It discusses how one class constructs political, legal, and social systems through which basic human rights including right to education, occupation, movement, and freedom to consume food of one’s choice is denied to a large section of the society, who then are forced to live in abject poverty. The speech was composed at a time when the Indian national movement against the British colonization was gaining strong momentum, and Ambedkar in this speech calls out the Indian nationalist leaders, who were largely from the upper castes to support the complete demolishing of the caste system, which denied basic human rights to majority of its citizens and demanded a society based on liberty, equality, and fraternity.Īnnihilation of Caste is an authoritative text about social hierarchy and denial of basic human rights. Ambedkar who was born a Dalit had experienced caste discrimination and firmly believed that India cannot achieve social or political rehabilitation without a complete restructuring of the Hindu society based on equality and complete dismantle of the caste system. The system also prohibits social intermixing of classes.

The system constrains upward social and economic mobility of its lower classes through imposition of strict occupational, educational, and ritualistic restrictions. The exhaustive text is a scathing critique of the Hindu caste system, a hierarchical system of social stratification and its origins are rooted in Sanskrit religious texts. A speech that was never delivered the Annihilation of Caste by B.R.

Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar