'It is perfectly possible to pervert the Constitution, without changing its form, by merely
changing the form of the administration.'-B.R. Ambedkar
Dalits and the Indian Constitution asks a stark question: what has the Constitution
actually done for the community most closely identified with its emancipatory
promise-and where has it failed? In the lucid, argument-led cadence of this
series, Anand Teltumbde moves from nationalist politics and the making of the
Constitution to its most consequential provisions-abolition of untouchability;
reservations in representation, education, and public employment; secularism
and the everyday realities of impunity. He shows how constitutional ideals
met entrenched social power, and why formal safeguards, without structural
change, could not deliver substantive equality.
Refusing fatalism and nostalgia alike, Teltumbde insists that 'constitutional
morality' must be cultivated through institutions that check arbitrary power
and transform social habits, not merely recite pieties. Drawing on historical
debate and contemporary evidence of discrimination, this compact monograph
sets out first principles and practicable directions to turn rights into realities.
Clear-eyed, rigorous, and deeply committed to the Preamble's promise,
Dalits and the Indian Constitution is essential reading for citizens, students, and
policymakers who want to recover the moral centre of India's democratic
project.