Ambedkar’s magnum opus “Annihilation of Caste” is one of the best books of Babasaheb Ambedkar and every human rights activist must read that. In case, you have not read it, here are a few important quotes from the book.
On the eve of 84th anniversary of Annihilation of Caste by Dr B R Ambedkar, I am compiling the famous quotes of Dr. Ambedkar from his “Annihilation of Caste”. If you have not read it yet, please do read. Let us spend this quarantine time by reading Dr. Ambedkar rather than watching Ramayana. If you have not yet read Annihilation of Caste, do read at least important quotes of Babasaheb from it. This has been compiled especially for people in a hurry!
“I shall be satisfied if I make the Hindus realize that they are the sick men of India and that their sickness is causing danger to the health and happiness of other Indians.”
“It is not possible to break Caste without annihilating the religious notions on which it, the Caste system, is founded.”
“I have criticised the Hindus. I have questioned the authority of the Mahatma whom they revere. They hate me. To them I am a snake in their garden.”
“I do not believe that we can build up a free society in India so long as there is a trace of this ill-treatment and suppression of one class by another.”
“….turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.”
“It is a pity that Caste even today has its defenders.”
“…Caste System is not merely division of labour. It is also a division of labourers.”
“…which is quite different from division of labour—it is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other.”
“By not permitting readjustment of occupations, caste becomes a direct cause of much of the unemployment we see in the country.”
“Caste system does not demarcate racial division. Caste system is a social division of people of the same race.”
“Caste System is a negative thing. It merely prohibits persons belonging to different Castes from intermarrying. It is not a positive method of selecting which two among a given Caste should marry.”
“The first and foremost thing that must be recognized is that Hindu Society is a myth. The name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the Mohammedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves.”
“Indeed the ideal Hindu must be like a rat living in his own hole refusing to have any contact with others.”
“In every Hindu the consciousness that exists is the consciousness of his caste. That is the reason why Hindus cannot be said to form a society or a nation.”
“This anti-social spirit is not confined to caste alone. It has gone deeper and has poisoned the mutual relations of the sub-castes as well.”
“But the present-day non-Brahmins cannot forgive the present-day Brahmins for the insult their ancestors gave to Shivaji.”
“I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty.”
“Among Sikhs and Muslims there is a social cement which makes them Bhais. Among Hindus there is no such cement and one Hindu does not regard another Hindu as his Bhai.”
“The Hindus claim to be a very tolerant people. In my opinion this is a mistake. On many occasions they can be intolerant and if on some occasions they are tolerant that is because they are too weak to oppose or too indifferent to oppose.”
“Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can infect a people.”
“Caste in the hands of the orthodox has been a powerful weapon for persecuting the reforms and for killing all reform.”
“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.”
“The capacity to appreciate merits in a man apart from his caste does not exist in a Hindu.”
“Have not Hindus committed treason against their country in the interests of their caste?”
“Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as the governing principle.”
“But the Mourya period was a period when Chaturvarnya was completely annihilated, when the Shudras, who constituted the mass of the people, came into their own and became the rulers of the country.”
“Religion compels the Hindus to treat isolation and segregation of castes as a virtue…. If Hindus wish to break caste, their religion will come in their way.”
“You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.”
“The real remedy for breaking Caste is inter-marriage. Nothing else will serve as the solvent of Caste.”
“Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion, it is a state of the mind. The destruction of Caste does not therefore mean the destruction of a physical barrier.”
“They observe Caste because they are deeply religious. People are not wrong in observing Caste. In my view, what is wrong is their religion, which has inculcated this notion of Caste.”
“The destruction of Caste is a reform which falls under the third category. To ask people to give up Caste is to ask them to go contrary to their fundamental religious notions.”
“In my judgment, it is useless to make a distinction between the secular Brahmins and priestly Brahmins. Both are kith and kin. They are two arms of the same body and one bound to fight for the existence of the other.”
“Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules it ceases to be Religion, as it kills responsibility which is the essence of a truly religious act.”
“What is called Religion by the Hindus is nothing but a multitude of commands and prohibitions.”
“I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that such a religion must be destroyed and I say, there is nothing irreligious in working for the destruction of such a religion.”
“The priest’s is the only profession where proficiency is not required.”
“Mentally a priest may be an idiot, physically a priest may be suffering from a foul disease, such as syphilis or gonorrhea, morally he may be a wreck. But he is fit to officiate at solemn ceremonies, to enter the sanctum sanctorum of a Hindu temple and worship the Hindu.”
“Brahminism is the poison which has spoiled Hinduism. You will succeed in saving Hinduism if you will kill Brahminism.”
“You must make your efforts to uproot Caste, if not in my way, then in your way. I am sorry, I will not be with you. I have decided to change. But even when I am gone out of your fold, I will watch your movement with active sympathy..”
“Caste is no doubt primarily the breath of the Hindus. But the Hindus have fouled the air all over and everybody is infected, Sikh, Muslim and Christian. You, therefore, deserve the support of all those who are suffering from this infection, Sikh, Muslim and Christian.”
“…Hindus are slaves of caste and do not want to destroy it.”
“This is to say that there can be a better or a worse Hindu. But a good Hindu there cannot be.”
“A good man cannot be a master and a master cannot be a good man. The same applies to the relationship between high caste and low caste.”
“If I am disgusted with Hindus and Hinduism it is because I am convinced that they cherish wrong ideals and live a wrong social life.”
“In my opinion only when the Hindu Society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend itself. Without such internal strength, Swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step thowards slavery. Good-bye and good wishes for your success.”
This article first appeared on Velivada.
Sridhar Jeripothula 