New York: B.R. Ambedkar’s concept of constitutional morality can strengthen multilateralism in a world beset by conflicts and political fragmentation, according to India’s Permanent Representative P. Harish.
Speaking at the Ambedkar Jayanti observance here on Tuesday, he said that the Indian Constitution’s architect’s vision of morality and law, when applied to multilateralism, can help in reforming the UN and revitalise it.
The Jayanti observed here on the 135th birth anniversary of Ambedkar was marked by a discussion of “Dr B R Ambedkar’s Vision of Constitutional Morality and its Relevance for Multilateralism”.
Raja Sekhar Vundru, a scholar of Ambedkar’s work, said that having lived through two world wars and seeing the creation of the UN, he recognised the importance of multilateralism.
Vundru, who is an additional chief secretary of the Haryana government, is the author of “Ambedkar, Gandhi and Patel: The Making of India’s Electoral System.”
He said that the Indian constitution that Ambedkar drafted reflects the spirit of the UN’s Charter in striving for peace.
Ambedkar’s ideas of constitutional morality can promote multilateralism and adherence to the UN Charter.
Santosh Raut, a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, said that Ambedkar viewed the Constitution as a vehicle for social justice and economic transformation, ideas that have relevance to the UN’s goals in these areas.
Morality is the force that enables the implementation of the spirit of written texts like the UN Charter and Ambedkar had foreseen it, said the scholar of Buddhism.
(IANS)
