Dalits and the Indian Constitution

’It is perfectly possible to pervert the Constitution, without changing its form, by merelychanging the form of the administration.’-B.R. AmbedkarDalits and the Indian Constitution asks a stark question: what has the Constitutionactually done for the community most closely identified with its emancipatorypromise-and where has it failed? In the lucid, argument-led cadence of thisseries, Anand Teltumbde moves from nationalist politics and the making of theConstitution to its most consequential provisions-abolition of untouchability;reservations in representation, education, and public employment; secularismand the everyday realities of impunity. He shows how constitutional idealsmet entrenched social power, and why formal safeguards, without structuralchange, could not deliver substantive equality.Refusing fatalism and nostalgia alike, Teltumbde insists that ’constitutionalmorality’ must be cultivated through institutions that check arbitrary powerand transform social habits, not merely recite pieties. Drawing on historicaldebate and contemporary evidence of discrimination, this compact monographsets 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, andpolicymakers who want to recover the moral centre of India’s democraticproject.