Caste calculus factors in voters’ choices in India’s crucial provincial polls

Caste calculus factors in voters’ choices in India’s crucial provincial polls

Politicians, analysts, villagers say candidate’s affiliation to particular caste plays important role in Indian politics

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI, India (AA) – As India's most populous province of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is at the last leg of electing the provincial assembly, the caste factor or the hereditary classes of Hindu society continue to remain a major factor among voters to choose their favorite candidates.

The caste system divides the majority Hindu community into four main categories – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and the Shudras. At the lowest pedestal among Shudras are Dalits or the untouchables. The main castes are further divided into several hundred castes and sub-castes and each is based on their specific occupation.

As the campaign trail continued, politicians, analysts and villagers told Anadolu Agency that caste has been an important factor in Indian politics.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Sumit Choudhary, a voter from the Gujjar community residing in Jasana village in western UP, said an elected person from their community addresses problems of the community in a better way.

"For long, I have been voting for the candidate from my baradari(community). Because, by choosing a person from the same community, everyone feels problems are addressed properly and in a better way," he said.

At the nearby Tittarwada village in Kariana town, Krishan Pal Gurjar, who is also a junior minister in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, was canvassing among his Gujjar community.

"This makes an impact obviously when a leader from the same community comes and tries to convince people...people get easily convinced and it many times fetch votes," said Ram Kumar, a local from the Kariana.

"Every party brings different leaders from the community to lure voters," he said.

Acknowledging that UP's politics has become "about caste and religion", India's main opposition Congress party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra recently said that this kind of politics has contributed nothing to the progress and has pushed the state backwards.


- Feudal society

Explaining the background of caste politics, author and researcher Dilip Mandal told Anadolu Agency that although India did adopt the modern democratic method of governance, "the society has remained feudal and is not democratic".

He said even as the electoral method is based on one person and one vote, every person is not equal in Indian society.

"Rather, we are a collage of communities, and we are not a society in the actual western sense. So, still, the primary method of mobilization is based on community affiliation, which is the primary reason why caste plays a role in our democratic process," he said.

Mohammad Hizbullah Khan, the national spokesperson of Bahujan Samaj Party – known for representing Dalits – said whenever the party comes to power, people from the marginalized community get "respect and is empowered", and that is the reason caste plays a role in the elections.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Niranjan Sahoo, a senior fellow at New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation, said for a long time, particularly since the early 1990s, UP has swung between caste and identity politics.

"Analysts have situated UP's politics having revolved around Mandal (rise of backward castes) vs. Kamandal (identity/religion-based politics after the rise of Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party)," he said.

Sahoo added that North India includes states of UP and Bihar, who speak the Hindi language have witnessed the rise of backward castes which brought new backward leaders by stitching caste and religion coalitions," he said.

"The BJP's rise in Indian politics is linked to its deft use of religion to capture political power."


- Emergence of Dalits

He said the state also saw the emergence of Dalit castes (untouchables) with the leadership of Mayawati, who deftly mobilized her caste groups to capture power multiple times.

Sahoo said political parties carefully field candidates based on their caste and religion.

"For instance, in these elections, confirming its traditional upper castes affiliation, BJP has fielded the maximum number of upper castes candidates," he said.

Sahoo said the BJP has fielded 173 upper caste candidates out of the total 362 fielded by all major political parties.

Its main rival in the state, Samajwadi Party, has fielded 79, Bahujan Samaj Party 110 upper caste candidates, he added.

The UP Assembly consists of 403 elected members and one nominated Anglo-Indian member.

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