New Delhi, Jan. 20: The irony is hard to miss. The Hyderabad Central University student, who killed himself apparently because of caste discrimination, took the step at a time the country's two main political parties are locked in a tussle over the legacy of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar.

This is also the 125th year since the architect of the Indian Constitution was born - and the Congress and the BJP have both lined up events to celebrate the anniversary.

The Congress calendar includes public rallies, seminars and workshops; the ruling BJP tried to create an impact by organising a two-day special session of Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi even recalled how he mounted a replica of the Constitution on an elephant's back and paraded it to create awareness when he was chief minister of Gujarat.

But Ambedkar, who had an uneasy relationship with the Congress and detested the politics of the Sangh parivar - the BJP was not yet born then - died an unhappy man, disappointed by the lack of political will to sincerely address the question of caste discrimination.

That things had not changed much nearly seven decades after Independence - and almost 60 years after Ambedkar's death - was evident from posters that students of the university carried while protesting against the authorities. They were titled: "Annihilation of caste!"

Annihilation of Caste was the title of a speech Ambedkar had prepared for the 1936 annual conference of the anti-caste forum Jat-Pat Todak Mandal in Lahore. The speech had been printed in advance and the organisers found out that it contained stinging criticism of Hinduism. The programme was eventually cancelled. The undelivered lecture was later published in the form of a book.

The Congress had tried to accommodate Ambedkar by first making him a member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly in 1927 and later the law minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. But Ambedkar was unhappy with the lack of commitment to address the problem of caste-based discrimination.

He criticised Nehru for not being concerned enough and even differed with Mahatma Gandhi's approach towards fighting untouchability and remained deeply dissatisfied despite the Poona Pact, a compromise he reached on his insistence on a separate electorate for untouchables.

Not that he was disappointed with the Congress only. Ambedkar disagreed with the Sangh too.

He described caste as a blot on Hinduism and publicly burnt the Manusmriti, a sacred document for the Sangh. He even suggested inter-caste marriages, a proposal that riled Hindu bigots.

In 1956, Ambedkar embraced Buddhism.

"The effect of caste on the ethics of Hindus is simply deplorable. Caste has killed public spirit. A Hindu's public life is his caste. Virtue has become caste-ridden and morality has become caste-bound," he wrote.

Caste, Ambedkar said, had a "divine" basis. "You must therefore destroy the sacredness and divinity with which caste has become invested. In the last analysis, this means, you must destroy the authority of the Shastras and the Vedas."

Later, when he realised the impossibility of his demand, Ambedkar modified it, saying: "Rules which justify the exploitative character of caste system must be destroyed while the principles of the religion be retained to provide for an egalitarian religious order in the society."

But the Sangh never appreciated his position and even the BJP has only recently started efforts to appropriate Ambedkar's legacy.

Now, Rohith Vemula's suicide has again underlined that a lot remains to be done, though some legislative measures have been taken over the last seven decades to improve the condition of Dalits and tribal people.

Dalit intellectuals like Kancha Illaiah have been unsparing. "End of Hinduism means the end of spiritual fascism...," the celebrated scholar wrote in one of his books.

It's clear that the BJP and the Congress both have to do a lot of course-correction before they can lay legitimate claim to Ambedkar's legacy. Till then, if they can save the lives of students like Rohith, greater tribute would be paid to Ambedkar than what was done through the two-day special session in November.