Caste and Politics - Indian Polity | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

Caste comes from the Portuguese word 'casta' meaning group. Caste refers to social group where the membership is decided by birth. According to Hindu philosophy caste system originated from the four varnas (Brahmin, Kashatriya, Vaishya and Shudra); these as can be traced from the Purusukta Mandal (X part) of the Rig Veda.

Currently caste, through a united effort of its members to assert themselves, has intruded both into politics and administration mainly through franchise and institutions like the Panchayati Raj. In their pursuit of power, the political parties and politicians endeavour to mobilise social groups to build as wide a support base of themselves as possible. The process of politics is one of identifying and manipulating existing structures to mobilise political support. Caste being one of the most identifiable clusters, whose members can be motivated for collective action, politicians are understandably keen to exploit is to their advantage. Generally, castesm means exploitation of caste consciousness for narrow political gains. 

This practice has  its serious implication on the political system:

1. Caste being a separatist notion, becomes as threat to national integration when it is practised of narrow political ends.
2. It violates the envisaged ideals in the Constitution, viz, Justice, equality, and above all fraternity, assuring the unity and the integrity of the nation.
3. Its practice is retrogressive. Practised mainly during the election, it vitiates the atmosphere and weakens the modernisation of polity.
4. Casteism leads to the creation of caste organisations and lobbied which become impediments to the building up of a secular state.

Caste system is most explicitly evident in voting behaviour. The caste factor is considered during the ticket distribution, too.

The impact of caste is not uniform at all levels of the political system. The impact is most potent at the grassroots level, where face-to-face social contacts and small size of constituencies make the mobilisation of caste votes crucial for election success. The politics of Panchayati Raj institutions is almost exclusively caste politics. The caste dimension becomes progressively less prominent at the higher level of politics as the constituents become larger in geographical spread and increasingly multi-caste in their social composition. 

In Party programmes, too, caste loyalties are cut across to appeal to all castes through its programme.

The relevance of caste does not cease to exist but its effect at the higher level is marginal rather than decisive. With growing politicisation of the middle classes and growing awareness among the lower castes about their rights and government programmes, the caste factor is bound to remain sidelined.

Caste-politics interaction is most intense in the most backward regions. In developed regions, caste consciousness is replaced by political and ideological consciousness. Some state are more susceptible to the impact of caste than others. Bihar and U.P. are the most caste-prone states. The pattern of caste competition differs widely. In some states, bilateral configuration is a marked characteristic of the caste profile. Examples are : the Reddy-Khamma conflict in Andhra, the Nayar-Ezhava polarisation in Kerala, and the Lingayat-Vokkaliga tug of war in Karnataka.

The role of caste, however, seems to be declining in Indian politics. Barring the local village panchayat levels, its activism is missing at the national level. This has a pragmatic rather than ideological dimension. The candidate may find his election prospects bleak if he is openly aligned with a single caste. The caste-politics nexus is weakened also by the dynamics of urbanisation ,industrialisation and modernisation. No political party can function with the style of a caste group, it has to look beyond the caste structure and appeal to all caste through its programmes.

Indian politics has often been decried as caste ridden politics. But since caste is an integral feature of our society, any talk of politics without caste would mean politics devoid of social content. In fact, the caste-politics relationship is dialectical : if politics gets affected by caste, caste also gets influenced by politics that is caste-ridden, but that caste is politicised.

Due to its politicisation, caste has undergone some significant structural change. One noteworthy structural change is the mushrooming growth of caste associations and caste federations. These organisations are the brain-children of modern politics.

Many caste groups are mobilised into politics.Harijans and numerous other  castes, branded as socially and educationally backward have suddenly become politically active in the late 1980s. But their politicisation has not led to any improvement of their lot. Instead, privileged classes have risen within the underprivileged class because of caste mobilisation.

To conclude, it is erroneous to blame only caste.The interaction between caste and politics is a twoway process of politicisation of caste and institutionalisation of politics.