Statesmen must treat people equally because fine classification is impossible

Evidence

A statesman is concerned with vast numbers of people. He has neither the time nor the knowledge to draw fine distinctions and to treat each one equitably, i.e., according to need or according to capacity. However desirable or reasonable an equitable treatment of men may be, humanity is not capable of assortment and classification. The statesman, therefore, must follow some rough and ready rule, and that rough and ready rule is to treat all men alike, not because they are alike but because classification and assortment is impossible. The doctrine of equality is glaringly fallacious but, taking all in all, it is the only way a statesman can proceed in politics—which is a severely practical affair and which demands a severely practical test. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 909

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth probing how this economic argument for equality sits against later social-justice justifications.