The New India Foundation awarded its 2024 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize to Ashok Gopal for his biography A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of BR Ambedkar. The book was published by Navayana. The author will be presented with the award, which includes a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, a trophy, and a citation, at the Bangalore Literature Festival on December 14.

Gopal’s biography offers a vivid account of Ambedkar’s life journey – from facing systemic oppression to shaping India’s constitution as an advocate for marginalised communities. Drawing from an extensive range of sources and archival material, the book examines Ambedkar’s pioneering work against caste discrimination, his political and legal battles, and his transformative choice to embrace Buddhism for social and spiritual liberation.

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This year’s jury comprised political scientist Niraja Gopal Jayal (Chair), entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal, historian Srinath Raghavan, former diplomat Navtej Sarna, policy analyst Yamini Aiyar, and lawyer Rahul Matthan.

“This remarkable book, based on prodigious research, delves into Ambedkar’s many lives – as a pioneering activist and leader of the Dalits, a tireless political organiser, a writer and publicist, constitutionalist and Cabinet Minister, as well as a peerless economic and political thinker. Ashok Gopal does full justice to each facet of this extraordinary life, and in so doing he opens a fascinating window on India’s public life in its tumultuous passage to freedom and beyond,” observed the jury about Gopal’s book.

Ashok Gopal was born in Mumbai and has worked as a journalist, freelance writer-editor, and for the last two decades has been working in the development sector where his day-to-day work includes documentation, proposal writing, training, and planning for a number of NGOs. He has been studying BR Ambedkar and his life and works since 2004. Besides Ambedkar, he has also studied and written on Dalit Marathi literature. Gopal lives in Pune.