Abhinav Singh Week 1



                                                                                                                                      Abhinav Singh
                                                                                                                                          20141297
“Annihilation of caste” is a speech written by Dr B.R Ambedkar in 1936.
The part of his speech which I found enthralling is where Ambedkar spoke of the notions of Hindutva and Hinduism. Ambedkar believed that there was no difference between Hindutva and Hinduism, this difference was propagated by the followers of Gandhi for their own convenience. The true nature of the Hindu religion as it has come to be, marginalises Dalits and untouchables into doing certain work which is expected to be done only by people belonging to these castes owing to their social status. Thus, for these discriminating Hindu societies to prosper, they require division of labourers solely based on the caste system, thus breeding of Hindutva and Hinduism would turn the conditions unfavourable for the untouchables and the Dalits. Thus, the propagation of Hinduism which was branded by Gandhians as “Hindutva” carried the same purpose as the other, because both these concepts carried adverse consequences for the Dalits and untouchables. Thus, Ambedkar rejected the idea that these notions were different. Ambedkar also opposed Gandhi’s idea of self-sustaining villages being the epicentre of the country’s economy. The Indian villages to be self-sustaining, again require certain work to be done by the Dalits and Untouchables which will only deteriorate the conditions of these marginalised groups, this was the main reason for Ambedkar to oppose both these notions.

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