India is still par excellence the land of idolatry. There is idolatry in religion; there is idolatry in politics. Heroes and hero-worship are a hard if unfortunate, fact in India’s political life.
—Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and Speeches—Vol-I
Ambedkar’s observation made about India almost decades ago applies equally even now to modern democratic globalized India. The unfortunate part is that over the period Ambedkar himself could not stand indifferent to the practice. Today, a diverse section of people cutting across caste, class and ideological backgrounds appreciate Ambedkar for his ideas. Over the period Ambedkar followers and now joined by Ambedkar’s traditional critics consisting of Hindutva groups have raised his stature to the status of a divine figure.
The process of apotheosis of Ambedkar has a political explanation: for the margi-nalized section the entire process of the celebration of Ambedkar (Birth and Death Centenary) is part of claiming their existence in public spaces that as usual discriminates against them; and for the Hindutva brigade its way of co-opting Ambedkar and inter-preting his ideas narrowly to justify their communal agenda against the religious minorities. The former is the outcome of sociological condition and the latter is the political necessity for the Hindutva brigade. However, both acts by followers and opponents diverse in their origin might lead to a similar fate of eventual and slow death of Ambedkar’s ideas. At this precarious situation, we need to save Ambedkar, particularly his revolutionary ideas for transforming our society.