The tactical dimension of the caste census apart, it will have long time substantial effects: even if fewer jatis than expected benefited from Mandal at first, the implementation of Mandal II, or reservation in higher educational institutions in 2006, helped thousands of young men and women experience upward social mobility.
https://thewire.in/politics/caste-versus-hindutva-again
Since the 1980s – even before Mandal – two political repertoires are in competition in the Indian public sphere: caste politics and Hindutva. This dialectic started in Gujarat when the BJP reacted to the reservation policies of Madhavsinh Solanki by promoting anti-Muslim polarisation in order to create a Hindu vote bank transcending caste-based divisions – a strategy that implied communal violence.
The dialectic between caste politics and Hindutva may be at a critical juncture again for good reasons as well as by default. First, paradoxically, the completion of the Ram Mandir is affecting the Sangh parivar’s mobilisation power. For decades its followers fought for what they considered their rights against an illegitimate mosque – and in the name of a sacred cause. But they’ve arrived and a kind of anti-climax is now palpable: they’ve achieved a decades-old objective, but this is not changing the face of the earth. But why should caste politics be more attractive than class-based issues for the opposition? For many reasons. First, caste and class overlap to a great extent – even though a small Dalit bourgeoisie and a larger OBC middle class are shaping up. Second, these two emerging social groups are primarily the products of caste-based positive discrimination – so much so that even dominant castes like the Marathas are asking for reservations.
by Christophe Jaffrelot
09/082024