India must thank its politicians for its ringside view of the politics of the absurd. The fracas and the free for all witnessed between members of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling dispensation and those in the Opposition on the issue of B.R. Ambedkar — two parliamentarians were injured — is a case in point. Put on the back foot by the insensitive remarks of Amit Shah, the Union home minister, on Ambedkar, one of India’s tallest icons, the BJP retaliated by targeting the leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of hooliganism: a first information report has been filed against Mr Gandhi for alleged incitement and assault. A united Opposition has come up with an equally energetic response, demanding the resignation of Mr Shah; a counter complaint has also been filed, accusing BJP members of misbehaving with the Congress president. Unsurprisingly, the winter session of Parliament ended on a bitter note on account of sustained chaos and fractious exchanges. What the warring parliamentarians seem to have forgotten amidst all the mayhem is the matter of Parliament’s productivity: the Lok Sabha, according to an estimate, had functioned for 52% of its scheduled time this session; the corresponding figure for the Rajya Sabha was 39%.

What has been laid bare by these dismal developments is the inclination of India’s principal political parties — both the BJP and the Congress are at fault — to engage in an unhealthy competition to claim ownership of Ambedkar. This game of one-upmanship has now been called out by Ambedkarites — academics and rights activists — who have highlighted Ambedkar’s own view: in a speech, he had warned the depressed classes not to align themselves with parties with disproportionate representation of the forward castes. The irony has another dimension that must not be ignored. Instead of fighting to claim Ambedkar’s legacy, India’s political outfits, including those that claim to represent the country’s marginalised people, must ponder their collective failure to realise Ambedkar’s broader vision. India is yet to rid itself of the spectres that Ambedkar fought against, including the chokehold of caste and its attendant discriminations, embedded inequality, the cult of the personality, untouchability, the lack of rights for the oppressed and so on. Claiming Ambedkar’s mantle after monumental failures on such multiple fronts speaks of a double-facedness that is unwarranted.