Growing up in Assam, I often felt that public conversations around social justice carried an odd absence — the absence of Dr B.R. Ambedkar. In our school textbooks, he appeared briefly as the “architect of the Constitution,” confined to a single chapter.
In political debates, his ideas on caste, fraternity, liberty and state power were rarely discussed. Ambedkar existed around me, but he was never truly brought to me. And yet, somehow, he found me.
My journey towards Ambedkarism did not begin in a classroom but through questions — questions about inequality, exclusion, and the persistent silence surrounding systemic injustice in the Northeast. Assam, with its layered identities and complex histories, is a region where marginalities exist but are seldom discussed through the lens of Ambedkarite thought.
Growing up as someone from a religious minority in Assam, amid ethnic anxieties, migration debates and recurring conflict, I sensed structural injustice but lacked a framework to articulate it.
When I eventually encountered Ambedkar’s writings — Annihilation of Caste, States and Minorities, and parts of his speeches — it felt like learning a language I had always needed but had never been taught. Ambedkar did not merely describe injustice; he diagnosed it, dissected it and demanded its dismantling.
His insistence on constitutional morality and his vision of social democracy resonated deeply with the fractures I witnessed around me. That early exposure, though self-driven and often fragmented, planted a seed that continues to guide my academic and personal life.
Before Leeds, there was Delhi. And Delhi changed everything.
The transition from Assam to Delhi University marked a decisive turning point in my intellectual journey. Exposure to DU — its intense debates, vibrant student politics, diverse classrooms and relentless academic energy — shaped me in ways I had never anticipated.
For someone from Assam, where conversations around caste, identity and structural inequality often remain muted, Delhi felt like an ideological awakening.
In Delhi, I encountered new vocabularies, new solidarities and new discomforts. I met students whose experiences of caste, displacement and discrimination were direct, raw and political. What Delhi gave me was confidence — the confidence to articulate difficult truths, to engage critically and to ask uncomfortable questions.
That exposure prepared me intellectually and emotionally to imagine a life beyond geographical boundaries. Without Delhi, I doubt I would have had the conviction or clarity to pursue journalism at an institution as rigorous as the University of Leeds.
Choosing journalism was not a childhood dream. It emerged organically from my attempts to understand and communicate the Northeast’s layered realities — realities that the national media often overlooks, distorts or reduces to simplistic binaries.
What drew me to Leeds was the university’s strong emphasis on critical global journalism, media ethics and research-led teaching. I wanted to study journalism not merely as a profession but as a socio-political institution capable of shaping democracies.
Moving from Delhi to Leeds opened up an entirely new intellectual landscape. For the first time, I found academic spaces where discussions on digital activism, postcolonial identities and global media structures were not only welcomed but considered indispensable.
This environment helped crystallise my emerging research interests, particularly the political invisibility of the Northeast and digital activism among marginalised communities across the world.
It was during this period of academic exploration that I discovered something unexpected: the Dr Ambedkar Society under the Leeds University Union.
Until then, I had assumed that Ambedkarite student spaces were largely confined to Indian universities. I felt an immediate connection and joined the society as soon as I learned about it. That decision felt like a natural continuation of a journey that began in Assam, was sharpened in Delhi, and found a global dimension in Leeds.
When the union election season arrived, I decided to contest for the position of Vice President. Winning the election was not just a personal milestone; it was a responsibility. It reaffirmed that Ambedkar’s ideas resonate far beyond India’s borders, cutting across identities, nationalities and lived experiences.
This role now gives me a platform to amplify stories, histories and discourses from communities that continue to be overlooked, including those from the Northeast.
In the years ahead, I hope to uncover more unheard stories from different parts of the world, with a special focus on Northeast India — my home.
My journey from an Assam where Ambedkar was barely mentioned, to a Delhi that challenged me, to a Leeds that continues to empower me, is still unfolding. But its core remains unchanged: a commitment to telling the stories that need to be told, and to bringing the Northeast into the global academic and journalistic imagination where it has always deserved a place.
The author is an independent journalist and a student at the University of Leeds, England.
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