MUMBAI, Aug 4: Instead of seeking a ban, the Dalit leaders in Maharashtra have decided to bring out a book on Ambedkar as counter to Arun Shourie's Worshipping False Gods. This decision comes at a time when the Congress, Janata Dal and other political parties with a tacit support of the ruling saffron brigade are demanding a ban on Shourie's controversial book on B R Ambedkar.A meeting of Dalit intellectuals was convened yesterday by the grandson of Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar in Aurangabad, to chalk out a strategy in this regard. The meeting was attended by over 40 prominent Dalit thinkers of the State.The Dalit thinkers in Ambedkar's home state have decided to compile various articles on Ambedkar written in Marathi over the years and publish them in English to counter the `intellectual assault' . A Phule Ambedkar Academic Council has been set up to undertake this task while Prakash Ambedkar has taken up the responsibility of organising the publication of the book.Retired professor of Marathi and renowned Dalit intellect Gangadhar Pantavne, told The Indian Express that the meeting felt that demanding a ban on Shourie's book would amount to giving too much importance to his work. The best way to counter him would be to write a counter book giving details of the life and the work of Ambedkar. Pantawane will lead the team of writers.Among the other things the `intellects,' also resolved to actively participate in the golden jubilee anniversary of independence and handle situations like desecration of statutes with restrain.Commenting on Shourie's book, Dalit poet Arjun Dangle said it was not only propagandist in nature but was also a part of a larger game plan of the Sangh Parivar. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had always used the strategy to discredit the leaders of non-Brahmin India with a clear intention of carving out a Hindu Rashtra. B R Ambedkar was just the last target in the series of such intellectual assault, Dangle said.``In my opinion there is no difference between those who desecrated statue of Ambedkar and Shourie; some distort statues and some distort historic images of leaders,'' Dangle said.On the other hand the Marxists-Dalit thinkers have also come out to intellectually oppose the ``anti-Ambedkar propaganda'', even though they have had several differences with Ambekar's vision of India. Sambhaji Bhagat a Marxist cultural activist, said the caste contradiction was one area where the Left radicals could not think clearly. Its time that the Indian Left formulated their views on caste question otherwise they would have no answers to such intellectual assaults, he added.
