Anand Teltumbde’s new book unravels the man behind the Babasaheb Ambedkar
Teltumbde recalled his initial hesitation when approached by Penguin in August 2018 to write Ambedkar’s biography, sharing his thoughts at the book’s launch on Wednesday evening at the Mumbai Press Club. The event, held a month after the book’s release, was delayed not by choice but by bail restrictions confining Teltumbde to Mumbai and Goa
Mumbai: An iconoclast, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is someone who destroys religious images or challenges their veneration. It’s also the fitting title of the latest biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, written by Anand Teltumbde—a professor, activist, and undertrial. His book seeks to unravel the complexities of Ambedkar, a towering figure in Indian history.
Teltumbde recalled his initial hesitation when approached by Penguin in August 2018 to write Ambedkar’s biography, sharing his thoughts at the book’s launch on Wednesday evening at the Mumbai Press Club. The event, held a month after the book’s release, was delayed not by choice but by bail restrictions confining Teltumbde to Mumbai and Goa. “A biography often becomes a eulogy, an unquestioning celebration,” Teltumbde remarked. “That wasn’t the book I wanted to write, especially today when Ambedkar’s legacy is being co-opted across the political spectrum. “But upon reflection” - he continued, explaining the prefix ‘reflective’ before the biography - “I agreed to look at him not as a god to be worshipped, but a case study. If we are to be inspired by him, we must see him as a real person.”
And so Teltumbde set out and was set back by his two and a half years at Taloja Prison accused under the UAPA in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon violence case, to write the 732-page tome.
To de-mythify and demystify the man was not a difficult task; Ambedkar was at many times a confusing and inconsistent figure. For example, recounted Teltumbde, writing a book supporting partition and the creation of Pakistan, only to backtrack in a second edition. His weight behind the Constitution is a myth ripe for shattering, he revealed, evident in Ambedkar’s sentiments in the years after the Republic was formed. “Ambedkar said he was used as a hack to get the support of the Dalits for the book, and he would be the first one to burn the constitution.”
The book’s launch was interspersed with reflections by friends and compatriots; playwright Ramu Ramanathan; Vibhuti Patel, professor at the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and a key figure in the women’s rights movement; and Keshav Waghmare, founder of the Dalit Adivasi Adhikar Andolan (DAAA), who revealed he would be translating the 732-page tome into Marathi.
“It is difficult to digest that the very man who encouraged the use of birth control and championed women’s higher education also questioned why 222 women were a part of parliament, worried about the state of their homes and husbands,” said Patel, continuing on the theme. “But even so, despite the disagreements, he remains an inspiration to the women’s movement.”
JV Pawar, cofounder of the Dalit Panthers, and Sudharak Olwe, the Padma Shri-awarded photographer were in attendance, having contributed much of the photographs of the book. Bombay’s contribution came out naturally, voiced by Ramanathan, calling it Ambedkar’s “stage.” “Ambedkar was the sum total of what Bombay gave him, welcoming him as sea ports do and housing him in the Dabak Chawl and BDD chawl for decades.”
Sprightly and lean, Teltumbde spoke disarmingly to the packed house with a wide smile, taking questions in stride and answering in a mix of English and Marathi. Ambedkar’s intellectual formation was touched upon, the integral shaping of his identity due to the caste discrimination around him, his time at the London School of Economics, his expensive suits, with the tiff between Gandhi and Ambedkar was brought up often.
Despite the attempt to devalorise him, it is undeniable that Ambedkar has risen to the figure of an icon in the hearts and lives of the country’s Dalits, a frame to hang beside others. And even if he might have been against it, one among the audience pointed out, Ambedkar too had his icons in Phule, Kabir and the Buddha.
“Every society needs its icons,” remarked Patel, acknowledging something of an innate propensity within humans. Teltumbde echoed this, in no way attempting to bring the figure down a rung: “There is no parallel to Babasaheb for the 225 million Dalits.” Babasaheb’s legend lives on.
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