Has India failed Ambedkar’s core teaching, annihilation of caste?

By Ram Puniyani* 

As we celebrate Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on April 14, 2026, we must also ask: what is the status of his core teaching—the “annihilation of caste”? The caste-Varna system has been central to Hindu society, even before the term “Hindu” came into use. Our holy scriptures, from the Vedas to the Manusmriti and beyond, mandated rigid Varna-Jati rules. 

Lord Gautam Buddha was the first major voice against this system—what Babasaheb called a “revolution.” But after Pushyamitra Shunga, Buddhism and its values were violently opposed. This counter-revolution restored caste-Varna with renewed aggression. Buddhism was wiped out from India, even as it flourished across South and East Asia.

The next significant opposition came from saints like Kabir, Raidas, and Dadu. They upheld humanism over ritual, rejected priestly primacy, and spoke of social equality. Their articulation was powerful, but they met fierce resistance from the priestly class in alliance with feudal lords—the main beneficiaries of caste. During the British colonial period, modern education began to challenge this inhuman system. 

Jotirao Phule took on the prevailing opposition to educating low castes and succeeded in advancing education and equal status for Dalits and OBCs. Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh stood with him to promote women’s education—a direct foil to a system that subordinated women. The industrial revolution and the struggle for an egalitarian society gave these efforts further root.

The major leap toward social justice came from Babasaheb Ambedkar. His movements for public drinking water (Chavdar Talav), temple entry (Kalaram Mandir), and his burning of the Manusmriti directly challenged the religious sanction of caste. Periyar Ramasamy Naicker’s self-respect movement shook society’s conscience. These efforts ran parallel to Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom movement, culminating in the Constituent Assembly debates. Ambedkar’s chairmanship of the Drafting Committee was no symbol—it reflected his core role in embedding equality into the Indian Constitution.

Opposition to this social change was always present. It first took form in the Hindu Mahasabha, then the RSS. The Dalit-OBC movement shook the entrenched hierarchies of caste and gender—the very core of RSS ideology. The RSS emerged in opposition to Dalits striving for equality, while finding an external enemy in Muslims to gradually consolidate power. The Manusmriti remained its central text; opposition to Islam and Muslims became the cover for its growth. It consolidated through training young boys into celibate pracharaks and swayamsevaks.

Though the Constitution provided reservations for SC/STs, subtle propaganda against it continued. This culminated in anti-Dalit violence in 1980 and anti-OBC violence in 1985, both around Ahmedabad. The implementation of the Mandal Commission advanced the journey toward social justice. Hindu nationalists responded by strengthening their Kamandal, the Ram Temple agitation, the holy cow, and love jihad—all to distract from Mandal. Groups like “Youth for Equality” supplemented this opposition. 

Affirmative action was never accepted by entrenched interests. Land reforms remained incomplete; clergy and landlords changed form but did not disappear. To dilute caste-based reservations, an economic criterion was introduced. Reserved academic posts remained unfilled by biased selection committees claiming “no suitable candidate found.” With the rise of Hindu nationalist ideology, new obstacles keep appearing to halt the march toward social justice.

There was long-standing opposition to a caste census. It has now been accepted, and its results will reveal the true status and plight of castes. Meanwhile, another subtle violence continues: the humiliation of SC/STs, especially in educational institutions. These insults have manifested in rising suicides of Dalit and ST students. 

The institutional murder of Rohith Vemula—a Dalit boy who wanted to be a science writer, subjected to relentless cruelty at Hyderabad Central University—shook the nation’s conscience. The Rohith Act was framed but remains unimplemented. Dr. Payal Tadvi at Mumbai’s Nair Hospital was humiliated regularly by her seniors, forcing her to take her life. Darshan Solanki at IIT Mumbai was mocked repeatedly by fellow students, again leading to suicide. These are just a few examples; such cases are everywhere.

In this light, the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, notified on January 13, 2026, mandated strict anti-discrimination measures in all Indian universities. It sought to ensure equality targeting caste, gender, and disability. Key mandates included Equal Opportunity Centres, Equity Committees, 24/7 helplines, and Equity Ambassadors. There was massive opposition and protests against this. The matter reached the court, which struck down the UGC mandate.

Today, as we remember Dr. Ambedkar, we must recognise that the major and subtle opposition to social equality comes from the well-entrenched RSS, which spreads its retrograde agenda through multiple mechanisms. While the RSS’s anti-Muslim agenda is more than visible, its anti-Dalit agenda is far more subtle—and must be countered if the dream of annihilation of caste is to be realised.

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*President of the Executive Council of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS)