The Reckoning of Caste Politics

Caste is entrenched in the mind of many Indians, thus spreading naturally into politics.

My personal opinion on the caste system is that it has been an abominable, destructive, and divisive force in Indian history, but that is a topic for another post. Its manifestation in politics starts from the British Raj when certain castes were labeled as criminals under the Criminal Tribes Act. Other castes were stripped of their possessions and land which were transferred to other castes. This was the British Raj’s signature divide and rule in action.

Casting Shadows

In 1930, the British Prime Minister, Ramsey MacDonald, proposed the Communal Award – essentially the granting of proportional electorates to India. The thing was, while most groups were divided as united entities (Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, and even Anglo-Indians), Hindus were explicitly divided into separate castes. The tribalism in their hearts that had undone them so much in the past was reignited and institutionalized.

A backlash ensued so that in 1932, the act was reformed to include the Poorna Pact. This act accepted a united Hindu electorate, but with caste reservation within it. At this point, it was semantic imagery as the division was still in place.

With Indian Independence, the constitution rightfully outlawed the practice of untouchability (however it still persisted at ground level). The great social reformer and architect of the constitution, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, proposed a temporary 10 year reservation system to help uplift lower castes from the current and past discrimination they faced. While this sounds like a dream to many socialists today, Ambedkar favored capitalism and abhorred communism. With the newfound opportunity from reservations, Ambedkar wanted the lower castes to obtain capital and create wealth. For no one looks at the caste of the coin.

Yet, removing this reservation system would be political suicide for the party that did it. The lower castes and tribals (Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe) have been between 20-30% of the population of India since independence. No party in their right mind would shoot themselves in the foot by removing the temporary reservation. So it has been renewed every 10 years, now expiring in 2020 (but it will probably be renewed). It very much has become the sacred cow of Indian politics.

But the story of reservation doesn’t end here. In 1979, the Morarji Desai government started the creation of the Mandal Commission. This commission would extend reservation to a group of castes collectively known as Other Backwards Castes. These castes were said to have lagged on economic and social parameters. Even though many protests occurred for almost a decade, the Mandal Commission was implemented in 1992. This pushed the total reservation to 49.5% for SCs, STs, and OBCs for various government and public sector functions including education.

Various state governments have also joined into the reservation game adding on even more castes into the fray pushing total reserved seats over 50% and in some extreme cases over 69% such as in Tamil Nadu.

Now reservation itself has shown mixed to positive results. It has been very effective for STs who have seen reduced poverty and social mobility. While SCs have had less well off fortunes on a big picture level, research shows that local reservation and strong visible leaders aid social mobility. This may be because STs have tight knit, self-sufficient communities. SCs are stuck in abject poverty and discrimination in their rural environments with little support.

However, education and urbanization may be the strongest antidote to caste. A stronger market economy would also help as Ambedkar prophesied; once lower castes gain access to capital and entrepreneurship, the money speaks louder than the ritual.

It must also be said that local religious and community leaders must combat caste discrimination in their places of worship and organizations. These private initiatives would be the most impactful on a local level, which empowers individuals possibly even greater than reservation in the long run.

Old Habits Die Hard

With caste cemented institutionally, of course it would bleed into political parties.

Various parties across India sprang up to represent the interests of a specific caste or group of castes. There was a toxic formula that arose from this phenomenon.

1. Rally a caste/community or coalitions of them and attain enough of a vote share to win the election.
2. Fill government posts with your own caste members and favor your caste in policy, positions, and politics.
3. Demonize other parties as discriminatory towards your caste if they suggest equal treatment of all or do not prescribe to putting your own caste first.

Now that this game has been set, the players come in. Here’s a few examples of today’s caste parties:

• Bahujan Samaj Party – A Dalit (SC) party headed by Mayawati. Claims ideology inspired by BR Ambedkar and various other Dalit leaders. Seeks to represent all SCs, STs, OBCs. Mayawati has become extremely wealthy since her political rise and even created statues of herself during her rule in Uttar Pradesh. She said it was the “will of the people” to build them.
• Samajwadi Party – A party of Yadavs (OBC) and Muslims. Dynastically ruled by Akhilesh Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav. They have become famous for appeasement and mafia rule during their reign in Uttar Pradesh.
• Rashtriya Janata Dal – A Bihari version of the Samajwadi Party as it too has courted the Yadav and Muslim vote. Its patriarch, Lalu Prasad Yadav, is in jail for corruption so his son Tejaswi Yadav has taken over. Another party famous for its goondagiri and corruption.

To combat these caste parties, larger parties have had to pay attention to caste arithmetic in elections where they would have to cater to the various divisions and sub-divisions of castes to find a high enough vote share to win. Different caste members would be propped into candidature to cover the seat demographics.

One of the worst parts about this system has become that there are large numbers of people who vote almost solely on caste. A political idiom has been born: Indians do not cast their vote, they vote their caste.

So to ensure victory, a candidate would be chosen based on caste rather than merit in many backwards, rural districts. These districts frequently decide elections in areas such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and indeed much of rural India.

The more poor and uneducated an area is, the stronger caste becomes. For caste parties, it is very beneficial for these areas to remain backwards.

With the current central government’s manic endeavor for development, especially for the poor, Modi has thrown the gauntlet to these caste parties.

Breaker of Chains

Modi’s nationalism has been a powerful tool of unity. While certain Hindu radicals unfortunately arise, in his speeches Modi has preached the model of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas” – For Everyone, Development for Everyone. In 2014, Modi won by a wave of anti-corruption, development, and nationalism where a United Spectrum of Hindu votes (USHV) superseded caste.

Traditionally, left parties have used caste as a weapon against the Hindu right. Hindu unity would be broken by caste agitations and grievances. While ideally, parties such as the BJP would massively benefit from the elimination of the caste system, it must be said that there are elements in the BJP that engage in upper caste favoritism.

But here’s the catch, Narendra Modi himself has the background of a poor OBC. This opens a whole new mindset and skin in the game. The tallest leader of the supposed “upper-caste” party is a lower caste. So what has Modi done in regards to caste?

Modi’s development schemes may be the biggest game changers versus caste politics. Initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat, Ujwala Yojana, Swachh Bharat, etc… have largely impacted poor, lower caste households. These families now have access to healthcare, clean cooking, and toilets among various other developments such as better electricity access and financial inclusion. The polls will tell if this development can break caste.

As for reservations, Modi has mostly left it alone – except for one explosive action this year. He proposed a new category – the Economically Weaker Section – a 10% reservation category consisting of the poorest of General Category (non-SC/ST/OBC Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc…). While this is a fairly small percentage, it produced a bombshell in Indian politics.

For the first time in history, the central government had provided reservation based on economics, not on caste. The General Category (non ST/SC/OBC) were of course massively enthused.

Current Caste Reservation

The Choice

What we now see is a battle between unity and development versus division and caste. It’s mind-boggling that many of the self-styled “Liberals” in India are either silent on or endorse these caste parties to defeat Modi. Parties, pollsters, and journalists are calculating caste populations and sampling their interviews by caste proportions to obtain a salient view of what’s to come May 23rd.

But the wildcard in this election is of course Narendra Modi. His various development schemes and rags to riches infused nationalism have captured the imagination of Indians. The opposition still has yet to even announce a Prime Minister as infighting ensues. This betrays any semblance of capability to run a coalition and coherently lead a nation. An ugly mirror to the degeneracy of caste itself.

The opportunity of Modi’s victory is the first step towards a post-caste electorate. An electorate that votes on issues such as development, national security, and ideology rather than someones’s last name. Education and embracing capitalism rather than freebies provide a powerful tool for the downtrodden castes.

With action and faith, India must banish the demons of caste not only in politics, but also in the community, the family, and individual. Modi’s 2019 campaign may be the first nail in the coffin for the Reckoning of Caste Politics.