Ambedkar’s exploration of Sikhism collapsed on caste-community self-interest

Evidence

There is an unverified story that Ambedkar spoke to a Sikh group at this time, asking them if they were willing to allow inter-marriage between Sikhs and new converts, and the Sikhs responded in the affirmative.” For an analysis of why Ambedkar gave up on Sikhism, see Puri (2003, 2698), who says: “After participating in the Sikh Missionary Conference at Amritsar in April, Ambedkar sent his son, Yashwant Rao, and nephew to the Golden Temple in May, where they stayed for one month and a half, to observe the situation and meet with leaders of the community.” Puri argues that perhaps the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) feared that “after six crore (60 million) untouchables became Sikhs” the clout of dominant-caste Jats in the SGPC and the gurdwaras would be undermined. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 806

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s wider theme of how every conversion option Ambedkar weighed was still internally caste-stratified.