Gandhi sought abolition of untouchability but retention of the caste system

Evidence

Let not the people of Vykom or any other place fear that Mahatmaji wants caste abolished. Mahatmaji does not want the caste system abolished but holds that untouchability should be abolished … Mahatmaji does not want you to dine with Thiyas or Pulayas. What he wants is that we must be prepared to touch or go near other human beings as you go near a cow or a horse … Mahatmaji wants you to look upon so-called untouchables as you do at the cow and the dog and other harmless creatures. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 319

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: The core Gandhi\u2013Ambedkar divergence; central to why Ambedkar concluded only annihilation of caste, not reform, would work.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing how this ‘cow and dog’ framing shaped Gandhi’s later Harijan campaign and its limits.

Related

• Gandhi’s lieutenant publicly told caste Hindus caste itself need not go (similarity 0.91)
• Gandhi denied Untouchables separate electorates to protect them from village retaliation (similarity 0.86)
• Gandhi framed Untouchables as politically immature needing Hindu service, not enfranchisement (similarity 0.86)
• Gandhi and Patel blocked Untouchables from using law against caste violence. (similarity 0.86)
• Hindu revivalists proselytised Untouchables to retain them in subordination. (similarity 0.85)
• Ambedkar saw anti-untouchability gestures as privileged-caste strategies to retain control (similarity 0.85)
• Gandhi accepted separate electorates for Muslims but not for Untouchables. (similarity 0.84)
• Gandhi consistently insulted Untouchables and denied them political self-organization (similarity 0.84)
• Gandhi championed separate electorates for Muslims and Sikhs but refused them for Untouchables. (similarity 0.84)
• Ambedkar argued separate electorates were needed to produce genuine Untouchable representatives. (similarity 0.83)
• Hindu reformers reframed caste as untouchability to avoid addressing economic exploitation. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi’s untouchability reform fails for leaving shastra sanctity unquestioned. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi addressed untouchability through urban scavengers rather than rural landless majority Dalits. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi’s anti-untouchability campaign functioned as symbolic theater, not lasting cure. (similarity 0.82)
• Gandhi opposed non-Hindu involvement in caste struggles as an internal Hindu matter (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Gandhi opposed non-Hindu involvement in caste struggles as an internal Hindu matter #corroborates (0.75) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 318
• Gandhi consistently insulted Untouchables and denied them political self-organization #complicates (0.70) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 424
• Gandhi accepted separate electorates for Muslims but not for Untouchables. #corroborates (0.60) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 383
• Caste Hindu reform organizations expected untouchables to accept subordinate roles #exemplifies (0.50)