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Conversation with B.R. Ambedkar Annihilation of Caste (AoC), an undelivered speech written in 1936, marks Dr B.R. Ambedkar as the most ‘progressive radical thinker’ in modern history. He described himself as a progressive radical and occasionally as ‘a progressive conservative’ to distinguish himself from the Marxian approach to Western liberalism. While Western liberalism sought fulfilment of an individual’s civil and political rights through the state apparatus, Ambedkar’s liberalism went beyond the operational notion of the state to humanistic ideals. In this sense, he came close to Marxists who also believed that the State cannot operate independent of the society. But while Marxists foregrounded society strongly in the economy, Ambedkar was aware that legal, economic and political emancipation of the minorities of the country—as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution (of which he was the chief architect)—alone, cannot bring democracy. One had to take up moral responsibility; morality, here, meaning resisting a nation built on the foundations of caste, given its entrenched existence in Indian society and culture. Ambedkar evolved a theory of the State with ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ as its base. Every reading of AoC almost always limits itself to the ideological paradoxes of Ambedkar and Gandhi. Of course, there is a historical context to it. In the second edition of AoC, which was translated in six languages because of its wide acceptance, Ambedkar had written a scathing critique of Gandhi’s view of caste that the latter had published in Harijan. Gandhi and Ambedkar had differing world views on caste and social reform. The Mahatma was a firm believer in the reorganization and reconstruction ‘within’ the Hindu society on the basis of the Chaturvarna system. Babasaheb, meanwhile, believed in reorganization of the Indian society on the basis of a religious sanction that propounded liberty, equality and fraternity and outright rejection of Hinduism since it sanctioned caste (based on the principle of each according to his birth) and varna (based on the principle of each according to his worth). But to look at the scope of AoC through the Gandhi–Ambedkar binary lens alone, is to rob its capacity of dealing with the vastness and intricacies of the subject. At the outset, Ambedkar cracked open some prevalent notions regarding caste—the idea of pollution, the idea of exclusivity and the idea of isolation. Ambedkar believed that norms about purity and pollution were specific to caste only in so far as caste has a religious connotation (for instance, menstruation rituals are a manifestation of the concept of pollution and cuts across all castes). He explained that caste cannot be considered as an isolated unit and must be understood with relation to the social system, and it is this system of social marginalization that leads to limiting social interaction. So, the exclusive character of caste is secondary or derivative. Ambedkar had posited endogamy (the custom of marrying within a social group) as the genesis of the caste system, as well as pointed out the role of class in it. It is important to emphasize here that Ambedkar had never refuted the concept of class in society. He believed that every individual is always a member of a class. The Marxian tenet that Ambedkar had refuted was class-conflict as the root of a capitalist society. Socialist leader Madhu Limaye, who is known for laying down the secular-democratic foundations of the Janata Party during the 1970s, had very interestingly acknowledged Ambedkar’s role in the socialist movement by calling AoC the ‘non-communist manifesto of annihilation of castes’. He had written that Ambedkar’s insistence on annihilation of castes was in order to be able to define the existence of class—and an ensuing caste struggle—as a result of ‘a closed door policy’. To quote Ambedkar: ‘Some closed the door, others found the door closed against them.’ Caste, in AoC, has been defined as ‘enclosed class’ Perhaps the rationale behind having ‘caste’ spelt with a capital ‘C’ throughout his writings, was to be able to give a value-laden meaning to the term. Ambedkar’s political philosophy is to be understood in the context of his life and struggles. But it also needs to be pointed out here that caste, in its usage in AoC, was never nomenclatorial in nature. It has been used to set a discourse. The term ‘Dalit’, that has become a part of populist vocabulary today, never had Ambedkar’s approval. He had said: The castes that are today described as Dalits have serious reservations about the use of this word... This word creates the impression that they are a lowly and a helpless community whereas the fact is that in every province many members of this caste are prosperous and well-educated and the entire community is growing conscious of its rights. They have a strong desire to secure a respectable position for themselves in Indian society and they are making all possible efforts for it. Due to all these reasons, the use of the word ‘Dalit’ is inappropriate and wrong... As a representative of the Dalit classes, I can say without any hesitation that till we can find a better word, the Untouchables should be addressed as Non-Caste Hindus or Outcaste Hindus. It is important for one to go beyond the writings on caste in AoC and read The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables to understand important theories on the origin of untouchability that Ambedkar had propounded. Published in 1948, this book was written as a sequel to The Shudras to include three social classes: ‘the criminal tribes’, ‘the aboriginal tribes’ and ‘the untouchables’ that had then not received enough attention.
✔ Author(s): B. R. Ambedkar
✔ Title: Annihilation of Caste [Paperback] Ambedkar, B. R.
✔ Rating : 4.7 out of 5 base on (2069 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 9353040779
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
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