Gandhi framed Untouchable political representation as a religious issue, not a political one

Evidence

What for Ambedkar was a matter of securing the political rights of the Untouchables was for Gandhi a matter of religion. In a letter to Sir Samuel Hoare, then Secretary of State for India, on 11 March 1932, he said: “For me the question of these classes is predominantly moral and religious. The political aspect, important though it is, dwindles into insignificance compared to the moral and religious issue.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1295

Categorization

• XREF: This religious-framing versus rights-framing tension parallels how moral panics over dress or sacrifice recode political claims as sacred/religious — connects to Complaints About Immodesty article.