Critics dismissed Ambedkar’s caste annihilation as hopelessly impractical

Evidence

Annihilation of Caste is often called (even by some Ambedkarites) Ambedkar’s utopia—his impracticable, unfeasible dream. He was rolling a boulder up a cliff, they say. How can a society so steeped in faith and superstition be expected to be open to such a ferocious attack on its most deeply held beliefs? After all, for millions of Hindus of all castes, including Untouchables, Hinduism in its practice is a way of life that pervades everything—birth, death, war, marriage, food, music, poetry, dance. It is their culture, their very identity. How can Hinduism be renounced only because the practice of caste is sanctioned in its foundational texts, which most people have never read? — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 113

Categorization

• QUESTION: Do Ambedkarites themselves relegate Annihilation of Caste to utopia — is this self-undermining reading itself a form of caste preservation?
• XREF: connects to: Posthumous glorification of Ambedkar obscured his radical writings. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 102; Hinduism’s pervasiveness makes renouncing caste seem impracticable to many
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Posthumous glorification of Ambedkar obscured his radical writings. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 102; Hinduism’s pervasiveness makes renouncing caste seem impracticable to many