Ambedkar ranked caste abolition above national independence as a goal

Evidence

Yours is more difficult than the other national cause, namely, swaraj. In the fight for swaraj you fight with the whole nation on your side. In this, you have to fight against the whole nation—and that too, your own. But it is more important than swaraj. There is no use having swaraj, if you cannot defend it. More important than the question of defending swaraj is the question of defending the Hindus under the swaraj. In my opinion, it is only when 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 towards slavery. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1027

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ongoing debates about whether decolonization or internal social transformation came first — the same priority claim seen in later Third World literature.