Mainstream Weeklyby Kunal Kumar Yadav
The emergence of new caste-class equation in India is a phenomenon which needs serious attention and an indepth analysis. The movement of the lower castes’ affiliation towards the cultural narrative has given a new direction to the political process in India. Caste, as it was seen a decade earlier, has completely changed its structure and interactive mechanism. The new prosperity which has come to India in the post-liberalisation, post-globalisation phase has completely changed the interacting mechanism of one caste group with another. Earlier, caste was synonymous with class in the society and an upper caste almost always belonged to the upper class also. But the changing caste-class equilibrium in the 21st century has given a new direction to the political behaviour of the so- called Homo Hierarchicus, in the words of Louis Dumont.
The analyses of the 16th and the 17th Lok Sabha elections essentially point towards this new phenomenon. Before these elections caste was a direct indicator of the political behaviour of the masses and most of the regional political parties banked on the caste affiliation of the masses for general and State elections. The voters of a particular caste and religion were seen as the vote-banks in India which almost always voted on the caste lines. The Congress, the Left and other regional political parties, like the RJD, SP, BSP, BJD etc. were the chief beneficiaries of the vote-bank politics. Caste and political behaviour were always entangled and any deviance was a far possibility. The caste loyalty almost always changed into political outcome in a very predictable manner due to the governing economics of power and resource- sharing factors. Voting for own’s own caste was considered to be the most rational behaviour by the caste communities. Caste almost always determined the way to power and only through the caste loyal political behaviour, the individual members could maximise their share in the social pool of resources.
But, in the 16th and then the 17th Lok Sabha elections this logic of caste-based political behaviour was completely shattered, at least in the Hindi heartland, where the caste rules. Regional political parties, like the RJD, SP and BSP suffered major setbacks; these traditionally rely on vote-bank politics. The BJP, which is a national political party, was the major beneficiary of this demise of the vote-bank caste-based politics. The BJP’s political agenda revolves around cultural nationalism and during the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha elections, combined with the narrative of development, created a miracle. The politics of cultural nationalism, which is essentially Brahmanical and an extension of upper-caste political narrative, was somehow neutralised by the politically neutral narrative of development. Narendra Modi, as the brand ambassador of development, projected himself as a