Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
http://sar.sagepub.com
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
Additional services and information for South Asia Research can be found at:
Subscriptions: http://sar.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions: http://www.sagepub.in/about/permissions.asp
Citations http://sar.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/27/3/333
Introduction
Even though the contemporary discourse on caste, class and politics in India has been
liberated from the straitjacket debate of modernisation vs. traditionalisation and
dichotomous vs. dynamic relations, the centrality of caste as an agent of politics and
its dominant role in Indian socio-political life have neither been removed nor firmly
challenged. Rather, recognition of caste as an instrument of socio-political change by
the Mandal Commission and caste-centric socio-political movements of the 1980s
and 1990s, such as Dalit and Backward Class movements, have not only enlivened
new debates in India, but have reinforced a caste-centric public-political life, giving
it a modern value and a secular purpose.
While during the pre-Mandal phase of the 1960s and 1970s, the discourse on
caste, class and politics in India was dominated by theories of political modernisation,
since the 1980s it has been inspired by the new awakening of Dalits and Backward
Classes and their movements for social and political empowerment. Hence, the
contemporary discourse is deeply interested in investigating the changing landscape
of socio-political life as a result of the political assertion of Dalits and Backward
Classes and its overall impacts on Indian politics. Moreover, if the earlier discourse
was conditioned by transition from a colonial political system to parliamentary
democracy, political stability of the dominant party system based on consensus politics
and social coalition, the contemporary discourse has been contexualised by decline
of the dominant party system, recurrent political instability triggered by the dismantl-
ing of old models of caste coalition, assertion of Dalits and Backward Classes, Mandal-
isation of politics, proliferation of caste-based political parties, frustration with caste
politics and violent caste wars. Whereas early discourses culminated in the development
of functional perspectives on caste, class and politics, present ones are equally con-
cerned with dysfunctional roles of caste in Indian politics. The salient features of these
two phases of debate can be presented in tabular form (see Table 1):
The contemporary discourse on caste, class and politics in India appears unable to
contest vigorously enough the new rationalisations of caste. In particular, it has failed
to challenge and derationalise its modern roles and secular values. The present study
argues that the changed profile of this caste-politics discourse needs to be considered
afresh. This task can be achieved either through the quarantining of caste from
politics—though how that is possible will need to be vigorously examined—or/and
through the search for a new paradigm of politics. The former must necessarily follow
the latter, as the first cannot be achieved without the second. The contemporary dis-
course on caste, class and politics in India should thus urgently look for new paradigms.
This article consists of three major sections. The first one briefly maps out the
debate on caste, class and politics in the pre-Mandal phase. The second one focuses in
more detail on the main thrusts of more recent debates, while the third section examines
the future of caste in Indian politics and the role of social scientists in the formulation
of new paradigms.
The continuity and change model, on the other hand, emphasises dynamic relations
between tradition and modernity, caste and politics. The prominent argument of
this school is that modernity is never a complete and neat break with tradition, rather
a process of evolution that generates new forces of modernisation while retaining
elements of tradition. Tradition holds components of modernity, and modernity retains
elements of tradition. Weber (2002 [1958]) had linked ‘modern’ entrepreneurship in the
West to a character structure associated with ‘traditional’ Protestant ethics. Singer
and Cohn (1968) in their early study of Hindu industrialists of Madras found joint
family systems suitably converted into joint business houses based on division of labour.
Therefore, explaining modernity and tradition as mutually exclusive and contra-
dictory would appear to rest on misdiagnosis of tradition as found in traditional so-
cieties and a misunderstanding of modernity as seen in modern societies. Every society
encompasses in itself a range of sentiments, psychological predispositions, norms
and structures that may belong to typical ideal-type traditional attributes, yet will
also have inherent and latent forces of modernisation. Similarly, all civilisations called
‘modern’ encompass in themselves manifest and latent values, structures and norms,
dominant values and motifs that fit a model of ‘tradition’. The risk of overlooking
this was succinctly put by Rudolph and Rudolph (1969: 3):
The assumption that modernity and tradition are radically contradictory rests on a
misdiagnosis of tradition as it is found in traditional societies, a misunderstanding of
modernity as it is found in modern societies, and a misapprehension of the relationship
between them.
If tradition and modernity are seen as continuous rather than separated by an abyss, if
they are dialectically rather than dichotomously related, and if internal variations are
attended to and taken seriously, then those sectors of traditional society that contain
or express potentialities for change from dominant norms and structures become critical
for understanding the nature and processes of modernization.
Therefore, ‘the components of “new” men may exist among the “old”’ (Rudolph and
Rudolph, 1969: 11), and caste with its traditional attributes can become a structural
and ideological means of political mobilisation in modern competitive electoral pol-
itics. Kothari (1970a: 8) held that modernisation is an upward movement from one
stage of progress to another, but this does not mean the end of ‘tradition’. Citing from
his own earlier work (Kothari, 1970a: 8), Kothari (1997: 58) demonstrates the growing
strength of this approach when he reiterates that ‘[a] “modernizing” society is neither
modern nor traditional. It simply moves from one threshold of integration and per-
formance to another, in the process transforming both the indigenous structures and
attitudes and the newly introduced institutions and ideas’. This perceives modern-
isation as a dynamic process that takes place in dialectical terms through mutual
interaction between tradition and modernity; through the process of fusion not fission;
and through complex processes of continuity and change. Singh (1986: 191), among
others, supports this approach and writes that traditional Indian society has relevance
not only for analysing the direction that the process of modernisation may eventually
take through major socio-cultural transformations, but is also important for under-
standing the causality and sequence of events through which modernisation impacts
on traditional Indian society. The continued incorporation of caste into democratic
politics in India illustrates prominently that tradition and modernity interact in a
dynamic process, and its essence is continuity and change, not static rigidity. Well
before Mandalisation, it seems, this was recognised by more and more scholars.
more to structural perspectives and argued that both caste and class represent the same
structural reality. Domination and subjugation, surplus and exploitation, privileges
and deprivations are reference points universally found in caste and class. Some be-
lieved in the universality of caste as a social category. Ghurye (1961) found through
comparative study that almost all the major civilisations of ancient times recognised
distinctions by birth. Barth’s (1960) study of Muslims of North Pakistan located
structural elements of caste in different social groups, much as Imtiaz Ahmad (1978)
later confirmed the presence of caste-like structures in Muslim societies of India.
Moreover, such scholars affirm that caste holds the tendency and potentiality to
become a class; caste inheres an underdeveloped but potentially explosive class char-
acter. Secondly, they hold that caste as class is a real and empirical phenomenon of
Indian society. When a caste behaves as an interest group, as Karl Marx explained in
terms of dialectical logic, a ‘class in itself ’ becomes a ‘class for itself ’ (Marx and Engels,
1958), as elements of class-consciousness and unity develop into class antagonism.
Rudolph and Rudolph (1969) and Kothari (1970a and 1970b) proved beyond doubt
associational features of caste and its class behaviour in Indian politics. Further, caste
conflicts are also class conflicts. Upper and lower castes can also be upper and lower
classes respectively.
Caste-class convergence is much evident in landowning pattern. Gough (1977;
1980) in her early study of landowning pattern of Tanjore district found, hardly sur-
prising, that Brahmins are landowners as well. On the other hand, non-Brahmins
and Adi-Dravidas, the lower castes, are often landless. Mukherjee (1981) and Beteille
(1966; 1969) found similar caste-class convergences in their studies. Also, caste riots
are often pronounced class conflicts between upper castes/class and lower castes/class
(Omvedt, 1982). Caste conflicts, particularly attacks on landless low-caste labour-
ers and their counter attacks, not only in feudal, backward and economically less de-
veloped states such as Bihar, but even more in modern, capitalistically developed
states like Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra, created reason to believe that the under-
lying factor behind such caste conflicts is the summation and articulation of class
interests (Omvedt, 1982).
Lastly, such scholarship suggested caution while studying Indian society, in view
of a tendency among Western scholars to locate class in India as seen in the early in-
dustrial societies of the West. Clear polarisation of classes, however, is not evident in
the agrarian society of India. To a large extent, caste and class thus represent the same
structural reality. Since caste incorporates class and class incorporates caste, neither
the ‘caste view’ alone, nor the ‘class view’ on its own can explain the entire gamut of
India’s social reality (Sharma, 1980).
These three types of political mobilisation also reflect stages of political awareness
and development. In vertical mobilisation, the society is least politicised and political
awareness is limited to certain individuals or an elite group. Horizontal mobilisation
indicates a moderate level of political awareness, as the caste or community group be-
comes politicised, but political awareness still remains a group phenomenon. In dif-
ferential mobilisation, political awareness has penetrated to the level of the individual,
the exercise of political rights becomes now a matter of individual choice.
Scholars who believe in the dichotomy of tradition and modernity cry of ‘casteism
in politics’, as they perceive tradition and modernity as polar opposites and even con-
tradictory. Nationalist elites of newly independent states and Western intellectuals
have expressed deep apprehensions about the use of linguistic, religious, ethnic, tribal
and caste identities in democratic politics (Harrison, 1960). First, they argue that
traditional structures and loyalties have inherent potentialities to organise as a strong
political force and identity, which may even culminate in demands for separate nation-
hood. Second, all encompassing roles of ascriptive structures negate the very essence
South Asia Research Vol. 27 (3): 333–353
Downloaded from http://sar.sagepub.com by sourit bhattacharya on April 28, 2009
340 South Asia Research Vol. 27 (3): 333–353
of democracy, as associations claim and get precedence over individuals in time and
importance. To substantiate such arguments, scholars have alluded to India and other
Afro-Asian countries as theatres of frequent civil wars, religious clashes, ethnic geno-
cide, and separatist and secessionist movements. Partition of the Indian subcontin-
ent on the basis of the ‘two-nation theory’, the linguistic reorganisation of Indian
states in 1956 and the violent language movement of the early 1960s are often quoted.
Harrison (1960) expresses deep concern about the use of such primordial loyalties in
politics. More recent movements for Khalistan, Bodoland and greater Nagaland were
said to reflect the same trend.
While scholars have voiced apprehensions about the use of ascriptive institutions
in politics, the behaviour of castes in politics has been different from linguistic, re-
ligious and tribal associations. Political mobilisation of caste groups often has specific
purposes, aimed at distribution of status or resources, or securing representation in
legislatures and services through reservations. The nature of their demands often indi-
cates a willingness to become part of the mainstream. Such demands are amenable to
management through party politics and there are various limitations to caste-based
political mobilisation, as Rudolph and Rudolph (1969) show. Moreover, Kothari (1970a;
1997: 58) defends caste in politics as a natural phenomenon. He argues that democratic
politics will essentially operate and articulate themselves through social organisations
and institutions. Since the bulk of India’s population is organised around caste, it is
but natural that politics will be organised and articulated through caste. Here again,
then, the close inter-linkage of caste and politics remains a prominent feature and
achieved increasing recognition during the debates in the pre-Mandal phase.
1990s have added new dimensions to the study of caste, class and politics, characterised
by the prominence of three themes: (a) caste vs. class to measure socio-economic
backwardness; (b) formation of a new middle class; and (c) Dalit assertion and Back-
ward Class politics.
permanent and fixed category for the identification of socially and educationally
backward classes. Both scholars have advanced convincing arguments and used em-
pirical data to substantiate them.
Desai (1984) finds the Mandal Commission Report inconsistent in its perspective
and recommendations. He contends that the selection of caste as a fixed and perman-
ent category for the identification of socially and educationally backward classes may
not only legitimise the institution of caste, but stands against the new reality of Indian
social life, characterised by the formation of a new class consciousness and unity,
often leading to the destruction of caste consciousness and unity. His opposition to
caste-based reservation policy for the OBCs is on two counts. First, according to Desai
(1984: 1111):
Recognition of caste as the unit for inclusion or exclusion in the SEBC [Socially and
Educationally Backward Classes] goes against the Backward Class movements which
are to be understood as a refusal to accept, or as protests against, the caste status ascribed
to some groups in the traditional hierarchy. Some of these movements, though may
not be all, indicate also the way to assert ‘equality’. It will be the negation of this con-
sciousness of equality which is in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution…if caste
is recognised as the unit equivalent to socially and educationally backward class. It
would mean legitimising caste by state action and perpetuating the caste system, which
is inconsistent with the ideal of the Constitution.
Apart from the perspective and spirit of the Constitution, there is the question of fact.
In what sense do ‘the caste and ethnic groups’ exist as ‘recognisable and persistent col-
lectivities’? The pertinent question is: are and were these collectivities called castes and
groups the same or homogeneous everywhere in different regions of the state or every-
where in the state horizontally? Is each such horizontal segment vertically homogeneous
economically, occupationally and educationally or even status-wise in the same region
and the state? If yes, with reference to which elements? Are these elements persistent?
There are more hurdles in the path of the poor Koli than that of the poor Patidar to
obtain educational and economic opportunities. These differences are not necessarily
because of their traditional unequal social status in the caste hierarchy based on purity
and pollution. They are because of the different historical experience, as one received
certain advantages in the past in the feudal economic and political structure which the
other was denied. The persons from the lower caste were denied access to educational
institutions for centuries. Hence, one belonging to higher castes has inherited the trad-
ition of education whereas the other has to open a new chapter… Because of the
overall environment of the collectivity, the poor Brahmin boy gets somewhat more
congenial environment for study than the poor Koli boy.
Other differences with Desai pertain to class formation. Desai (1984) observes the
formation of a secular class of individuals cutting across caste identities in contem-
porary Indian society. Shah (1985) argues that even though economic differenti-
ations among the individuals of a particular caste may have widened and this may
have happened in most castes, that does not necessarily lead to formation of class-
consciousness cutting across caste consciousness. Rather, new economic stratification
may have taken place within a caste, but this has not happened at the cost of caste
consciousness. Shah (1985: 134) argues:
I suspect that economic stratification, and not class formation, has taken place within
many castes engaged in agriculture. Economic stratification does influence the life style
and values of the members as the life style of a highly paid industrial worker differs from
that of a low paid worker in the same factory. But such differences do not necessarily
lead to the emergence of antagonistic ‘class interests’. Needless to say, economic
differentiations have yet to cross caste boundaries to lead to the formation of classes.
devoid of features of the caste system, nor completely based on class sentiments.
Sheth (1999: 2508) explains this ‘classisation of caste’ theory:
While the middle class is primarily urban, and it is dominated largely by the upper,
and dominant castes, and elite sections of minorities and ethnic groups, all sections of
Indian society are represented within it, thanks to the spread of education, and massive
affirmative action policies by the state…. Consumerism is an important characteristic
of the middle classes and it is spreading to other sections of society…. Among the
middle classes, similarity of education, lifestyle and proximity, are becoming increasingly
more important than caste in forming friendships, and marriages.
Srinivas (2003: 458) also found this new middle class a more powerful dissolver of
caste than the purely ideological Bhakti Movement of the medieval period or other
social movements. Probably fed up with the ‘reincarnation of caste’, he wished India
to move on towards a more secular social reality, asserting that ‘[a] massive assault on
mass poverty plus rapid economic growth will be the best dissolvers of caste identities.
Membership of the middle class seems to provide a solvent to the caste divisiveness’
(Srinivas, 2003: 459).
Pushpendra (1999) also supports his ‘classisation of caste’ theory through the study
of electoral behaviour of Dalits. A National Survey of the parliamentary elections of
1996 and 1998 conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in
Delhi revealed the presence of a sizeable section of middle class and elite Dalits. It
also recorded that a large section of Scheduled Caste voters belonging to the upper or
upper middle class preferred to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (apparently
an upper caste party), whereas most of the lower class Dalits voted exclusively for the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or other Dalit parties. This adds a political dimension to
the classisation of caste theory. Whereas Pushpendra (1999) explains this development
through the voting behaviour of Dalits, Alam (1999) observes that oppressed castes
have forged a class-like solidarity to fight for equality.
However, scholars of the opposite spectrum have vehemently registered their
protests against the classisation of caste theory, arguing that caste identity has not
dissolved, even though class-based stratification may have become a new reference
point for individuals. Shah (1985) in his reply to Desai (1984) admitted that the
traditional pollution-purity concept may have become diluted in relation to caste.
Nonetheless, caste consciousness has survived all kinds of economic and political
changes and cuts across the different economic classes to sustain the ethnic ideology
of caste ‘we-ness’. Therefore, the social reality is that ‘[p]ersons of different economic
strata of the same caste feel as one… without much effort, whereas one has to make
consistent efforts to feel one with the members of the same economic stratum
belonging to a different caste’ (Shah, 1985: 134). Singh, in private communication
to Desai (1984: 1107) takes a more rigid cultural perspective of caste and comments
in this connection:
Even granting that the process of modernisation and mobility and industrial expansion
has created a serious hiatus between caste status and social status in some parts of the
country, and in some pockets in all parts of the country, the entrenchment of people’s
identity in caste and community remains intact not only endogamously but also
politically and culturally.
Kothari (1994) finds that the rise of Dalits and their socio-political assertion have
re-entrenched caste identity and consciousness. He explains that consciousness of
caste has been ironically invoked by those who have suffered most from the system.
Earlier, it was upper castes that used to invoke caste identities in socio-political life;
today, it is Dalits who do the same, which rather indicates strengthening of the caste
system than its erosion or weakening. Mukherjee (1999: 1761) sums up the debate
by proposing that ‘[t]oday, in India, caste in class depicts the reality, and not caste per
se or caste and class’. Bhambhri (1999: 2619) suggests that caste in India has survived
as an ideological superstructure of Hindu society, an integral part of the social base of
material arrangements for extraction of surplus values, and explains:
… caste has been used as an instrument for the ‘extraction and appropriation of surplus
value’ in Indian agrarian social structure. Caste is both an ideological superstructure
of Hinduism and it is also an integral part of the ‘social base of material arrange-
ments’…Hinduism of every variety is very much in existence as a reference point of
the worldview of the oppressed castes.
Caste and Politics: The Political Assertion of Dalits and Backward Classes
The notable political upsurge of Dalits and Backward Classes in the 1980s and 1990s
has contributed to a number of political developments, including decline in dominance
of the Congress Party and erosion of its social coalition base. Divisive politics and the
proliferation of caste-based political parties led to the simultaneous rise of Brahmanical
and Dalit parties (the BJP and BSP respectively), casteisation of government and
bureaucracy and also violent caste conflicts, with initial consolidation and later frag-
mentation of the OBCs. Hence, studying the causes of the socio-political assertion of
Dalits and Backward Classes and their major consequences for polity and society has
recently acquired more prominence in the discourse on caste, class and politics in India.
‘Democratisation of politics’ and ‘consolidation of democracy’ are important ex-
planations of this phase (Jaffrelot, 2003), while Kohli (2001) has argued that dem-
ocracy in India has acquired greater legitimacy through the widening social base
and enhanced participation of the erstwhile marginalised sections. Phenomena like
caste conflicts, political instability and proliferation of caste-based political parties
have been explained as passing (temporal) developments, which may give way
to more permanent features of the democratisation of politics, strengthening Indian
democracy.
Jaffrelot (2003) calls the political upsurge of Dalits and Backward Classes India’s
‘Silent Revolution’. It is indeed a revolution in the sense that for the first time in Indian
history, the lower castes have been able to exercise political power by snatching it
from the upper castes, made possible through mobilising their numerical superiority in
a parliamentary democracy based on universal adult franchise. This revolution is
silent, as the whole process is incremental without much violence, even though caste
conflicts are very much in evidence. ‘India is therefore’, Jaffrelot (2003: 494) writes:
experimenting with a silent revolution. Power is being transferred, on the whole peace-
fully, from the upper caste elites to various subaltern groups…The relative calm of the
Indian experience is primarily due to the fact that the whole process is incremental.
A major consequence of this silent revolution has been the widening social base of
Indian democracy. It has been transformed largely from a political to a social dem-
ocracy, as Dalits and Backward Classes have increased their representation in gov-
ernment and political parties. Ethnicisation of caste, achieved by Dravidianism in the
Southern and Western parts of India and by the Mandal Commission in North India,
has completed the process of social democracy. Jaffrelot (2003) observes that the long-
standing contradiction between social and political democracy, to which Ambedkar
had earlier drawn attention (Constituent Assembly Debates, 1989: 979) is becoming
gradually reconciled through the socio-political awakening of Dalits and Backward
Classes in the post-Mandal phase.
Atul Kohli has changed his earlier perception of growing crisis of governability
(Kohli, 1990) to speak now of India’s successful democracy (Kohli, 2001), noting that
the social base of Indian democracy, and with it power sharing, has broadened.
Pushpendra (1999) also notes that India’s democratic institutions have acquired greater
legitimacy in this phase. Dalits and Backward Classes, constituting a substantial part
of the population, had till recently been captive voters of the Congress Party and their
political electoral role in Indian politics was defined by voting behaviour based on
patron-client relations. However, in the post-Mandal period, they have been able to
articulate their political interests through exclusive parties like the BSP in Uttar Pradesh
and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar. Nadkarni (1997) prefers to call this a
‘broadening process’, whereby erstwhile marginalised sections of society become a
part of mainstream social, political and economic life. Khilnani (1999: 60) adds that
the idea of democracy has ‘irreversibly entered the Indian political imagination…A
return to the old order of castes…is inconceivable: the principle of authority in society
has been transformed’.
Kothari (1994) still prefers to study the Dalit and Backward Class upsurge in
the old-fashioned tradition-modernity framework. Seeing their invocation of caste
identity and use of numerical strength to obtain political power as a ‘secular upsurge’,
he argues that this caste-based mobilisation of Dalits and Backward Classes may
prove of great emancipatory value and lead to processes of social change. His other
important reading is that the Dalit upsurge also represents an alternative to other
social movements, given that liberal democratic and left-Marxist models have failed
to liberate them from the oppressive social system and to make much impact on their
socio-economic conditions.
Apart from understanding the political rise of Dalits and Backward Classes, the
contemporary discourse on caste and politics has to answer many new paradoxical
developments. It has been presumed for long that the upper castes are the oppressors
and exploiters of Dalits. But the emergence of new oppressors from the OBCs like
Yadavs and Jats shows a different reality. For example, what will explain the deep
political antagonism between the BSP and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh,
between the RJD and the Samata Party, now the Janata Dal-U in Bihar? In other recent
A massive assault on mass poverty plus rapid economic growth will be the best dissolvers
of caste identities. Membership of the middle class seems to provide a solvent to the
caste divisiveness…The situation may be summed up by saying that a variety of forces
are bringing about the destruction of the caste-based system of production in the villages
and at the local level…On the other hand, individual castes are competing with each
other for access to secular benefits. The conflict is likely to become sharper. India’s
revolution seems destined to be a slow, bleeding one, largely unrecognised by the middle
classes in urban areas….The moral to be drawn is that an ideological attack on caste
which is not backed up or underpinned by a mode of social production ignoring or
violating caste-based division of labour, is totally inadequate. A combination of wholly
new technologies, institutions, based on new principles, and a new ideology which
includes democracy, equality and the idea of human dignity and self-respect has to be
in operation for a considerable time in order to uproot the caste system.
Ideological challenges and socio-economic change, thus have to go hand in hand and
no single method of getting rid of ‘caste’ and the various types of consciousness re-
lated to it are feasible. But as Srinivas (2003) also pointedly notes throughout, pol-
iticians are likely to exploit caste consciousness. Thus, do we blame political scientists
for the ‘cultivation’ of caste?
The role of social science discourse as an interdisciplinary enterprise comes in
precisely here. Complex interdisciplinary research is required to define new paradigms
of public-political life to de-legitimise old ones. Unfortunately, social science debates
on caste, class and politics in India have so far not been able to displace caste from
the centre-stage of public-political life, while opinions remain divided over caste-
based reservation policy and caste-based politics. Desai’s (1984) frontal attack on
caste-based reservation policy degenerated into a highly politicised caste-class debate
and therefore could not make much progress. More importantly, the 1990 decision
of the V.P. Singh Government to implement caste-based reservations in government
services for the OBCs, as recommended by the Mandal Commission and its legal-
judicial endorsement by the Supreme Court seems to have settled the debate further
in favour of the ‘caste equals class’ approach.
Whatever may be the merits of the caste-based reservation policy and its theoretical
version, caste-based political modernisation and democratisation of politics through
caste remain inherently flawed, encouraging retrograde processes and discouraging
progressive routes of modernisation and democratisation. For example, caste-politics
has not allowed Indian democracy to move sufficiently towards a policy-based, goal-
oriented politics and has also discouraged articulation of secular interests through
politics. Issues of governance and economic development have not acquired enough
prominence in electoral politics. This is also one major reason that the economic
reforms of the 1990s were not introduced through open democratic politics but
‘through stealth’ (Jenkins, 1999).
Suri (2004) argues that the issue of economic reforms has little impact on electoral
verdicts. Similarly, caste-based reservation policy and its politicisation robbed the
Backward Class movements of many positive agenda. Even the Mandal Commission
Report was reduced to reservation policy, though it had many positive things (like
land reforms) for the Backward Classes in store. Dalit and Backward Class movements,
which should have become a vehicle for total social, political and economic upliftment
of Dalits and Backward Classes, would not be able to utilise their transforming
potentialities as long as they remain narrowly focussed on identity and representative
politics. The limits of caste-based reservation politics and dangers of sectarian promises
appear exemplified by the violent conflicts in summer 2007 between OBC Gujjars
and ST Meenas in Rajasthan, the former agitating to obtain ST status and the latter
protesting against inclusion of Gujjars into the ST list. So long as it remains desirable
for some to argue for ‘more backward’ status, such problems will raise their head.
Hence, the prospects for full debate at present seem restricted. Contemporary
social science discourse on caste, class and politics in India faces the challenge to set
positive agenda for change by moving beyond caste-class debates and by defining
new paradigms of public policy and new instruments of politics in the wider public
interest of a nation composed of many competing elements. Social and political move-
ments in contemporary India have failed to articulate comprehensive secular models
of change and have not moved much beyond traditional symbols and goals. It appears
that social and political movements have to borrow and adapt programmes of action
from other social science discourses. In Western societies, many progressive movements
have been fired from the ideological canons of the intelligentsia. In our own history
of renaissance and freedom struggle, ideological battles were launched first. In the
contemporary Indian society, the intelligentsia seem to follow the path of social and
political leaders. The process needs to be reversed. This is the broader challenge, a
major ongoing task for social science discourse in contemporary India.
References
Ahmad, Imtiaz (ed.) (1978) Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India. Delhi:
Manohar.
Alam, Javeed (1999) ‘Is Caste Appeal Casteism? Oppressed Castes in Politics’. Economic and
Political Weekly, 34(13): 757–61.
Barth, Fredrik (1960) ‘The System of Social Stratification in Swat, North Pakistan’. In E.R. Leach
(ed.) Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon and North Pakistan (pp. 113– 46). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Beteille, André (1966) Caste, Class and Power. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Beteille, André (1969) Caste Old and New. Essays in Social Stratification. Delhi: Asia Publishing
House.
Bhambhri, C.P. (1999) ‘Dialectics of Caste and Casteism’. Economic and Political Weekly,
34(36): 2619–20.
Constituent Assembly Debates (1989). Reprint Vol. XI, Book 5. New Delhi: Lok Sabha
Secretariat.
Desai, A.R. (1975) State and Society in India: Essays in Dissent. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Desai, I.P. (1984) ‘Should “Caste” be the Basis for Recognising Backwardness?’. Economic
and Political Weekly, 19(28): 1106–16.
Dumont, Louis (1998 [1966]) Homo Hierarchicus. Reprint. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Ghurye, G.S. (1950) Caste and Class in India. Bombay: Popular Book Depot.
Ghurye, G.S. (1961) Caste Class and Occupation. Bombay: Popular Prakashan.
Gough, Kathleen (1977) ‘Colonial Economics in Southeast India’. Economic and Political
Weekly, 12(13): 541–54.
Gough, Kathleen (1980) ‘Modes of Production in Southern India’. Economic and Political
Weekly, 15(5, 6 &7): 337–64.
Harrison, Selig (1960) India. The Most Dangerous Decades. Madras: Oxford University Press.
Hocart, A.M. (1950) Caste: A Comparative Study. London: Methuen.
Hutton, J.M. (1946) Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origin. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003) India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low Castes in North Indian
Politics. Delhi: Permanent Black.
Jenkins, Rob (1999) Democratic Politics and Economic Reforms in India. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Khilnani, Sunil (1999) (ed.) The Idea of India. Delhi: Penguin Books India.
Kohli, Atul (1990) Democracy and Discontent: Growing Crisis of Governability. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Kohli, Atul (ed.) (2001) The Success of India’s Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kothari, Rajni (1970a) Politics in India. Delhi: Orient Longman.
Kothari, Rajni (ed.) (1970b) Caste in Indian Politics. Delhi: Orient Longman.
Kothari, Rajni (1994) ‘Rise of the Dalits and the Renewed Debate on Caste’. Economic and
Political Weekly, 29(26): 1589–94.
Kothari, Rajni (1997) ‘Caste and Modern Politics’. In S. Kaviraj (ed.) Politics in India (pp. 57–70).
New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels (1958) Selected Works. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing
House.
Mukherjee, Ramkrishna (1981) ‘Realities of Agrarian Relations in India’. Economic and Political
Weekly, 16(4): 109–16.
Mukherjee, Ramkrishna (1999) ‘Caste in Itself, Caste and Class, or Caste in Class’. Economic
and Political Weekly, 34(27): 1759–61.
Nadkarni, M.V. (1997) ‘Broadbasing Process in India and Dalits’. Economic and Political Weekly,
32(34): 2160–71.
Omvedt, Gail (ed.) (1982) Land, Caste and Politics in Indian States. Delhi: Teaching Politics.
Pocock, D.F. (1955) ‘The Movements of Castes’. Man (May): 71–2.
Pushpendra (1999) ‘Dalit Assertion Through Electoral Politics’. Economic and Political Weekly,
34(36): 2609–18.
Rudolph, Lloyd I. and Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber (1969) The Modernity of Tradition: Political
Development in India. Delhi: Orient Longman.
Shah, Ghanshyam (1985) ‘Caste, Class and Reservation’. Economic and Political Weekly, 20(3):
132–6.
Sharma, K.L. (1980) Essays on Social Stratification. Jaipur: Rawat.
Sheth, D.L. (1999) ‘Secularisation of Caste and Making of New Middle Class’. Economic
and Political Weekly, 34(34–35): 2502–10.
Singer, Milton and Cohn, Bernard (1968) Structure and Change in Indian Societies. Chicago:
Aldine.
Singh, Yogendra (1986) Modernization of Indian Tradition. Jaipur: Rawat.
Srinivas, M.N. (1962) Caste in Modern India and Other Essays. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.
Srinivas, M.N. (ed.) (1996) Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar. New Delhi: Viking Penguin.
Srinivas, M.N. (2003) ‘An Obituary on Caste as a System’. Economic and Political Weekly,
38(5): 455–9.
Suri, K.C. (2004) ‘Democracy, Economic Reforms and Election Results in India’. Economic
and Political Weekly, 39(51): 5404–11.
Weber, Max (2002 [1958]) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Reprint London:
Routledge.