Communist and socialist disunity handed Bombay to Congress and defeated Ambedkar

Evidence

The decision by the socialists and the communists not to forge an electoral pact, let alone join together to combine with Ambedkar’s Scheduled Castes Federation, against the Congress lost them the Central Bombay seat. Dange, for the CPI, Asoka Mehta for the socialists and Ambedkar each stood separately and fell together. Significantly, Dange instructed his supporters to spoil their ballots in the reserved constituency for Central Bombay rather than vote for Ambedkar. Indeed, Ambedkar duly lost and attributed his defeat to the communist campaign. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 554

Categorization

• XREF: A concrete case of the fracturing of left-Dalit solidarity that recurs across postcolonial politics.