Caste contamination has infected Sikh, Muslim, and Christian communities

Evidence

I am sorry, I will not be with you. I have decided to change. This is not the place for giving reasons. But even when I am gone out of your fold, I will watch your movement with active sympathy, and you will have my assistance for what it may be worth. Yours is a national cause. Caste is no doubt primarily the breath of the Hindus. But the Hindus have fouled the air all over, and everybody is infected—Sikh, Muslim and Christian. You, therefore, deserve the support of all those who are suffering from this infection—Sikh, Muslim and Christian. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1026

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Ambedkar’s claim that caste penetrates even non-Hindu Indian religions anticipates contemporary caste-discrimination litigation; connects to reader’s existing knowledge of religion in India.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how far did caste actually spread into Sikh, Muslim, and Christian communities by the 1930s, versus Ambedkar’s rhetorical claim here?

Related

• Caste discrimination persists inside non-Hindu religious communities. (similarity 0.87)
• Caste infection extends beyond Hindus to Sikhs, Muslims, and Christians (similarity 0.87)
• Ambedkar framed caste as a sickness endangering all Indians beyond Hindus (similarity 0.84)
• Caste persists among Sikhs despite their faith rejecting it (similarity 0.82)
• Ambedkar rejected any religion that sanctioned caste inequities (similarity 0.82)
• Hinduism’s pervasiveness makes renouncing caste seem impracticable to many (similarity 0.81)
• Caste oppression affects Indian Muslims, not just Hindus (similarity 0.81)
• Ambedkar announced his impending departure from Hinduism at the speech’s close (similarity 0.81)
• Non-Hindu castes are counterbalanced by integrative ties absent among Hindus. (similarity 0.81)
• Caste can only be destroyed by attacking its religious foundations (similarity 0.81)
• Ambedkar described Hindus in eugenic language popular with European fascists (similarity 0.80)
• Ambedkar’s exploration of Sikhism collapsed on caste-community self-interest (similarity 0.80)
• Hindu society is a fiction; only discrete castes actually exist (similarity 0.79)
• Ambedkar planned to renounce Hinduism and reject its sacred texts in the address (similarity 0.78)
• Caste is compared to racism only through descent-based discrimination, not identity of forms (similarity 0.78)