NAME - Kushagra Dalal
ROLL NO. - 195/23
ER
English department
Ge political science - Ideas in
Indian political thoughts.
Book reviewed - Annihilation of
caste.
Introduction -
Annihilation of Caste, is the undelivered speech of Baba Sahab Ambedkar
which dealt with his vision of society for the untouchable groups. Being born
in a lower caste family, he faced the brunt of discrimination right from early
life. However due to his western education and parenting, he was sure that
caste based discrimination was not just. He always envisioned a just and fair
society where the rights and honor of the lower caste groups were protected.
Baba saheb openly condemned the ills of society and wanted a fight against
caste based discrimination.
India in the initial years of the 1900s was a growing nation. There was an
emergence of both rationalist as well as nationalist ideas. Some groups
openly defended the caste system and wanted to maintain the status quo.
However some like Ambedkar and the likes of Gandhi ji were trying to aim
for reforms that this book talks of. Caste based discrimination and fighting it
have been the main themes of this book. In this book, he forcefully argues
that the caste system is an inherently exploitative institution that must be
eradicated if true social and political liberation is to be achieved. It won't be
even wrong to say that through these pieces, Baba saheb not only gave a
critique of Hinduism as a religion but also on the scriptures like Vedas which
for long had been away from public comments since the dusk of socio-
reforms in India. Baba saheb aimed for socio-economic and political justice in
the country.
Overview of Themes of the book -
Ambedkar ji condemns the caste system. He says that caste is a birth based
inequality and has been the root cause of exploitation of many from ages.
Caste according to him should be of least importance and he wants a radical
transformation of the society into one that is equal. According to Ambedkar
ji, caste was an Ascribed structure based upon birth and since this was
according to birth so it was creating a blockage on Social mobility(i.e it was
making social mobility almost impossible). Untouchables had to resort to
methods like Sanskritization and Brahminization in order to achieve social
acceptance. However this is not how an ideal society should be. An ideal
society should be accepting, equal and motivational. So he wanted to do
away with the notion of one’s caste.
He also openly condemned the Hindu scriptures which according to him were
the justifiers of caste based oppression. In 1935, he gave a call for
renouncing Hinduism and also asked others to do it as he felt that Hinduism
scriptures were justifying caste based discrimination.
The book also deals with the ideas that were presented by Gandhi and Baba
Saheb towards caste as a social institution. Gandhi ji wanted to do away with
untouchability. However he was of the view that Caste shouldn't be done
away with as he felt caste to be an important determinant when it came to
Division of Labour. On the other hand , Ambedkar felt that caste was non-
functional too and it must be done away with. He couldn't find any relevance
of caste in a society which needs functional solidarity. So both of these
leaders had different stands on the ground of Caste. These differences
between the 2 leaders often led to a deadlock. For Baba saheb, religion and
scriptures were justifying and amplifying caste based discrimination. So he
wanted to do away with such religion. For him the political independence
that India was gaining was meaningless if India didn't not do away with the
idea of caste based discrimination.
Baba saheb was also of the view that the caste system could by no chance
be reformed under Hinduism. He said that all attempts by leaders being
made to do away with untouchability were very shallow and by no means
could help to eradicate the discrimination. He even clearly said that Gandhi’s
attempts were also very nominal and none was truly working towards
eradicating caste.
Conclusion-
This book was powerful. People may criticise Ambedkar for having failed to
do away with untouchability fully. The same people also criticise Karl Marx
for having failed with his ideology as now we see a Capitalist ecosystem all
around and workers being run as machines. However people often forget
that if Marx had not told the world about the ill effects of Capitalism, the
Capitalist would be fully exploiting the labour. Now since we know from Marx
that capitalists exploit the worker, so even the Capitalist is afraid and has to
give certain rights to the workers. Similarly, Ambedkar’s one success has
been that he main-streamed the issue of caste based Untouchability in India.
He gave us the vision that this is not just and in-humane. Because of his
efforts now we are providing reservation based on Caste to the SC/ST
community guaranteed by the Constitution. It is also because of his efforts
that now ex-untouchables are able to pursue their dreams of studying in the
Capital of the nation and become the President. Ambedkar may have won a
limited success that time but now he has for sure been a sight of help and
relief.
Also he has helped other groups like the OBCs and women to assert their
voices and demand their share in the nation’s resources and contribute to its
success
