Topic: Caste politics
To understand UP’s U-turn from Bahujans to Brahmins, last 3 elections are key
The ongoing clamour in Uttar Pradesh to become the voice of the Brahmins shows the diminishing returns of focusing solely on Bahujan politics.
Uttar Pradesh is India’s broken heartland, break it into 4 or 5 states
Uttar Pradesh, our largest state by population and most powerful, is also the worst governed. A state with 1-in-6 Indians has no hope because of its size.
BSP’s ‘Sarvajan’ slogan has been usurped by BJP. Mayawati should worry
BSP discarded its Bahujan slogan for Sarvajan. Now, neither the upper castes nor the Dalits have much to do with Mayawati’s party.
BJP’s politics summed up in three social binaries
Scratch the surface of BJP’s every move, look beneath the lofty claims of ‘integral humanism’, and at least three distinct binaries emerge.
Varanasi, 2014: Why I’d said, before the secular dip, hold your nose
When a thug wanted for murder joins the fight against communalism, a firebrand secular isn’t pleased they threw eggs at his rudraksh.
Congress has never been a party of OBCs, but something’s changing now
At the level of ideas, ideology and leadership, the Congress has been a party of social elites since its inception.
The BJP’s caste arithmetic is collapsing under its own weight
Demonetisation was at the heart of destabilising the BJP's carefully constructed caste coalition.
The rise of the BJP - since the Ram Mandir movement generally, and in the Modi era particularly - has come on the back of meticulously crafted caste coalitions. These may differ from state to state, but there's one big pattern. They have married their Brahmin-Bania upper caste core base with the lower OBCs who have felt marginalised by dominant OBC communities such as Yadavs, Jats or Marathas.
Even with the Modi wave the BJP would not have won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh if it hadn't brought back Lodh leader Kalyan Singh in the party, and hadn't allied with Kurmi party Apna Dal, which won another two seats for the NDA in the state.
Yet the Modi wave also helped the party win votes despite the hurdle of caste. Narendra Modi's 2014 campaign, which projected a prime ministerial...
An individual voter is insignificant in our democracy, but a caste vote bank is invaluable
Identity politics can’t be brought to an end through legislation or actions of the election commission, but by endowing the individual with a strong voice.
Rahul Gandhi should stick to Pidi’s coochie coo identity. It is safe and abstract.
To claim Indianness, Rahul Gandhi must be a Hindu. And being Hindu is more than religious construct, it is a barometer of Indian-ness.
Why French President Macron’s clash of civilisations with Islam is misguided
Macron seems oblivious to a deepening problem at home: The old French model, which claimed to be superior to all social systems, is unsuited to an increasingly multi-ethnic society.
Revival in demand & business activity push Indian economy’s animal spirits up in September
Economists attributed the recovery to pent-up demand after a strict lockdown imposed in March hit the consumption of goods and services.
Defence
China lacks ‘honest intent’, be prepared for any eventuality, Rajnath Singh tells Army
Speaking in Delhi, the Defence Minister told military commanders that the government will strongly back reforms in the armed forces including setting up of theatre commands.
Trump or Biden? Doesn’t matter to India-US ties as they’re in a full, strategic embrace
Pompeo & Esper’s visit to India for the 2+2 talks is proof that old hypocrisies are history, and supreme national interest has again driven a strategic choice.