‘Now the caste system is up for export. Wherever Hindus go, they take it with them. It exists among the brutalized Tamils in Sri Lanka; it exists among upwardly mobile Indian immigrants in the ‘Free World’, in Europe as well as in the United States.’
The Doctor and The Saint (2017) was an introduction essay for B.R Ambedkar’s Annihilation of caste, published by Navyana (2014). The essay was later published as a book in 2017 by Penguin India. The piece can hardly be qualified as an independent book because of its minimum (124 pages) content but Arundhati nevertheless is successful in making her reader question the so-called 'progressive' Indian society. Roy metaphorically rages war against the social structures and on one of the most important figures in Indian independence history – Gandhi.
Annihilation of Caste has been called the utopia of Ambedkar. A world where the four varnas are abolished, caste discrimination does not exist and Dalits are treated equally. In Ambedkar’s fight against the oppression, he bluntly criticises Hinduism and the existing structures. He aims for the complete deconstruction of Hinduism because of its oppressive nature. Ambedkar is unapologetic in his demands for the right reasons – Dalits have never been treated equally and the fight for it continues till date.
Gandhi does not share similar views with Ambedkar. He comes in the conversation with a different idea which leads to a tug of war between India’s two revolutionaries – Dr Ambedkar and M.K Gandhi. Gandhi instead of annihilating the caste system talks of bringing a change in IT. He renames Dalit as Harijans but his efforts are limited. He wants to change the structure but does not want to completely abolish it, unlike Ambedkar who believes that change is inevitable without the destruction of the system.
Arundhati Roy picks up this Ambedkar-Gandhi debate in her essay and presents everything on the table for her readers. She brings both the personalities together and while doing so, gradually moves ahead by making her reader question the rose-tinted image of Gandhi. She brings up his history in South Africa and discusses it parallel to Ambedkar’s struggle in his India. Both the personalities faced discrimination – one experienced it far from the security of his home on different land and the other since his birth by people of his own land. This comparison becomes the plot of this book and infuses the atrocities faced by Dalits even after decades of the death of both men.
The author is anything but blunt in her writing. She isn’t sugar-coating. Roy bombards her readers with logic and facts which haunts them about the reality of the Indian society. With this one, she catches her readers off guard. She isn’t afraid to pull off their illusion of a perfect India with no caste discrimination, a utopia which majority of urban Indians believe to have come true. She mentions all the facts and at the end, lets her readers analyse the situation themselves.
The book has been subjected to criticism by both Gandhians and Ambedkarites. Though it was written as an introduction for Ambedkar’s Annihilation of caste, Roy ends up focusing a lot on Gandhi instead. As a reader, it feels that a major chunk of the essay focuses on him. Gandhians were not happy with Roy calling Gandhi out for his stand on the caste system and Dalits posed a serious question too –At the end of the day, who speaks for whom? Why this upper-caste woman has to take the mic to speak on the behalf of the Dalit community? Aren’t they capable of doing it themselves?
Irrespective of all of these arguments, the book manages to fulfil its purpose – it makes its readers aware of the in-depth caste discrimination in India. The author eloquently manages to intertwine the past and the present together and presents a clear image for the reader to think about caste discrimination. Not to be forgotten, Roy brings Ambedkar and Gandhi together and makes it a bit easier for her readers to judge both of them side by side on their stand on the caste system.
Keeping the mainstream criticism aside, The Doctor and The Saint by Arundhati Roy is a great book. It does not classify as Dalit literature for many reasons but takes a similar path in its content. It is a short read which one can complete in a single day. A must-read for people who want to venture into books related to caste discrimination or to just make themselves aware of the Gandhi Ambedkar debate.
Nice and short analysis. Amazed.