Gandhi’s caste views differed little from those of the Hindu right.

Evidence

Among the (many) reasons that criticism of Gandhi is not just frowned upon, but often censored in India, ‘secularists’ tell us, is that Hindu nationalists (from whose midst Gandhi’s assassins arose, and whose star is on the ascendant in India these days) will seize upon such criticism and turn it to their advantage. The fact is there was never much daylight between Gandhi’s views on caste and those of the Hindu right. From a Dalit point of view, Gandhi’s assassination could appear to be more a fratricidal killing than an assassination by an ideological opponent. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 398

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• SEED: Angle: the suppression of Gandhi-criticism as a secularist self-protective myth, and the Gandhi-assassination as fraternal rather than ideological killing.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the full evidence for the claim that there was ‘never much daylight’ between Gandhi and the Hindu right on caste specifically.

Related

• Gandhi’s caste views aligned closely with Hindu nationalist views (similarity 0.94)
• Gandhi’s caste ambivalence disillusioned even his non-Hindu colleague George Joseph (similarity 0.93)
• Gandhi opposed non-Hindu involvement in caste struggles as an internal Hindu matter (similarity 0.92)
• Gandhi valued the Bhangi’s work but not inter-caste marriage or dining (similarity 0.92)
• Gandhi accepted separate electorates for Muslims but not for Untouchables. (similarity 0.86)
• Gandhi’s demeaning views of Untouchables remained consistent across his adult life. (similarity 0.84)
• Gandhi’s moral authority cannot be separated from his caste views (similarity 0.84)
• Gandhi defended caste as superior to class on grounds of blood and heredity (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi explicitly endorsed the caste system as control in 1921 (similarity 0.83)
• Ambedkar and Gandhi’s conflict remains irreconcilable and each is inseparable from the other’s story (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi’s Brahmin assassin was a former RSS activist. (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi’s moral authority made his word effectively unanswerable to many Hindus. (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi defended caste as Indian society’s genius for self-organisation against oppression. (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi sought abolition of untouchability but retention of the caste system (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi consistently defended an idealized varna system all his life. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Gandhi defended caste as superior to class on grounds of blood and heredity #corroborates (0.85)
• Gandhi sought abolition of untouchability but retention of the caste system #corroborates (0.80)