Note about the Ambedkar Periyar Rainbow flag
We didn’t come up with Ambedkar and Periyar pictures in the rainbow flag at random. There is a long conversation, history, fight and politics within the queer community and we wanted to make a statement. The Chennai Rainbow Pride was renamed in Tamil to “rainbow self-respect parade” (vanavil suya-mariyathai perani) in 2014 (the parade name changed from 2015 onwards). When the coalation did, there was backlash from few quarters.
The day before the pride parade this year a friend saw the flag and asked why we did not include Marx. As someone who has seen things up close I believe they understood the inadequate answer I gave.
Yesterday when we got to the Pride venue, three young guys came to me and asked what was happening. I explained to them about the Pride. And one of them then asked why we had Ambedkar and Periyar in the flag. I said “Social Justice in India cannot be talked by ignoring Ambedkar and Periyar”. He said “super bro” and they left. A little while later a policeman who was at the parade asked “what was the concept behind the banner/flag”. I repeated and he gave a thumbs up.
Another person in the pride who held a placard that read “gender cannot be discussed without caste (not the exact quote)”. They saw the flag and said “I am in the right place”. An aqantance from the community came up to me and asked why we had Periyar in the flag. I pointed out the parade is called “suya-mariyathai perani”.
The reaction to the flag was mixed. We were anxious at the beginning to be honest. There were gay men who made faces when they saw the flag. A young photo blogger put all the effort to cut the flag from his frame (hope they prove me wrong). An iyengar boy who called me a parasite (when discussing reservation) shared the picture of the banner and boasted about Ambedkar and Periyar being at Chennai Pride.
I really didn’t want to give any explanation to anyone or write about why we decided to have Ambedkar and Periyar in the flag. It is personal and I am glad a lot of people are able to relate with it. It’s not a simple design. It’s not about adding icons. It’s more than that.
Stay tuned for my note on the Social Justice Queer Pride Flag in the next post
