BJP, Congress eye sub-division of identity politics
Image credit X.com
Supreme Court sub-categorizes identity politics
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 5: Akhilesh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav smelt the changing fragrance of the identity politics in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively during the Lok Sabha elections. They downsized the ‘political MY (Muslims and Yadavs)’ to spread the caste net far and wide.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) gave an ascendancy to the political aspirations of Jatavs in Uttar Pradesh. Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) founder late Ram Vilas Paswan carved out a niche electoral constituency with the Paswan vote base.
Watch: UK Riots & AI I AI द्वारा बनाई गई वायरल तस्वीरों के कारण इंग्लैंड में दंगे फैल गए I
Sub-regional satraps built their political stocks in different states by pandering to dominant castes. Netas with bases among the Meena vied for space of reckoning with Jats in Rajasthan.
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court verdict with a 6:1 verdict for the sub-categorisation potentially threatens to rock the comforts of the identity politics. The national political parties have for long longed to scorch the supply lines of identity votes of the regional outfits.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the past had experimented Pasi leadership to test the BSP supremo Mayawati’s sweeping influence in the Dalit vote base. The SP after years of experiments tasted sweet success with the Pasi experiment in UP.
Watch: Jharkhand Assembly Election I विधानसभा चुनाव में भाजपा को पूरी तस्वीर दिखा दी जाएगी, हेमंत सोरेन
The BJP gave a lifeline to Chirag Paswan to extend the lifespan of a Paswan-led Dalit politics in Bihar. The BJP’s electoral tactics was strategically planned to complement the Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar’s base among the Mahadalit (non-Paswan scheduled castes). This checkmated M-Y-EBC experiment of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Lok Sabha poll.
The criticism of the Supreme Court has predictably come from the BSP and the LJP (Ram Vilas). Both benefited from the identity politics of dominant castes within the Dalit electoral constituency.
“Social oppression is more perverse than political oppression of the scheduled castes and tribes,” argued the BSP supremo and former chief minister of UP, Mayawati. She carefully chose her words.
Watch: Middle East Tension I ईरान द्वारा युद्ध की धमकी के बीच अमेरिका ने युद्धपोतों को क्षेत्र में भेजा I
The Constitution validates the idea of reservation, of making a positive discrimination in favour of a few, on the basis of social backwardness. Parliament and the political class have stayed away from applying critical scrutiny of the spread of the reservation benefits within the SCs and the STs.
It, thus, was once again left for the Supreme Court to apply the critical lens on the ‘holy cow’ of the reservation. The idea of introducing the creamy layer ceiling came as an accompanying thought of the apex court verdict.
Mayawati is now on the political margins of UP. If not for the largess of the BJP, Chirag Paswan and his fledgling outfit may have struggled. The political assertions of non-dominant scheduled castes suggest the changing political dynamics.
The Rohini Commission Report is gathering dust with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. This commission gave report on the sub-categorization.
The politics of socialism had transformed into the politics of identity after late former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh pitchforked Mandal at the centre stage. That brought windfall gains to Yadav leaders in UP and Bihar to carve out family-owned political enterprises.
The Supreme Court by validating sub-categorization has thrown another pivot. This is for the ruling BJP to grab. The sub-division of identity politics is a low-hanging fruit for the BJP, as well as the Congress.
Join WhatsApp channel of The Raisina Hills
About The Author
