UP and Caste Politics



This piece actually was a result of a discussion I had with my wife on the UP election results. I started writing this immediately after the results but it could be completed only now. This delay however helped me understand the post-election analysis and various media reports. So this piece is not what it originally started off with. Nevertheless, here I go.

As before, here's the update for the latecomers. UP being one of the most unruly states, often competing with Bihar on lawlessness, the Election Commission conducted the assembly elections in five phases. The election campaign saw some exciting events. Rahul Gandhi, heir to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, went on a campaign spree and uttered some horrible political bloopers that saw Congress blushing. BJP, after flamboyantly releasing a communally inflammatory Video CD, backtracked when it became a legal issue and even said that the CD that was released by the state party president in a function was different from the one that was handed out to the media there. The brazen Hindutva bravery was reduced to a mean cowardly joke. Mulayam, the incumbent Chief Minister swaggered that voting for Mayawati, his rival was equivalent to sentencing him to five years of jail term. Mayavati, the last contestant in that four-pronged battle, competed with BJP to own up the Hindu gods.

Mayavati won. And how. The leader of Bahujan Samaj Party, the flag bearer of the cause of Dalit in Uttar Pradesh had fielded more than half of Brahmin and upper caste and nearly one third of Muslim candidates. The media could understand the Islamic card but not the upper caste one. Baffled at Mayavati's excessive affection, they even called the BSP the new and improved BJP. Nevertheless, the new and improved BJP actually worked and after nearly 16 years, the state of Uttar Pradesh voted for a majority government. And they have installed the party that had 'all community' representation.

Almost a month after the election results, the media and the political parties are still wondering how BSP has achieved this feat. Some media houses like Outlook, which always sensationalised news, has featured a cover story that announced the 'Return of the Brahmin'. I saw an Islamic magazine that had their cover screaming 'How Muslims voted in the majority government in UP'. Some called it simple opportunism.

I have a my own viewpoint though. I don't believe it is to do with the Brahmin Returning or BSP painting itself saffron. I feel that UP is the sample of what is generally happening in the rest of the country and reflects truly the sensitivity of India. It is about the political leaders simply making use of the prevailing trends to encash benefits.

Unlike other states, the Brahmins and the upper castes are a sizeable chunk in UP. Many political parties have been ignoring this fact and running after backward and Muslims. The upper castes too, who were all along with the BJP and now disillusioned, have been letting their vote scatter through. Since every party in UP runs after a set of castes, they lose the votes from the 'other' rival castes. Mayavati perhaps realised this and decided to consolidate them all once. So it’s like where upper caste is dominant, field their candidate, where Muslims live, field them and same goes for Dalits as well.

The media now says that for the first time, the Brahmins have voted 'tactically'. It sounds as if Brahmins held a conference together to decide on this or a community leader declared that their votes should go to Mayavati. It is none of this I guess. The theory that everyone has voted tactically also tries to bury the fact that people in general wanted Mulayam out. Since neither Congress nor BJP had a powerful leader to provide a strong contest, Mayavati filled the gap. Her 'tactic' of bringing all communities under one nest simply helped.

The rest of the India might be keenly watching these developments but chances of replicating this elsewhere is quite remote. For the upper caste does not constitute as much majority elsewhere as they do in UP and often the election is fought on the strength of the leadership rather than the issues. Caste-related issues are a passé and do not fire up enough to swing outcomes.

Socially, as India is maturing as a democracy and a developing economy, the caste aspects are becoming a comfortable reality. Just like how linguistic differences are mere data and not a conflict, so is someone's caste identity. Such identities, used to be a problem before, are simple labels that people carry with ease. Surprisingly, even the media, which used to be averse to these, has become quite used to it and all the pre-election analysis are done as to which caste will vote for whom, etc. The politicians have understood this and instead of whipping up the emotions, they have learned to cohesively coax the caste identities.

Since caste-identity and politicking on the caste difference is constitutionally illegal, these activities were not spelt out openly. Mayavati's brazen initiative has brought it out in open.

Otherwise, this isn't doom for UP. Nor is it great news. As a ruler, Mayavati isn't going to be any better or worse than her predecessors. As for the caste factor, the Brahmin has not really returned.

And nor has the Dalit and the backwards gone.