Chitransha Singh- Week 7


AMBEDKAR JAYANTI

Irony has never shown itself in a better facet than on this Ambedkar Jayanti of 2020. The arrest of Anand Teltumde, ignorance of the Supreme Court towards the same, he is being booked under the UAPA meanwhile serious criminals are being let go. The so-called lines by the Prime Minister do not seem to make sense after all. Is dissent really acceptable by this right-wing government? The answer seems to be negative. Another irony is that 14th April is also the Tamil New Year which is a mark of celebration for the upper caste in temples and street is all that is given to the lower caste.

Further in “Reading Ambedkar in the Time of COVID-19”, while Ambedkar believed the caste system was the biggest error towards a united India, the arrests and new subtle tactics towards alienating the lower caste by arresting the one actually trying to unite the country. There is divided empathy towards the upper classes and antipathy for the lower class especially the migration worker are being loathed for wanting to go back home when they have no money or food to the extent that in a certain area of Bihar children are eating alive Frogs for living meanwhile the move by the government to get the Indian from other countries which endangered the life of all the Indians already living in the country was appreciated. Though this is not the time to be pointing fingers at other religions but it has somehow again been made about communal differences where the majority (Tirupati festival) is being threatened by the minority (Tablighi Jamaat) while doing the same things themselves. Irony and hypocrisy has been the main theme of this Ambedkar Jayanti.


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