Be the change you wish to see in the world, Mr. Gandhi.

Taken from Annihilation of Caste by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

A REPLY TO THE MAHATMA BY DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR – VI.

> Does the Mahatma practise what he preaches ? One does not like to make
personal reference in an argument which is general in its application. But
when one preaches a doctrine and holds it as a dogma there is a curiosity
to know how far he practises what he preaches. It may be that his failure
to practise is due to the ideal being too high to be attainable ; it may be
that his failure to practise is due to the innate hypocracy of the man. In
any case he exposes his conduct to examination and I must not be blamed
if I asked how far has the Mahatma attempted to realize his ideal in his
own case. The Mahatma is a Bania by birth. His ancestors had abandoned
trading in favour of ministership which is a calling of the Brahmins. In
his own life, before he became a Mahatma, when occasion came for him to
choose his career he preferred law to scales. On abandoning law he became
half saint and half politician. He has never touched trading which is his
ancestral calling. His youngest son—I take one who is a faithful follower
of his father—born a Vaishya has married a Brahmin’s daughter and has
chosen to serve a newspaper magnate. The Mahatma is not known to have
condemned him for not following his ancestral calling. It may be wrong
and uncharitable to judge an ideal by its worst specimens. But surely
the Mahatma as a specimen has no better and if he even fails to realize
the ideal then the ideal must be an impossible ideal quite opposed to the
practical instincts of man. Students of Carlyle know that he often spoke
on a subject before he thought about it. I wonder whether such has not
been the case with the Mahatma in regard to the subject matter of Caste.
Otherwise certain questions which occur to me would not have escaped him.
When can a calling be deemed to have become an ancestral calling so as
to make it binding on a man ? Must man follow his ancestral calling even
if it does not suit his capacities, even when it has ceased to be profitable ?
Must a man live by his ancestral calling even if he finds it to be immoral ?
If every one must pursue his ancestral calling then it must follow that a
man must continue to be a pimp because his grandfather was a pimp and
a woman must continue to be a prostitute because her grandmother was a
prostitute. Is the Mahatma prepared to accept the logical conclusion of his
doctrine ? To me his ideal of following one’s ancestral calling is not only an
impossible and impractical ideal, but it is also morally an indefensible ideal.

Ah yes, the original ‘rules for thee but not for me’ politician. Truly ahead of his time.

Also wanted everyone in Europe to just bow down before Hitler. What a fucking idiot.

Gandhi when it’s about S L E E P I N G W I T H C H I L D R E N.

Sounds like a similar concept that Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and several other American founding fathers took with slavery: Talk about how bad the system is and pushing for reforms, while also refusing to free the enslaved people that they themselves owned.

I feel like the only reason Gandhi was hyped up in the west is because his revolt against colonial rule was non violent in practice. Much preferable than an armed revolt.