Review of Syed Sayeed’s Understanding B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste: Missing the point

Ambedkar Jayanti 2023 ushered in a slew of new books on Babasaheb Ambedkar on an unprecedented scale — seven volumes in as many months. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste, is distinct from all the others, in that it closely analyses only one single text, and does so — in the author’s own words — by wrenching “the text out of its historical context”. Identity is a matter of how you place yourself or how others place you in a certain sociocultural taxonomy.” To suggest that there is some ‘essence of a person’ autonomous and liberated from socio-cultural-historical contexts, social location and lived experiences is befuddling, but the author quickly makes clear his intention: “The main reason for my emphasising this is that it has become fashionable —.in consequence of being politically ‘woke’ — to privilege identity and experience as necessary conditions for speaking on behalf of someone.” Sayeed refuses to be constrained by these conditions, claiming the same entitlement as anyone to publish a commentary on Ambedkar. My view is that his own Dalit identity was ultimately incidental to his fight against the caste system.” Sayeed not infrequently refers to his book as nothing but a long summary of Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste, and I agree with his characterisation. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste; Syed Sayeed, Permanent Black, ₹595.