Epilogue: From Ambedkar to Thakkar and Beyond: Towards a Genealogy of our Activisms *

Abstract

This paper draws on a letter B R Ambedkar wrote in 1932, that was addressed to A V Thakkar, secretary of the Anti-Untouchability League in order to bring out the implications for present day activism in dalit struggles. The letter itself was a discussion of alternative ideas on how to work for the welfare of the "Depressed Classes" and makes a critique of the Gandhian programme. The paper attempts an understanding at the present historical juncture of the structure of Ambedkar's political thought as it emerges in the logic of Depressed Classes activism and its structural strain against the Marxist position.