Political Science · Indian Political Thought
UGC NET June 2015 Political Science
Who among the following said that 'Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul, but in politics, Bhakti or hero worship is a sure road to degradation and eventual dictatorship'?
AJayaprakash Narayan
BM.N. Roy
CDr. B.R. Ambedkar ✓ Correct
DS.A. Dange
Correct answer: (C) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar — Dr. B.R. Ambedkar made this statement, warning against hero worship in politics.
Explanation
★Dr. B.R. Ambedkar made this statement, warning against hero worship in politics.
★He delivered it in his last speech to the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949.
★Ambedkar accepted that gratitude to great leaders is natural, but insisted there are limits to it.
★He argued that devotion or Bhakti, fitting in religion, becomes dangerous in politics because it breeds blind submission.
★Such hero worship, he warned, opens a sure path to degradation and eventually to dictatorship.
★He drew on John Stuart Mill's caution against laying one's liberties at the feet of even a great man.
★M.N. Roy, the Radical Humanist, also distrusted concentrated power, but this particular formulation is Ambedkar's.
★Ambedkar warned that hero worship leads to degradation and dictatorship, and urged turning political democracy into social democracy.
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