ROLE OF CASTE IN POLITICS 

Introduction

1. Indians do not cast their vote, they vote their caste
2. Christophe Jaffrelot: caste forms the mosaic of indian politics
1. mandal and kamandal are two idioms of indian politics
3. caste= casta , portuguese word, which means race.
1. no similarity with jati
2. europeans made it similar to race
4. india made anti-colonialism, anti-racism as core concept of foreign policy
1. foreign scholars blame india for practicing worst form of racism

Sociological explanation

1. Louis Demont: indian model of social stratification which is different from class model of west
2. comparison between class and caste

class	caste
status by merit	status by birth
economic criterion	criterion of purity and pollution
open. anyone can enter	rigid: caste can't be jumped

• MN Srinivas:
1. challenged Dumont's perspective
1. not much difference between indian and western
2. class is based on birth as caste
3. mobility was permitted in caste as well
2. Sanskritisation: adopt practice of brahmins and elevate caste status
1. many examples of shudras being elevated to kshatriya
3. Dominant caste: different from upper caste
1. caste holding economic, social, political power
2. generally brahmins, kshatriyas
4. three characteristics of dominant caste
1. land owners
2. numerical majority
3. social status
5. eg- Yadav in UP, Bihar, Jats in Haryana, west UP, marathas in Maharashtra, Reddy, Kammas and Kapus in AP, Lingayats and Vokkaligas in Karnataka

History of caste politics

1. present since ancient times
1. alliance between kshatriyas and brahmans= hinduism
2. alliance between brahmans and vaishyas= buddhism
2. british aimed at separate electorate for dalits
3. political parties during national movement were representing castes. eg- brahmans in congress, OBCs in DK, Republican for dalits
4. constitution uses caste for affirmative action policies
5. regional parties today are representatives of different castes
6. linguistic reorganisation, mandal commission, green revolution strengthened caste politics
7. coalition parties means strengthening of regional politics which increases role of caste
8. Mandalisation of Indian Politics
9. indian society
1. upper caste
2. OBCs
3. dalits
10. even non-hindus are part of caste system
1. muslims can be kept in OBCs or dalits. eg- RJD, BSP
11. rise of BSP impacted the fortress of congress in big way
1. muslim vote bank also got divided

Role of Caste in politics

1. two thoughts
1. strengthened democracy: Rajni Kothari, Chritopher Jaffrelot, Yogendra Yadav, Satish Deshpandey
2. weakens democracy: Andre Beteille, Ashutosh Varshney, CP Bhambri
2. Rajni Kothari
1. credit of success of indian democracy to caste
2. basis for mobilization
3. absence of caste in other third world country responsible for failure of democracy
4. caste has impacted politics, politics has also impacted caste- politicisation of caste
1. secularisation
1. caste is important for secular benefits like schools, employment, etc
2. integration
1. politics has forced to form alliances. eg- AJGAR: Ahir, Jat, Gujjar, Rajput
1. MAJGAR: muslims, ahir, jats, gujjars, rajput: proposed by Sir Chotu Ram, Chowdhary Charan Singh
2. KHAM: muslims, kshatriya, harijan, adivasis formed by congress in gujarat
3. Muslim-yadav coalition in UP, bihar
3. consciousness:
1. consciousness amongst lower caste about their identity
2. hence, they go for autonomous mobilisation in politics
3. eg- dalits led by congress, later realised their own importance and formed own party
3. Rudolf and Rudolf: modernisation of tradition and traditionalisation of modernity: politicisation of caste
4. Chritopher Jaffrelot: 'silent revolution'= caste based mobilisation
5. Prof. Yogendra Yadav: interaction between caste and politics has led to democratic upsurge
1. 1st: 1960s= OBCs coming out of congress
2. 2nd: 1990s= dalits left congress
6. Lalita Chandrashekhar- art: Emancipatory Power of caste politics- caste based mobilisation has bridged the gap between different sections of society. eg- RJD made yadav- intermediatary class, formidable force, Nitish Kumar made caste below yadav a formidable force

2nd school of thought

1. CP Bhambhri: caste politics is not good in long run.
1. when one party mobilises on the basis of caste, other mobilises on the basis of religion
2. Ashutosh Warshney: book- India's improbable democracy
1. caste based mobilisation has not resulted into any concrete transformation in distribution of power.
1.  indian democracy has not done enough in between the elections

Why role of caste in politics?

1. Rajni Kothari: since society is traditional, caste and religion based mobilisation is necessary
2. MN Srinivas: Caste is present in minds of people at sub-conscious level
3. Andre Beitelie: constitution doesn't abolish caste system. questions widom of Nehru
4. Kanchen Chandra: political patronage is based on caste

 

OBC Politics

Introduction

1. intermediatary caste
2. numerically strong
3. shudras according to manusmriti
4. Mark Gallantar- book: Competing equalities- Law and backward class in india
1. OBC is loose concept which keeps on changing
2. represent farmers, cultivators
3. not homogenous: some at par with dalits, some very powerful
4. most dominant, most CMs, high no. in administration due to Mandal

History of OBC politics

1. Christopher Jaffrelot- book: the Silent Revolution
1. South India: older and mature
1. composition of society is different from north
2. only brahmin upper caste, rest are OBCs
3. leaders like Jotiba Phule (satya shodhak samaj), EV Ramaswamy Periyar (self-respect movement), Sri Narayan Guru (Sri-Narayan Dharma Paripalamn Yogam)  strengthened OBC by raising consciousness
4. ethnisisation= dravidian identity
2. North India
1. Arya Samaj, Shuddhi Movement: greater influence of vedic religion
2. more than one upper caste, hence not easy for backward to counter
3. backwards went for sanskritisation, hence hegemony of brahmins continued
4. OBCs remained part of congress, instead of autonomous party like DK in TN
2. Satish Deshpande: art- The OBC primer of Indian politics
1. OBC politics is heart of indian politics
2. 42% population, hence part of any alliance
3. state politics is OBC politics
4. coalition govt at centre marks OBC politics
5. whether caste remains important or not depends on OBCs

 

Dalit Politics in India

Introduction

1. since pre-independence time
2. biggest contribution is of Ambedkar
3. three choices of upliftment
1. co-option
1. Gandhian approach
2. dalit to remain with congress
3. preferred by Babu Jagjivan Ram, ram Vilas Paswan, Udit Raj
1. since annihiliation of caste is utopia, work with major parties
2. autonomy
1. preferred by Ambedkar
2. represented by Kansiram, the founder of BSP
1. Baba tera kaam adhura, kanshiram karega poora
2. BSP= blue, elephant: blue= all equal beneath sky, elephant= numerical strength
3. Ajay Bose:- book: Behenji: a political biography of Mayawati
1. she could successfully implement Ambedkar's approach
2. later suffered with megalomania= obsession with power and dalits are going away
3. radicalism
1. inspired by marxist idea of struggle and revolution, Ambedkar rejected the approach
2. dalit panthers, inspired by black panther movement of USA
1. aimed to counter shivsena. leaders were JV Pawar, Raja Dhale, Nam deo Dhasal
3. revival of radicalism in form of bheem army
4. Pratap bhanu Mehta
1. art- new Dalit challenge
1. new generation of dalit politics is reflecting profound changes
2. rejection of managerial approach: co-opt without symbolic transfer of power. eg- make dalit president
3. dalits are building counter-hegemony.
1.  challenging history, re-writing history
2. eg- instead of using 'we won' in Bhima-Koregaon, they used 'you are defeated'
5. CP Bhambhri: it is good that consciousness is increasing, but dalits should make alliance with progressive forces.