Gandhi opposed scavenger strikes on public-health grounds because sanitation is indispensable

Evidence

There are certain matters on which strikes would be wrong. Sweepers’ grievances come in this category. My opinion against sweepers’ strikes dates back to about 1897 when I was in Durban. A general strike was mooted there, and the question arose as to whether scavengers should join it. My vote was registered against the proposal. Just as a man cannot live without air, so too he cannot exist for long if his home and surroundings are not clean. One or the other epidemic is bound to break out, especially when modern drainage is put out of action … A Bhangi [scavengers] may not give up his work even for a day. And there are many other ways open to him for securing justice. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 348

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• SEED: Article angle: the ‘essential worker’ logic turned against the worker — Gandhi’s argument that scavengers must never strike is the ancestor of modern essential-worker no-strike exemptions.

Related

• Gandhi forbade scavenger strikes because sanitation must never lapse (similarity 0.93)
• Gandhi’s purity standards restricted rather than enabled mass political participation (similarity 0.85)
• Gandhi picked urban scavengers for reform while ignoring rural Untouchables. (similarity 0.78)