Question

What is the relationship b/w caste
and politics?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Caste politics. Castes in Indian society refer to a social group where membership is decided by birth. Members of such local groups are endogamous, i.e. they tend to enter into marital relationships amongthemselves. They often have relatedpolitical preferences.

Answer 2

Answer:

The relationship between caste and politics has been analysed at two lev­els: one, how caste affects politics, and two, how politics affects caste. We will first take up the relationship in terms of awareness of castes in poli­tics.

The Awareness:

The interest and awareness of various castes in politics may be studied in terms of four factors: interest of castes in politics, political knowledge and political awareness of castes, identification of castes with political parties, and influence of castes on political affairs. These four aspects were studied by Anil Bhatt in the 1970s by studying 1,713 persons of high, middle, and low castes with different backgrounds in four states (Uttar Pradesh, Gu­jarat, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh).

Analysing the political interest by taking all castes together, he found that about 25 per cent castes had high interest in politics, 45 per cent had moderate interest, and 30 per cent had no interest at all. With regard to the awareness of political changes and major political problems in the country, he found that higher castes had more interest than the middle and the lower castes. He did not find any relationship between caste status and identification with political par­ties. Lastly, he found that some high castes are politically influential while middle and low castes dominate only in few villages.

The Relationship:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

 

Rajni Kothari (1970) examined the relationship between caste and politics by analysing the issue as to what happens to political system because of the vote of castes. He found that three factors—education, government patronage, and slowly expanding franchise (including 18-21 year old young persons in electorate)—have penetrated the caste system because of which it (caste system) has come to affect democratic politics in the coun­try. Economic opportunity, administrative patronage, and positions of power offered by the new institutions and the new leadership drew castes into politics.

This involvement (of castes in politics) resulted in two things: the caste system made available to the leadership the structural and the ideological basis for political mobilisation, and two, leadership was forced to make concessions to local opinion and organise castes for eco­nomic and political purposes.

The use of caste in politics was analysed by Rajni Kothari (1970) in two different stages. The first stage involved intellectuals, and antagonism and resentment between high entrenched castes (like Reddi in Andhra Pradesh, Pattidars in Gujarat, Lingayats in Karnataka, Bhumihars in Bi­har, and Rajputs in Rajasthan) and high ascendant castes (like Kayastha in Bihar, Jats in Rajasthan).

The second stage involved factionalism and frag­mentation within the competing (entrenched and ascendant) castes as a result of which multi-caste and multi-factional alignments develop. The lower castes also are brought in to support high caste leaders and to strengthen a faction.

four conclusions from the present relationship be­tween caste and politics:

(1) New elite structure has emerged in politics which is drawn from dif­ferent castes but shares a common secular outlook and is homogeneous in terms of some values.

(2) Castes have assumed new organisational form Thus (i) caste associa­tions are now functioning at various levels (universities, hostels, clubs, government offices, and so forth; (ii) caste conferences have be­come broad-based; and (iii) caste federations have emerged.

(3) Castes have started functioning on factional basis. These factions di­vide not only political groups but also social groups.

(4) The caste identifications have given a new relevance to the electorate system. It is not only the large castes which affect politics but also the smaller castes which have become important in seeking votes.