Take the stage, Anand Teltumbde
Anand Teltumbde’s latest book The Caste Con Census has caused a storm in India political discourse. It disrupts easy assumptions about social justice and asks us to confront the most urgent task of annihilating caste. If you are in Mumbai this Wednesday, come and listen to him discuss his searingly honest appraisal of the caste-census discourse with journalist Anuradha SenGupta.
Time: 3 December 2025 | 7.00 pm
Venue: G-5/A, Laxmi Mills Estate, Shakti Mills Ln, Mahalaxmi West, Mumbai
RSVP here.
Teltumbde was also scheduled to speak at the Manorama Hortus Festival in Kerala on 28 November 2025. A special NIA court barred him from travelling outside Maharashtra—part of a long sequence of indignities he has suffered in the course of the ongoing Bhima Koregaon case. The court refused permission on the grounds that the event wasn’t an emergency, and that it was merely ‘academic luxury’. He took the stage nevertheless, attending the event on Zoom. Here is a report on the event that appeared on Manorama Online.
The Caste Con Census generated several reactions in the media. The BBC called it, ‘a provocative new book that warns about the hardening of a deeply discriminatory caste system.’
It was pronounced ‘accessible and lucid. A measured and scholarly contribution to the debate surrounding the caste census’, by a review in Scroll. The Indian Express said that it is ‘a product of serious scholarship and reflection that opens up fruitful discussion.’ A report in Mid-Day covered Teltumbde’s persecution by the state and his provocative contentions in The Caste Con Census.
Excerpts have been published in The Hindu, The Print and The Economic Times. Read these to get a taste of the book.
Teltumbde has also given a spree of interviews upon the release of the book. He spoke to Frontline about how BJP is strategically using the caste census to consolidate power. In an interview with Article-14, he spoke about the limits of contemporary anti-caste politics. His interview with The Caravan dealt with how the state uses data to exert control on people. He also spoke about the long history of caste and how it was dealt with in the Constituent Assembly in his interview with The Hindustan Times.
Anand Teltumbde also made several podcast appearances:
In conversation with The Print’s Rama Lakshmi:
A conversation on the Frontline YouTube channel:
An appearance on The Hindu’s Pulse Maharashtra channel: