The Karnataka government will hold a three-day international conference ‘Quest for equity – reclaiming social justice, revisiting Ambedker’, to mark 126th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, from July 21 at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate the conference which is being considered as the party’s Dalit outreach programme ahead of the Legislative Assembly elections in the State. Congress president Sonia Gandhi too has been invited for the meet.
American lawyer and civil rights activist Martin Luther King III will be among the speakers.
Well-known social and political thinkers, philosophers, academicians, and activists will participate in the conference, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said while releasing the logo of the conference here on Saturday.
The event will see delegates deliberate on universal principles of democracy and importance of social justice in the current global environment. The conference will come out with a ‘Bengaluru declaration outlining a new deal for India – who are & who we can be’.
“At a time when divisive forces threaten the idea of India, the conference will see a coming together of all progressive forces in Quest for Equity,” tweeted Mr. Siddharamaiah.
More than 200 scholars, including 83 from different countries, will speak. Scholars such as Cornel West, Sukhadeo Thorat, Lord Bhikhu Parekh, K. Raju, Deepak Nayyar, Ramachandra Guha, Valerian Rodrigues, Rajeev Gowda (Congress MP), Upendra Baxi, Ashis Nandy, Shiv Visvanathan, Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Prakash Ambedkar, Bhalchandra Mungekar, G. Haragopal, Satish Deshpande, and Mani Shankar Aiyar would speak on the life, teachings and philosophy of Ambedkar.
Mr. Siddaramaiah will interact with intellectuals on the last day of the conference.
