The document summarizes the role of caste in post-independent Indian politics from 1950 to the present. It discusses three phases: 1950-1977 when the Congress party dominated and upper castes supported it; 1977-1989 when non-Congress coalitions formed and middle peasants gained power; and post-1989 when the Other Backward Castes emerged as a political force following the Mandal Commission recommendations. It also examines the impact of policies like reservation, industrialization, and the green revolution on caste dynamics and politics in India.
2. ROLE OF CASTE IN POST INDEPENDENT INDIAN
POLITICS
1950-1977: Congress was the dominant Political party
Upper castes sided with the Congress
Schedule Caste & the other backward castes were not in
a position to pronounce their identity in a definite manner
Between 1977 and 1989 several non Congress governments
were formed and the middle peasant category became very
powerful during this time
In the next phase that began in 1989 and is still continuing
there emerged another variable- the Other Backward Castes
and the situation became more complicated
Caste like religion is a part of the daily existence of every
Indian individual
It should be the objective of the Indian state to use caste as a
category for social change
3. POST-INDEPENDENT INDIA
Prof. Andre Beteille a noted sociologist pointed
out that outside family, the relation between caste
and politics had become much more transparent
during this period
Prof. Dipankar Gupta who also pointed out that
caste as a system has declined in post independent
India
but caste as an identity has become much more
transparent, and it is not that caste is as an identity
has been erased
4. RELATION BETWEEN CASTE AND POLITICS IN THE
POST-INDEPENDENT INDIA
The basic thrust of the Indian Constitution was to
create an egalitarian democratic society
1950-1977 : One-party dominance as described
by W H Morris Jones in India.
Late 1960s: Cracks to the Indian National
Congress could be noticed
5. RELATION BETWEEN CASTE AND POLITICS IN THE
POST-INDEPENDENT INDIA
Since 1977: Equation could be noticed between
caste and politics
Rise of the middle peasants particularly in north
India and in UP and Bihar
Existence of a centralized administration with
scope for people belonging to the Scheduled Caste
to be accepted as the members of that
administration through the policy of reservation
So this centralized administration was created by
the Indian state to establish a kind of political
system where at least some kind of equality could
be noticed
6. INDUSTRIALIZATION IN INDIAN STATE
With industrialization, modernization,
urbanization & the penetration, although limited
at that time of market economy, people at that time
so called lower castes also began to get accepted
into this new kind of a system
7. GREEN REVOLUTION
Major agrarian policies were introduced by the
Indian government with some scientific and some
agricultural incentives that ushered in a green
revolution, that is an agricultural boom,
particularly in north India in Punjab, Haryana and
UP
This created a very large section of peasants who
although did not have that much of land in their
possession, but by virtue of being agriculturalist
they could wield a kind of power during that period
8. ABOLITION OF THE ZAMINDARI SYSTEM
Abolition created a kind of people who could not
hold land beyond a particular ceiling
So the earlier zamindari class which controlled
both economic resources as well as political
resources came down to a very limited number
They were deprived of their land and as well as
their political hold
changes created a middle peasant category
particularly in northern India who became
economically resourceful and by virtue of that they
try to wield their power in their political scenario
9. POLITICAL CASTE EQUATION
1981-During the occasion of the death anniversary
of Dr. B R Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram formed a party
which later became the Bahujan Samaj Party in
1984
Arrival of this particular party disturbed the
traditional political caste equation in north India.
Along with it the Yadavs became prominent both in
UP and in Bihar
With the rise of the Yadavs in these two states,
leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo
Prasad Yadav began to wield political power which
was not seen during the early phase of post
independent India
10. POLITICAL CASTE EQUATION
creation of parties and their political manipulations
did not presume that the members of a particular
caste all vote for one particular party or all the
backward castes or all the scheduled caste voted
for one particular party
Enormous divisions within a particular caste and
also different backward castes
Both intra-caste and inter-caste divisions
11. 1977-1989: SECOND PHASE OF INDIAN POLITICS
SO FAR AS CASTE IS CONCERNED
1977 : The 1st non congress government at the
union level in India was formed
At that formation Charan Singh had a major say
whose party from UP also belonged to the middle
peasant category who became very powerful during
that time following the features that were initiated
by the Indian state during the first phase and it
continued till 1989 end
1989 appears to be the end point of this particular
phase because at that time, another classificatory
variable within caste emerged and that was the
Other Backward Caste or what we called OBC
12. OBC
not at par with the Schedule Caste because like the
Scheduled Caste they did not experience the kind
of social humiliation, social atrocities
But at the same time, unlike the upper castes they
were deprived of many resources
So they were a kind of like the middle caste
between the upper caste and the schedule caste
13. MANDAL COMMISSION
1979: B .P. Mandal Commission came out with certain
suggestions for the other backward caste and identified more
than 3000 castes as belonging to that category
Recommendations however were not included during that
time.
In 1989 V P Singh was the Prime Minister of India and talks
were going on regarding the implementation of the
recommendations of the Mandal Commission
1990: Recommendations were implemented.
Nation-wide furore
Youths committed suicide against these recommendations
Scared with this kind of policies and they were skeptical
whether these kinds of reservations really beneficial for those
who actually needed them
14. ANDRE BETEILLE AND DIPANKAR GUPTA
Recommendations that the Mandal Commission
suggested are not consistent with the Indian social
system primarily for 2 reasons:
1. Criteria created by Mandal commission for
determining the backwardness are not consistent
with the real identification of backwardness
Criteria like whether women of a particular caste go
outside their homes and take jobs. This is the kind of
criteria which does not exist in many castes. This is
related to the issue of gender
So this criterion is not conducive for a proper
identification of backward caste
15. ANDRE BETEILLE AND DIPANKAR GUPTA
2. Apart from 12% of the upper caste and 15% of the
tribal population and 22% of the scheduled caste
population, the rest belongs to these categories
So if someone really wants to give some
suggestions and recommendations for the other
backward castes, all the remaining population in
fact belong to this category which is not getting
clear from the suggestions of the B P Mandal
Commission
16. ACADEMIC DEBATE & POLITICAL DEBATE
Mandal Commission recommendations created a
new kind of Caste dynamics in Indian politics
From 1989 onwards the 3rd phase of dynamics
and politics began and during this phase we come
across several kinds of conjunctions, co relations,
inter relations between not only caste and politics
but caste, gender, class on the one hand and
politics on the other
17. EVOLUTION OF THE CASTE DYNAMICS IN
INDIA IS NOT UNIFORM
in some states of northern India, in some states of
southern India, while West Bengal, Assam, Kerala
they provide a different kind of caste dynamics
So the third phase in fact provides a very
challenging task to find out the relationship
between caste and politics
18. POLICY OF RESERVATION- 10 YEAR POLICY
Reservation at the time of adoption of the
Constitution was thought to be a 10 year policy
Argued at the Constituent Assembly that after 10
years we will not have to address this issue
because the policy of reservation will be able to
penetrate into the furthest corner of the caste
system and there will not be no need of reservation
after 10 years
Reservation policy continued. It is continuing…..
19. POLICY OF RESERVATION
Creamy Layer
It has been able to give a kind of education, the
kind of public employment and thereby give a
kind of social prestige and status which these
people would never been able to achieve if the
policy of reservation does not exist
20. CASTE
whether caste which is a traditional category is
competent or consistent even in 21st century India
which is trying to be modernized in every aspect of
life
Sociologist M. N. Srinivas during his study of
caste in early 20th century pointed out that the
ritualistic immobility of caste did not exist even
during that time
‘Sanskritisation’: the so called lower caste tried to
emulate certain features of the upper caste in order
to be at par with those castes
21. MYRON WEINER
it was not the objective of the Constituent Assembly
neither it was feasible for the Indians to totally
erase or annihilate caste as a category
Caste like religion is a part of the daily existence of
every Indian individual
So we cannot just wish to annihilate the system
where caste simply does not exist
22. CASTE
Dynamic and a very challenging field of study
caste organizations, caste associations, caste
based political parties in the Indian political
scenario,
Establish a kind of equality and justice
New kind of indigenous justice and equality and
the Indian state would be able to usher in through
the dynamics and the inter play of these various
categories and politics, particularly the caste.