Early Gandhi distinguished elite passenger Indians from indentured coolies

Evidence

Gandhi soon became the most prominent spokesperson for the cause of the passenger Indians. In 1896, he travelled to India where he addressed packed—and increasingly indignant—meetings about the racism that Indians were being subjected to in South Africa. At the time, the White regime was getting increasingly anxious about the rapidly expanding Indian population. For them Gandhi was the leader of the ‘coolies’—their name for all Indians. In a perverse sense, their racism was inclusive. It didn’t notice the distinctions that Gandhi went to such great lengths to make. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 189

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Ambedkar’s broader argument about caste and the internal hierarchies within the Indian diaspora that white racism collapsed.