Delimitation debate: gender vs regional, caste identities https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/delimitation-debate-gender-vs-regional-caste-identities/article67327620.ece September 20, 2023 The next delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies will involve two shifts — from the southern to northern and eastern States, and from men to women across India “Northern States like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have decennial growth rates of 12% to 15%, whereas, in the southern States, the decennial growth rates range between 6% and 10%. .. In the process, the serious concerns regarding the diminishing say of States that have stabilised their populations in the affairs of the Union could possibly be overshadowed by the countrywide unanimity on women’s empowerment.
So the proposed expansion of women’s representation in lawmaking will weaken not only politics around regional identity, but also autonomous OBC politics in the Hindi heartland. The BJP had already subsumed caste identity politics within its Hindutva umbrella to a significant extent in the heartland.