– Dr Vamsha Tilak,
President, Samarasatha vedika
President samajika Samarasatha vedika , Neuro-surgeon and Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(DICCI) member Dr Vamsha Tilak was speaking at the launch of the new book `Dr BR Ambedkar on Nationalism and Islam’ organized by Samvit Kendra on the evening of 30thDec 2019 at the ongoing Hyderabad Book Fair in NTR Stadium.
The book consists of extracts from Dr Ambedkar`s book `Pakistan or the Partition of India’ as reprinted in `The selected works of Dr BR Ambedkar’; the text is compiled by well-known scholar and President of Samvit Kendra Dr Rahul A. Shastri.
Dr Vamsha Tilak, the Chief Guest at the event, said Dr Ambedkar’s book contains bold and clear thinking and he makes a realistic assessment of the situation of India pre-independence. His vision and views of India are precise and analytical with a clear perspective. Unfortunately many speak without reading and learning about Dr Ambedkar today, especially on social media, including those who claim themselves as `Ambedkarites’. Dr Tilak said Babasaheb protected dalits and ensured that dalits didn’t get separated from India. Even though he said `I won’t die as a hindu’, he refused to convert to abrahamic religions of Islam and Christianity, it is not very well-known that the nizam of Hyderabad requested him to convert to Islam and Dr Ambedkar has refused. It seems that he felt Buddhism is like a parking space for dalits so that they don’t get separated from Indian culture and roots’. Dr Ambedkar in his work stated that `islam has brotherhood, but meant only for its adherents’ and his forewarning that `If a country becomes separate on the basis of religion, complete population exchange should take place’ is a reflection of his visionary thinking, and is especially relevant now in the present context of Modi Govt bringing in Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, to protect the persecuted minorities of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Dr Rahul Shastri, the book compiler and President Samvit kendra, stated that when he began to read the book he felt that Dr Ambedkar’s profound scholarship on the concepts of Nation, Nation-building and issues that prevent the followers of Islam to truly become nationalistic in spirit, should be made accessible to all people. Dr Ambedkar with his clear foresight felt that `Hindus would be driven out, and the new found independence will be endangered’. Dr Ambedkar also talks about the problems that arise from misplaced `appeasement’ agenda, and how it would eventually prove to be counter-productive. His prescient warning that an invisible line needs to be drawn with regard to `minority appeasement’ especially at the birth of a nation, is proving correct as later events proved.
Sri Ayush Nadimpalli presiding over the well-attended event, invited interested researchers and scholars to get in touch with Samvit Kendra.
