Caste, Class & Electoral Politics: Woven Together

Role of caste in politics

How Caste Shapes Indian Politics

From a citizen’s first political ideas to party tickets, campaign slogans, cabinets, transfers and panchayats: the many places where caste enters politics.

An election rally ground with groups of villagers in different-coloured turbans and saris listening to a speaker on a stage without banners

How caste shapes political thinking, leadership and social bonds.

1

Political socialisation & leadership recruitment

Different caste groups have their loyalties behind political parties and their ideologies.

In the process of picking up his political orientations, attitudes and beliefs, a person naturally comes under the influence of caste groups and casteism. Caste values and caste interests influence his socialisation and, consequently, his political thinking, conscience and participation.

A leader bets on caste solidarity to occupy and play a leadership role.

2

A divisive and a cohesive force

Caste provides a basis for the emergence of several interest groups in the Indian political system, each of which competes with all the others in the struggle for power. At times this leads to an unhealthy struggle for power and caste acts as a divisive force. However, it is also a source of unity among the members of a group and acts as a cohesive force.

3

Demand for reservation by other communities

The reservation provisions in the Constitution have also proved counterproductive, as non-scheduled castes have also started pressing the government to make provisions of reservation for them.

Reservation policy is another area where we can see the caste system influencing Indian politics.

Caste in Bihar: the 2015 election

Added for the Bihar questions

In the 2015 Bihar Assembly election, the JD(U), RJD and Congress fought together as the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) and won 178 of the 243 seats; the BJP-led NDA won 58.
The alliance brought together the RJD’s Muslim–Yadav base, the JD(U)’s support among Kurmis, Koeris and the Extremely Backward Classes, and Congress votes, a broad social coalition that the NDA could not match.
A remark by the RSS chief during the campaign about reviewing the reservation policy was widely used by the Grand Alliance to rally backward-caste voters.
Bihar’s 2023 caste survey later counted Extremely Backward Classes at about 36%, Backward Classes at about 27%, Scheduled Castes at about 19.7%, Scheduled Tribes at about 1.7% and the unreserved category at about 15.5% of the population.

Caste and the Indian Constitution

The Constitution’s Answer to Caste

Acts and constitutional provisions for a casteless society:

An open Constitution with pages fanning out into figures of people of every background standing on equal steps

1976Protection of Civil Rights Act

1989Prevention of Atrocities against SCs & STs Act

Fundamental Rights

Art. 14Equality before the law.
Art. 15Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, gender and colour.
Art. 16Equal opportunities in public employment.
Art. 17Abolition of untouchability.
Art. 18Abolition of titles.

Directive Principles of State Policy

Art. 38To promote the welfare of the people by securing a social order permeated by justice — social, economic and political — and to minimise inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities.
Art. 46To promote the educational and economic interests of SCs, STs and other weaker sections of society, and to protect them from social injustice and exploitation.

Reserved seats

Art. 330Reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha for SCs and STs.
Art. 332Reservation of seats in State Assemblies for SCs and STs.

Fundamental Duty

Art. 51A(e)To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood among all the citizens of India, irrespective of religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities, and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

A two-way relationship

Caste Gets Politicised — but Elections Are Not Only About Caste

There is not just a one-way relation between caste and politics. Politics, too, influences the caste system and caste identities by bringing them into the political arena. Thus, it is not politics that gets caste-ridden; it is caste that gets politicised. This takes several forms:

Small groups of people from different villages walking towards each other across a field and joining into one larger crowd

1

Caste groups grow bigger

Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating neighbouring castes or sub-castes that were earlier excluded from it.

2

Coalitions of castes

Various caste groups have to enter into coalitions with other castes or communities, and so enter into dialogue and negotiation.

3

New caste groups

New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena, like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups.

Example: In 1978, Bihar’s Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur split backward-class reservation into separate quotas, creating the ‘Extremely Backward Classes’ (EBC) as a political category of its own.

However, the focus on caste in politics can sometimes give the impression that elections are all about caste and nothing else. That is far from true:

1

No single-caste seat

No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste. So every candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than one caste and community to win elections.

2

No caste votes as one

No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community. When people say a caste is a ‘vote bank’ of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of voters from that caste vote for that party.

3

Same-caste rivals

Many parties may put up candidates from the same caste (if that caste is believed to dominate the electorate in a constituency). Some voters have more than one candidate from their caste, while many voters have none.

4

Incumbents lose

The ruling party and the sitting MP or MLA frequently lose elections in our country. That could not happen if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preferences.

Clearly, while caste matters in electoral politics, so do many other factors:

1

Voters have a strong attachment to political parties, which is often stronger than their attachment to their caste or community.

2

People within the same caste or community have different interests depending on their economic condition. Rich and poor, or men and women, from the same caste often vote very differently.

3

People’s assessment of the government’s performance and the popularity of leaders matter, and are often decisive in elections.

Caste politics: assessment and remedies

Boon, Bane and the Way Out

Thus, caste plays different kinds of roles in politics.

The positive side

In some situations, the expression of caste differences in politics gives many disadvantaged communities the space to demand their share of power. In this sense, caste politics has helped people from Dalit and OBC castes gain better access to decision-making. Several political and non-political organisations have been demanding and agitating for an end to discrimination against particular castes, and for more dignity and more access to land, resources and opportunities.

The negative side

At the same time, exclusive attention to caste can produce negative results. As in the case of religion, politics based on caste identity alone is not very healthy in a democracy. It can divert attention from other pressing issues like poverty, development and corruption. In some cases caste division leads to tension, conflict and even violence.

Neutralising caste in politics

The following points need to be looked at for neutralising the role of caste in politics:

1The basis of reservation should also be economic, not solely caste, so that all poor sections of society benefit from it.
2The media should play a neutral role.
3Caste-based violence must be eliminated through well-organised efforts.
4The recognition of caste-based political parties should be withdrawn.
5Politicians should rise above the politics of caste.
6The education system should be remodelled on secular lines.
7All schools must encourage community living by organising community meals in which all students are included.
8School textbooks should be carefully revised. Study material should teach students that the caste system is man-made.
9Promoting inter-caste marriage, and providing special incentives for people who marry across castes, can bring change in the next generation.

Some experts hold the view that caste politics in India has reduced the divergence among castes and brought about political non-discrimination among members of different castes.

Recently, there has been a flux in caste politics, mainly caused by economic liberalisation in India. Contemporary India has seen the influence of caste begin to decline. This is partly due to the spread of education to all castes, which has had a democratising effect on the political system.

Similarly, the role of class

Class in Indian Politics

Just as caste does, class shapes policies, pressure groups, candidates, movements and welfare schemes.

A farmers’ rally with tractors, a factory gate with workers and a self-help group meeting of women, shown as three side-by-side panels

1

Peasants’ welfare

Peasants’ welfare — debt waivers, subsidies, etc.

2

Policies for every class

Policies to satisfy various classes.

3

Class-based pressure groups

Various pressure groups along class lines: trade unions, Kisan Sabhas, industrial lobbies, etc.

4

Candidates from all classes

Selecting candidates from various classes.

5

EWS reservation

Reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

6

Class movements

Movements along class lines — e.g. peasant movements.

7

Welfare schemes

Welfare schemes — MGNREGA, PDS, etc.

Aajeevika, self-help groups (SHGs), etc.

8

Law & Constitution

Provisions in law and the Constitution.

e.g. the right to property as a constitutional right.

Articles 38, 43, etc.

Role of caste in class formation

Caste in Class Formation

Caste and class jointly determine the position of an individual in social strata. Both caste and class are forms of social stratification.

People with the same social, economic or educational status can be said to belong to one class, while an individual’s caste is associated with his birth, occupation, etc.

In the Indian context, caste and class seem to overlap. The backward classes are generally backward in caste stratification, and the forward classes are generally forward castes as well.

Historically, the caste system classified people by their occupation and status.
- Every caste was associated with an occupation, which meant that people born into a particular caste were also ‘born into’ the occupation associated with it — they had no choice.
More importantly, each caste also had a specific place in the hierarchy of social status. Roughly speaking, not only were occupational categories ranked by social status, but there could be a further ranking within each broad occupational category.
Historically, there was also a fairly close correlation between social (caste) status and economic status: the ‘high’ castes were almost always of high economic status, while the ‘low’ castes were almost always of low economic status.
At the macro level, the privileged (high economic status) sections of society tend to be overwhelmingly ‘upper’ caste, while the disadvantaged (low economic status) sections are dominated by the so-called ‘lower’ castes.
Moreover, the proportion of the population living in poverty or affluence differs greatly across caste groups.

The agrarian ladder

ZamindarsHighest caste
CultivatorsCultivating castes
Landless labourersLower castes

Gould’s three levels

In an analysis of class formation in India, anthropologist Harold A. Gould points out that a three-level system of stratification is taking shape across rural India. Members of each group share common concerns because they stand in roughly the same relationship to land and production.

Forward ClassesHigher castes

Backward ClassesMiddle and lower castes

HarijansVery low castes

State initiatives and a changing link

State Action and a Loosening Link

Recognising this pattern, various initiatives have been taken by state and non-state actors to address the issue:

1

Programmes for SCs and STs

The Indian state has had special programmes for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes since even before Independence.

The ‘Schedules’ listing the castes and tribes recognised as deserving special treatment, because of the massive discrimination practised against them, were drawn up in 1935 by the British Indian government.

After Independence, the same policies continued and many new ones were added.

2

Extension to OBCs

Special programmes were extended to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from the early 1990s.

3

Reservations

The most important state initiative to compensate for past and present caste discrimination is popularly known as ‘reservations’. It sets aside some places or ‘seats’ for members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes in different spheres of public life.

The proportion of reserved seats is equal to the percentage share of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the total population. For the OBCs, this proportion is decided differently.

4

93rd Amendment

The 93rd Amendment is for introducing reservation for the Other Backward Classes in institutions of higher education.

5

Laws against discrimination

Besides reservations, a number of laws have been passed to end, prohibit and punish caste discrimination, especially untouchability — e.g. the Caste Disabilities Removal Act of 1850, which disallowed curtailing citizens’ rights solely because of a change of religion or caste.

Caste · Class · Power

However, caste alone is not the totality of social stratification. It is the trio of caste, class and power that determines a person’s actual social position.

Further, in modern times, and particularly since the nineteenth century, the link between caste and occupation has become much less rigid. Compared to a hundred or fifty years ago, the correlation between caste and economic status is also weaker — rich and poor people are found in every caste.

103rd Amendment · EWS

Recognising this pattern, the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 enabled Parliament and all state legislatures to make special provisions for the advancement of any Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of citizens, and the government arranged 10% reservation for the EWS.

The conclusion

But one thing is undeniably accepted by all: the caste–class correlation is still remarkably stable at the macro level.

Exam preparation

BPSC Mains Previous Year Questions

Every question this page prepares you for, with the parts that answer it.

Q1BPSC (2016)

Examine the role of caste in electoral politics of India. To what extent did the caste factor play a role in the 2015 Bihar election?

Study:Caste & Casteism How Caste Shapes Politics Caste Gets Politicised

Q2BPSC (1997)

Discuss the role of caste in Indian politics.

Study:Caste & Casteism How Caste Shapes Politics The Constitution’s Answer Caste Gets Politicised Boon, Bane & Way Out

Q3BPSC (2009)

‘Caste and Class play important role in Indian politics.’ Explain the statement with special reference to Bihar.

Study:How Caste Shapes Politics Boon, Bane & Way Out Class in Politics

Q4BPSC (2001)

What is the role of caste in class formation in India?

Study:Caste in Class Formation State Action & Change

Quick revisionCaste in Bihar and the 2015 election: for the 2016 and 2009 questions

Caste, Class & Electoral PoliticsWoven Together

Caste and Casteism