Caste membership rather than merit determines who Hindus will follow as leaders

Evidence

Would a Hindu acknowledge and follow the leadership of a great and good man? The case of a Mahatma apart, the answer must be that he will follow a leader if he is a man of his caste. A Brahmin will follow a leader only if he is a Brahmin, a Kayastha if he is a Kayastha, and so on. The capacity to appreciate merits in a man, apart from his caste, does not exist in a Hindu. There is appreciation of virtue, but only when the man is a fellow caste-man. The whole morality is as bad as tribal morality. My caste-man, right or wrong; my caste-man, good or bad. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 902

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Both dominant and subordinate castes prefer to seek authority from the male master. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1939