A large crowd of people participates in a political rally. Many in the crowd are holding up signs, including a large portrait of B R Ambedkar. There are also cutouts of Narendra Modi and J P Nadda. The Indian national flag is being waved, and several participants are wearing scarves and caps with BJP insignia.

A BJP supporter holds up an image of B R Ambedkar during prime minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Delhi in December 2019. Teltumbde argues that post 2014, several prominent Dalit leaders of the Ambedkarite movement aligned themselves with the right-wing BJP and its saffronising of Ambedkar, endorsing the Hindu Rashtra agenda that Ambedkar had warned against. IMAGO / Hindustan Times

Anand Teltumbde on the contested legacy of B R Ambedkar: Southasia Review of Books podcast #21

In a sharp critique of iconisation, Teltumbde challenges the hagiography surrounding B R Ambedkar, calling for a nuanced reassessment of his contested legacy in view of the ongoing oppression of Dalits in India today

Published on:

07 Apr 2025, 3:11 am

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books Podcast from Himal Southasian, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the renowned public intellectual, scholar and activist Anand Teltumbde about his new book Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (Penguin India October 2024).

As a towering figure of the twentieth century, B R Ambedkar symbolises a monumental movement towards the annihilation of caste and the emancipation of Dalits. Ambedkar’s story becomes the story of this struggle. But like any human being, Ambedkar too had his share of limitations.

In contemporary India, Ambedkar’s iconisation goes beyond the devotion of people; it is being exploited by politicians across the spectrum in a project of ultra-nationalist myth-making. In his new book, Anand Teltumbde argues that it is important now more than ever to engage with Ambedkar as he defined himself, as an “iconoclast”, a breaker of icons.

Teltumbe’s biography educates us about the radical core of Ambedkar’s thought and action through the different phases of his social, political and intellectual trajectory. Cautioning against iconisation, he invites readers to critically dissect the past and to assume agency in understanding the present. He writes that Ambedkar’s greatness lies in challenging the hegemonic social order, for standing for India’s most oppressed people, for fighting the establishment from the belly of the beast, and for changing the course of history of Dalit lives from the eye of the storm – making this legacy one for the people and not the state.

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Episode notes:

Iconoclast: A Reflective Biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar by Anand Teltumbde (Penguin India October 2024)

A new book chronicles the recent wave of youth movements in India against ascendant Hindutva and neoliberalism - Anand Teltumbde (July 2019, Himal Southasian)

Subash Gatade’s books uncover the correlations between resurgent Hindutva and the ascendance of neoliberalism - Anand Teltumbde (January 2013, Himal Southasian)

Dangerous sedative - Anand Teltumbde (March 2010, Himal Southasian)

Who gets to write about Ambedkar? Harish S Wankhede (July 2023, Himal Southasian)

Buddhism’s long fight against brahminism and caste - Gajendran Ayyathurai (October 2023, Himal Southasian)

India needs a caste census – and Southasia does too - Anil Varghese and Nawal Kishore Kumar (January 2024, Himal Southasian)