Abhijay Srekanth- Week 1
Reflection on Annihilation of Caste
Ambedkar’s speech serves as a succinct non-apologetic gateway into the dalit and lower caste experience and identifies how the very presence of caste within the Hindu religious framework is detrimental to the community as well as the religion itself. The context in which his speech came about being published is in itself telling of the Dalit experience- The refusal of the upper-caste to even engage with the thought that their religion is in fact incredibly oppressive.
Ambedkar begins with the response of the state post independence, juxtaposing the social and political reform movement. He juxtaposes the objectives of both groups and highlights how both refuse to truly engage with the issue of caste. The political movement outright refused to acknowledge social reform as a requisite for effective political reform, and the social reform movement focused primarily on problems that affect the upper caste as well (widow remarriage, etc.)
Reading his speech, a few interesting points come to the forefront. The first such point is the uselessness of socialism as a tool for dalit emancipation. Socialism relies on the coming together of the working class to develop what Marx calls “class consciousness” and seize the means of production from the capitalist class. Ambedkar points out how caste does not operate as a division of labour, but rather a division of labourers. By segregating the working class into various caste groups, the heterogeneity within the group that is further supplemented by anti-lower caste sentiments fuelled by the chatur-varna system eliminates the possibility of a unified emancipation movement.
Ambedkar’s speech serves as a succinct non-apologetic gateway into the dalit and lower caste experience and identifies how the very presence of caste within the Hindu religious framework is detrimental to the community as well as the religion itself. The context in which his speech came about being published is in itself telling of the Dalit experience- The refusal of the upper-caste to even engage with the thought that their religion is in fact incredibly oppressive.
Ambedkar begins with the response of the state post independence, juxtaposing the social and political reform movement. He juxtaposes the objectives of both groups and highlights how both refuse to truly engage with the issue of caste. The political movement outright refused to acknowledge social reform as a requisite for effective political reform, and the social reform movement focused primarily on problems that affect the upper caste as well (widow remarriage, etc.)
Reading his speech, a few interesting points come to the forefront. The first such point is the uselessness of socialism as a tool for dalit emancipation. Socialism relies on the coming together of the working class to develop what Marx calls “class consciousness” and seize the means of production from the capitalist class. Ambedkar points out how caste does not operate as a division of labour, but rather a division of labourers. By segregating the working class into various caste groups, the heterogeneity within the group that is further supplemented by anti-lower caste sentiments fuelled by the chatur-varna system eliminates the possibility of a unified emancipation movement.
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