Ambedkar: Annihilation of Caste

Consistent with his definition of caste as cultural, Ambedkar’s idea of annihilation of caste is premised on annihilation of cultural features of caste—commensality and endogamy. On the contrary, it is argued that annihilation of cultural features of caste will not annihilate caste. To annihilate caste, it is necessary to annihilate the material basis of caste, that is, monopoly of economic-political, and cultural power of the dominant caste and dependence of other castes on the former for their very subsistence. Anything else is fantasy.