Book excerpt: ‘A great man in Indian politics’ —Dr Ram Manohar Lohia on Dr Ambedkar Dr Ambedkar’s role in the cause of social emancipation has been researched and written about extensively. His part in the drafting of the Indian Constitution between 1946 and 1950 has also received considerable attention. In The Foresighted Ambedkar, Anurag Bhaskar argues that India’s Constitution was drafted not just between 1946 and 1950 but over the course of four decades. Dr Ambedkar was the only person to have been involved at all the stages related to the drafting of the Indian constitutional document since 1919. These stages bear the imprint of his contribution and role. This book seeks to focus on Dr Ambedkar’s influence on the Indian constitutional discourse from 1919, when he entered public life, until the actual writing of the Constitution and even beyond. Covering the different constitutional moments as and when they happened, it highlights Dr Ambedkar’s role in those moments. A seminal work of intellectual and constitutional history, this volume demonstrates why Dr Ambedkar is rightly called the ‘Father of the Indian Constitution’.