Ambedkar saw Gandhi’s fast as coercive extortion of constitutional safeguards

Evidence

There was nothing noble in the fast. It was a foul and filthy act…[I]t was the worst form of coercion against a helpless people to give up the constitutional safeguards of which they had become possessed under the Prime Minister’s Award and agree to live on the mercy of the Hindus. It was a vile and wicked act. How can the Untouchables regard such a man as honest and sincere? — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 392

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts sharply with the Louis Fischer hagiographic account that follows — a useful tension for the reader’s caste-annihilation thread.