In February, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Abki Baar, 400 Paar (this time, [BJP] will cross 400 seats), I was scared. Very soon, Abki Baar, 400 Paar, was echoing everywhere in India, even in my state, Kerala, where the Bharatiya Janata Party, at the time, neither had an MP nor an MLA.
As I have been reading more of Dr BR Ambedkar's work for the last two years to enlighten myself and empower my community, I realised that Abki Baar, 400 Paar this election season is not for the common good.
On 14 April, in Chittar, a hilly town in the Western Ghats of Kerala near the famous Sabarimala Shrine, I was the main speaker for Ambedkar Jayanti. I could have spoken about Ambedkar’s life and his tireless efforts to acquire academic excellence to inspire the Dalit-dominated audience, especially the youngsters.
Instead, I chose to focus on the speech made by Dr Ambedkar 75 years ago, in which he thanked the Constituent Assembly after completing the drafting of the Indian Constitution. I emphasised what he said about how hero worship in politics and political parties trying to place their creed above the Indian Constitution would threaten independence.