THE ANNIHILATION OF CASTE

By: Apoorva Balakrishnan

DR. B.R. Ambedkar’s work of annihilation of caste has acted like an eye opener for me it makes you
pop out the bubble we have been living in for quite a while and forces to get one on one with the
actualities and truth we all have known but instead chose to be unaware of and in some or the other
have been a part of the society with so much discrimination and inequality.

Among the numerous writings and speeches of Ambedkar that run into thousands of pages, The
Annihilation of Caste is indeed a Pièce de résistance. Judged by any standard such as content, logic,
argument, language, diction, exposition, urge and, above all, the force, it is a manifesto of social
emancipation.

Since the book is cutting edge in nature, Dr. Ambedkar did not elaborate much on the agonies,
indignities, humiliation and overall sufferings of the Sudras, and particularly the untouchables. He
only gives illustrations of how they are deprived of education and freedom of occupation and are
subjected to stigmatised manual labour, all resulting in their practical economic slavery, how they
were segregated and deprived of basic rights such as drinking water even from public wells of
chawdar tank in Mahad town of Maharashtra, and above all how they were made victims of social
oppressions.

In The Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar, raises many insightful questions with respect to caste. First,
he rejected the defense of caste on the basis of division of labor and argued that it was not merely a
division of labour but a division of labourers. The prior was voluntary and depended upon one's
choice and aptitude and, therefore, compensated efficiency. The latter was involuntary, forced,
killed initiative and resulted in job repugnance and inefficiency. He argued that caste could not be
defended on the basis of purity of blood, though pollution is a seal of the caste system.

According to Ambedkar, caste destroyed the concept of ethics and morality. To quote him: “The
effect of caste on the ethics of the Hindus is simply deplorable. Caste has killed public spirit. Caste
has destroyed the sense of public charity. Caste has made public opinion impossible. A Hindu's
public is his caste. His responsibility is to his caste. His loyalty is restricted only to his caste. Virtue
has become caste-ridden, and morality has become caste-bound.”

Ambedkar ultimately suggested that inter-caste marriage is the only remedy to destroy caste. In The
Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar's critique of the Hindu social order was so strong that Mahatma
Gandhi, in Harijan, described Ambedkar as a “challenge to Hinduism”. Ambedkar replied to Gandhi
in his usual uncompromising manner. Ambedkar suggested inter-caste marriage as the remedy to
destroy caste. Today, marriages are preferred not only within castes, but also within sub-castes. In
Haryana and Rajasthan, for instance, the khap (caste council) gives orders to kill young lovers for
marrying outside their caste. Such inhuman killings are glorified as honor killings.

Ambedkar did not spare the socialists or the communists either. He strongly attacked the
communists for their unbending approach to caste in treating it as the superstructure and argued
that unless they dealt with caste as a basic structural problem, no worthwhile social change, let
alone a socialist revolution, was possible.

From the beginning Ambedkar was convinced that political empowerment was key to the socio-
economic development of the untouchables. Therefore, he vehemently demanded a separate
electorate for untouchables in the Second Round Table Conference in 1932. Since caste is
considered a potent instrument for socio-economic and political empowerment, caste and sub-caste
organizations have thrived. There is growing demand by some castes, keeping their caste superiority
intact, to get included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and by some OBCs to be
considered as S.Ts (for instance, Jats in Haryana and Rajasthan). This is indeed a trend in reverse.
The entire trade union movement ignored issues relating to caste owing to total indifference and
lack of concern or because of the fear of a split in the rank and file over the antagonistic issue of
reservation. As a result, there is a growing tendency on the part of the S.Cs and S.Ts in several
organizations to form their own associations to fight for their rights and liberties. Atrocities on the
S.Cs and S.Ts continue unabated in different parts of the country. They are on two counts: first,
owing to the practice of untouchability, resulting in the violation of human and civil rights of these
groups, particularly in the rural areas; second, for economic and political reasons. Article 366, clause
24 of the Indian Constitution defines “Scheduled Castes” as “such castes, races, or tribes or parts of
or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under article 341 to be scheduled Castes
for the purposes of this Constitution.” Clause 25 restates the same with regard to ‘tribe or tribal
communities,’ and refers to article 342 of the Constitution. Article 341, defines Scheduled Castes as
any “castes, races or tribes or parts of groups within castes races or tribes, which shall for the
purposes of this Constitution be deemed” by the President after consultation with the Governor, to
be Scheduled Castes in relation to the State.” Article 342, once again, makes a similar statement with
regard to tribe. Thus, the definition of caste is not static. It is fluid. Caste will not mean the same
thing 200 years from now that it means today. Rather, it is recognition of the ever-changing texture
of discrimination on the Indian sub-continent. It is also a provision for a definition broad enough to
ensure that no population will be trapped in poverty and servitude and thereby denied, justice,
liberty, equality and fraternity because of this, this anti-social spirit, this spirit of protecting its own
interests, which Ambedkar recognizes in certain groups and social structures.

Ambedkar thought the abolition of untouchability and the eradication of caste would make India an
emotionally strong and unified country. His thought and passion are as relevant today as they were
75 years ago.