This is perceivable from the fact that the conference eventually got cancelled, and the speech remained undelivered due to the mention of the “Shastras” in a light that was unacceptable to the “reformers”.īhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, also known as Babasaheb Ambedkar (ApDecember 6, 1956) was the torchbearer of the Dalit movement against untouchability in India. Har Bhagwan came to Bombay to meet Ambedkar, while the real reason was to know the contents of his speech – more precisely, to make sure his speech wouldn’t hurt the sentiments of the upper-caste Brahmins.
Ambedkar accepted the invitation and wrote his speech that he insisted be printed in Bombay and not in Lahore, like the Mandal preferred.
This undelivered speech begins with exchanges of letters with members of the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal – an organization of Caste Hindu Social reformers (mostly privileged upperclassmen with little knowledge on the realities of the evils that the caste system contains and brimming with hypocrisy and misogyny) who aimed to eradicate the caste system amongst the Hindus – in the backdrop of inviting him to preside over as the President at their Annual Conference in Lahore in 1936.Īfter excessive persistence of the Mandal, Dr.
Ambedkar in his “Annihilation of Caste” wrote about the need to rid India of the caste system not only as a superficial reform, but to be through and out with it in order to achieve political reform. However, the caste system is not a mere division of labour – but a division of labourers ranked one above the other, weighing the worth of humans based on the accident of birth.Īlthough reassuring to think that practices such as untouchability linked to the purity-pollution notions of the caste system have been eradicated in the 21st century, the accuracy of the statement is not just questionable, but veils the reality behind the ever-existing relevance that the caste system still holds over the lives of a large number of people.ĭr. Caste as a social construct has prevailed in India since ancient times, hierarchically dividing the status and occupations of people.
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