Gandhi approached the Round Table Conference as moral leader rather than negotiator

Evidence

This was the burden of Mr Gandhi’s song at the Round Table Conference. He was so busy in establishing his own claim to recognition by the British as the dictator of India that he forgot altogether that the important question was not with whom the settlement should be made but what were to be the terms of that settlement. … Mr Gandhi also forgot that he was going to a political conference. He went there as though he was going to a Vaishnava Shrine singing Narsi Mehta’s songs. When I think of the whole affair I am wondering if any nation had ever sent a representative to negotiate the terms of a national settlement who was more unfit than Mr Gandhi. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1297

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader criticism of Gandhi’s claim to sole representation, which The Reluctant Fundamentalist and postcolonial critiques also engage. — connects to: Gandhi’s moral authority silenced Hindu dissent rather than inviting debate; Gandhi’s moral authority cannot be separated from his caste views — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 99; Gandhi opposed non-Hindu involvement in caste struggles as an internal Hindu matter (+3 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Gandhi’s moral authority silenced Hindu dissent rather than inviting debate; Gandhi’s moral authority cannot be separated from his caste views — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 99; Gandhi opposed non-Hindu involvement in caste struggles as an internal Hindu matter (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Gandhi accepted separate electorates for Muslims but not for Untouchables. #complicates (0.73)