Caste Politics

Hopelessness and Despair in Bihar: Misgovernance does not Matter, Caste does

There is no connection between politics, elections and governance in Bihar. It is instead caste that defines both society and politics: caste parties and caste-based alliances seek to get the better…
▶16-Jul-2024
Apoorvanand, Neel Madhav

Chandrashekhar Azad and Dalit Politics in Uttar Pradesh

The Azad Samaj Party represents both a crisis following the fracturing of the Dalit movement and a possible future regeneration under a new Ambedkarite organisation.
▶27-Jun-2024
Sudha Pai

The Meat of the Matter: How to Fight Casteism and Communalism

Conspicuous consumption of meat in India is often a counter to the idea of 'purity' associated with vegetarianism. An alternative is possible: one that advocates for both animals and…
▶19-Dec-2023
Anjor Bhaskar

Can a Caste Census Reverse the BJP's Advantage in Wooing Lower Castes?

A caste census may not transform the course of electoral politics. But bringing caste contradictions to the fore could give the social justice parties a strategy to woo lower castes that have drifted…
▶27-Nov-2023
Pankaj Kumar

The Politics over California’s Anti-Caste Bill

Anxiety amongst upper-caste diaspora that their narrative about a benign Indian culture would be undone lies at the heart of the opposition to California’s bill to ban caste discrimination.
▶30-Aug-2023
Prabodh Jamwal, Anuradha Bhasin

Lessons from a Dalit Protest in Punjab

Dalit labour organisations in Punjab have sought support from farm unions led by dominant castes. Such collaborations serve tactical purposes but also constrain the organisations' autonomy to…
▶24-May-2023
Jatinder Singh
Review

Making the State Accountable

A compelling story about citizen-led movements, government accountability, village politics, and decentralisation in Bihar.
▶03-Mar-2022
Rohit Chandra

Understanding Small Caste-Based Political Parties in India

The story of the Vikassheel Insaan Party or VIP, a party of the Nishad community in Bihar, is important for understanding the positives and negatives of the rise of small caste-based political…
▶07-Aug-2019
Sarthak Bagchi

The New Modi Wave as Seen from Eastern UP

Ahead of the May elections, observers in Gorakhpur in eastern UP could sense a groundswell of support for the BJP. The old caste dynamics had broken down and the efficient delivery of welfare…
▶09-Jul-2019
Shashank Chaturvedi, Sanjay Kumar Pandey, David N. Gellner