This political discovery of Ambedkar has passed through different phases since he first broke into the national firmament in the early 1920s with his strident campaign to end untouchability. In 1951, when Parliament stalled his draft of the Hindu Code Bill under pressure from the Hindu nationalists, Ambedkar resigned from the Cabinet. The impressions of battles between Congress and Ambedkar or Gandhi and Ambedkar are an exaggeration. Consider this: Modi has taken it upon himself to appropriate Ambedkar for the BJP, personally participating in 10 events directly related to Ambedkar between April 2015 and April 2016. It is not the textual Ambedkar, but Ambedkar as imagined by Dalits that has got everyone to notice him.

Source: Indian Express April 14, 2018 21:14 UTC