Ashis Nandy's remarks against Dalits show intellectual bankruptcy: Prakash Ambedkar

New Delhi: Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution and Dalit rights activist, has criticised sociologist Ashis Nandy for his remarks on the Other Backward Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

"I am not defending OBCs, SCs, tribals are all clear. There are black sheep everywhere. But you cannot generalise them. I will say this is intellectual bankruptcy, needs to be denounced in most strongest word," he told CNN-IBN.

Nandy had sparked a row on Saturday when he, during a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival, said that most of the corrupt come from the OBC, the SCs and "now increasingly the STs". He, however, later claimed that he had been misquoted and his statement taken out of context. He said that he only meant to say that corruption by Dalits was noticed more while corruption by rich in the society went unnoticed. He also said he was sorry if his comments hurt anybody's sentiments.

"I agree that corruption is an equalising force in our country. What I meant was that when poor people, or SC/ST people do corruption, it is more apparent," Nandy said. "If people have misunderstood, I apologise. What I said was that corruption of rich people is often overlooked," Nandy defended.

Nandy is now facing up to 10 years imprisonment for his controversial remarks, after an FIR was filed against him under the SC/ST Act. The organiser of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Sanjoy Roy, who had defended Nandy, has also been booked. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Lok Janshakti Party President Ram Vilas Paswan demanding legal action against him.

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