion of Dr. Ambedkar's 130th birth anniversary, how can his ideas inspire us to look at the fundamental democratic concepts of equality, freedom, secularism, and maitri anew? For Professor Kumar, Dr. Ambedkar's bringing together of the importance of a religiosity without religion along with a singular insistence on democracy and the rights of Dalits and minorities makes him one of the most unique political thinkers. Dr. Ambedkar's immense 'faith in equality', according to Professor Kumar, is not simply a sign of his dedication to 'liberal' values but also the way in which he quite beautifully displaces both traditional ideas of religion and politics in order to inculcate what he calls a 'love for politics', encapsulated in his concept of maitri or fellowship.
See also Huzaifa Omar Siddiqi's review of Aishwary Kumar;s book: Ambedkar, Gandhi and the Rise of Subcontinental Philosophy
https://thewire.in/society/ambedkar-gandhi-subcontinental-philosophy
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On the occasion of Dr. Ambedkar's 130th birth anniversary, how can his ideas inspire us to look at the fundamental democratic concepts of equality, freedom, secularism, and maitri anew? For Professor Kumar, Dr. Ambedkar's bringing together of the importance of a religiosity without religion along with a singular insistence on democracy and the rights of Dalits and minorities makes him one of the most unique political thinkers. Dr. Ambedkar's immense 'faith in equality', according to Professor Kumar, is not simply a sign of his dedication to 'liberal' values but also the way in which he quite beautifully displaces both traditional ideas of religion and politics in order to inculcate what he calls a 'love for politics', encapsulated in his concept of maitri or fellowship.
See also Huzaifa Omar Siddiqi's review of Aishwary Kumar;s book: Ambedkar, Gandhi and the Rise of Subcontinental Philosophy
https://thewire.in/society/ambedkar-gandhi-subcontinental-philosophy
Like our work? Click here to support The Wire: https://thewire.in/support
The founding premise of The Wire is this: if good journalism is to survive and thrive, it can only do so by being both editorially and financially independent. This means relying principally on contributions from readers and concerned citizens who have no interest other than to sustain a space for quality journalism. As a publication, The Wire will be firmly committed to the public interest and democratic values.
We publish in four different languages!
For English, visit www.thewire.in
for Hindi: http://thewirehindi.com/
for Urdu: http://thewireurdu.com
for Marathi: https://marathi.thewire.in
If you are a young writer or a creator, you can submit articles, essays, photos, poetry – anything that’s straight out of your imagination – to LiveWire, The Wire’s portal for the young, by the young. https://livewire.thewire.in/
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