“Indians here feel like caste does not exist only. We have to put in our labour to explain everything about our identity and India’s social reality time and again. Sometimes it can evoke an encouraging response and sometimes it can also create problems for us here,” says Vikas Tatad, an Indian Ambedkarite studying International Comparative Education at Columbia University in the United States of America (USA).

Tatad and fellow Ambedkarite students are trying to enlighten others. Within the three months of his time in Columbia so far, he organised an event for Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary celebrations on April 14. The event garnered attention across groups of Ambedkarite academics and activists in India and international universities. With over 200 registrations, the event, Tatad says, was able to generate curiousity about Dr Ambedkar and about caste in general among students and professors, who knew little about the leader and his work.