Gandhi Against Caste
Nishikant Kolge
OUP
336 pages; Rs 695
Leaders who organised mass struggles against colonial oppressors — Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh to name a few — have always been subjected to clinical analysis by professional academics to evaluate their real contribution to nation-making in their newly-liberated countries. Nishikant Kolge’s study focuses on a critical aspect of Gandhi’s anti-colonial struggle — his bid to eradicate the caste system. The Mahatma considered social reform of the Hindu society an integral part of his political opposition to colonial rule. As Gandhi saw it, a
