Caste politics in India

Caste is one among the major factors in politics of India. Independent India has seen intense debates
over reverse discrimination, caste-based quotas and reservations.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, "Dalits and indigenous peoples (known as Scheduled
Tribes or adivasis) continue to face discrimination, exclusion, and acts of communal violence. Laws
and policies adopted by the Indian government provide a strong basis for protection, but are not being
faithfully implemented by local authorities."[1]

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Before 1980s

• 2 Mandal Commission

• 3 Votebank politics

• 4 Criticism

Before 1980s
Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar had radically different approaches to caste esp. over
constitutional politics and the status of "untouchables"[2]. Till the mid-1970s, the politics of independent
India was largely dominated by economic issues and questions of corruption. But since
1980s, caste has emerged as a major issue[3].

Mandal Commission
Main article: Mandal commission

The Mandal Commission was established in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime
Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward"[4]. The
Commission was set up to consider the question of seat reservations and quotas for people to redress
caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine
"backwardness." In 1980, the commission's report affirmed the affirmative action practice under Indian
law whereby members of lower castes (known as Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes and
Tribes) were given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in public
universities, and recommended changes to these quotas, increasing them by 27% to 49.5%. L R Naik,
the only Dalit member in the Mandal Commission refused to sign the Mandal recommendations[5], as
he feared that well-to-do OBCs would corner all the benefits of reservation.
A decade after the commission gave its report, V. P. Singh, the Prime Minister at the time, tried to
implement its recommendations in 1989. The criticism was sharp and colleges across the country held
massive protests against it. Many alleged that the politicians were trying to cash on caste-based
reservations for purely pragmatic electoral purposes. Rajiv Goswami, student of Delhi University,
threatened self-immolation in protest of the government's actions. His act further sparked a series
ofself-immolations by other college students and led to a formidable movement against job
reservations for Backward Castes in India.

Votebank politics
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion
on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute
is resolved. (August 2009)

Many political parties in India have openly indulged in caste-based votebank politics.

In 1990s, many parties Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal started
claiming that they are representing the backward castes. Many such parties, relying primarily on
Backward Classes' support, often in alliance with Dalits and Muslims, rose to power in Indian states[6].
At the same time, many Dalit leaders and intellectuals started realizing that the main Dalit oppressors
were so-called Other Backward Classes[3], and formed their own parties, such as the Indian Justice
Party. The Congress (I) in Maharashtra long relied on OBCs' backing for its political
success[6].Bharatiya Janata Party has also showcased its Dalit and OBC leaders to prove that it is not
an upper-caste party. Bangaru Laxman, the former BJP president (2001–2002) was a former
Dalit. SanyasinUma Bharati, former CM of Madhya Pradesh , who belongs to OBC caste, was a
former BJP leader. In 2006 Arjun Singh cabinet minister for MHRD of the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government was accused of playing caste politics when he introduced reservations for
OBCs in educational institutions all around.

In Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party rose to power under the canard of "Brahmin
oppression", resulting in reverse discrimination against the upper caste Brahmins. Many Brahmins
have alleged that Tamil Brahmins (Iyers, Iyengars, etc.) have left the state, due to a "hostile
atmosphere" prevalent against upper castes in the region[7][8].

Criticism
Back in 1950s, B. R. Ambedkar had criticized the use of caste as a political plank[9]. He anticipated the
limitations of using caste as a political resource and instead, emphasized on eliminating the concept of
caste from the society.