The 212-page book, brought out by the Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee on April 14, carries some rare photographs depicting Ambedkar’s eventful life.
The photo biography Babasaheb Ambedkar published by the state government was supposed to be a great guide for students and researchers to the leader’s life. However, it has turned out to be a storehouse of factual and grammatical glitches.
The 212-page book, brought out by the Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee on April 14, carries some rare photographs depicting Ambedkar’s eventful life. But some of the pictures don’t carry basic information such as names of the people present, the date the photograph was taken and the event.
“Just have one look at the book and you will find many mistakes,” Ramesh Shinde, a researcher on Ambedkar, told DNA.
Page 143 of the Marathi edition of the book says Ambedkar brought the Khoti system abolition bill in 1936. “How is it possible? The assembly elections were held on February 2, 1937. How could he introduce the bill in 1936 without getting elected? The bill was actually introduced on September 17, 1937,” Shinde said.
Citing another major mistake on page 187, Shinde said the book does not mention the very important fact that after getting converted to Buddhism on October 14, 1956, Ambedkar himself converted the congregation of his followers to Buddhism by reciting 22 pledges to them. The book does not mention this at all.
“This will misinform the reader as the book suggests that Mahasthavir Bhikku Chandramani converted the mass to Buddhism,” said Shinde.
On page 25, the book says that Ambedkar had to return to Mumbai from Baroda after his father’s demise on February 2, 1913. But all the biographers of the leader have mentioned that he started his journey from Baroda after receiving the news of his father’s serious illness. He missed the train at Surat, but still managed to come to Mumbai where he met his father. His father died after the meeting.
The publisher of Ambedkar’sthesis ‘The problem of the rupee’ was PS King and Sons Ltd, London, and not King and Company, London, as the book mentions.
Moreover, page 27 and 28 mention two professors, JA Hobson and LT Hobhouse, from London School of Economics. “Who are these people? None of the biographers knows about these two,” tells Shinde. The book mentions the years of his visits to Sri Lanka and Rangoon as 1954 and 1955, which in reality are 1950 and 1954.
There are a few misses inthe translation also. The first paragraph on page 151 of the English edition of the book is not included in the Marathi edition.
A photo biography is meant to provide some exclusive and rare photos. Some of the photos in this book are without any caption. Page 116 and 118 carry the same photo. The quotations on top of the page are without context. There’s no information on the article or speech from where the quotations have been taken.
This book is a government publication, which people consider as authentic. The wrong information could provide a twisted version of the leader’s life, feel activists and researchers. They want re-editing of the book by experts.
When contacted, the editor of the book, professor Hari Narke, agreed that there could be some printing errors in the book.
“If there are factual errors, then let us study them. We will try to correct the mistakes we detect,” said Narke. He emphasised that this was not a critical biography of Ambedkar but just a photo biography. “We will clear the mistakes, if any, in the next copy,” added Narke.
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