Brahmins lead political reform but never join caste abolition

Evidence

Speaking for myself, I see the task to be well-nigh impossible. Perhaps you would like to know why I think so. Out of the many reasons which have led me to take this view, I will mention some which I regard as most important. One of these reasons is the attitude of hostility which the Brahmins have shown towards this question. The Brahmins form the vanguard of the movement for political reform, and in some cases also of economic reform. But they are not to be found even as camp-followers in the army raised to break down the barricades of caste. Is there any hope of the Brahmins ever taking up a lead in the future in this matter? I say no. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 959

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the structural claim that the beneficiaries of a hierarchy rarely relinquish it voluntarily — echoed in later anti-caste and settler-colonial literatures.