CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT India's Silent Revolution The Rise ofthe Low Castes in North Indian Politics permanent black
CONTENTS Acknowledgements page ν Introduction 1 The North-South opposition 5 The two ages of democracy in India 6 Part I. CONGRESS IN POWER OR INDIA AS A CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRACY 11 1. The Gandhian sources of Congress conservatism 13 Reformism and social organicism in Gandhi`s thought 14 The conflict between Gandhi and Ambedkar 19 The conservative influence of Gandhi on the Congress in North India 25 Congress and social transformation: an empty discourse? 31 The thwarting of land reform: the case of Uttar Pradesh 32 The problem of planning and the agricultural cooperatives 45 2. The Congress: party of the intelligentsia, or party of the notables? 48 The Congress intelligentsia - unevenly progressive 52 Congress 'Vote Banks' politics 64 3. The Congress Party and the Scheduled Castes: reservations and co-option 89 The reservation policy: the smokescreen of the egalitarian discourse 91 What party for the Scheduled Castes? 102 4. Indira Gandhi, the populist repertoire and the aborted reform of Congress 115 Towards a new Congress? 116 How to transform Congress into a cadre-based party? 131 vii
viii Contents The Emergency: suspending democracy, a condition for social reforms? 136 Part IL THE UNEVEN EMANCIPATION OF THE LOWER CASTES: NON-BRAHMINS IN THE SOUTH, OBCs IN THE NORTH 144 5. Caste transformations in the South and West: ethnicisation and positive discrimination 147 The non-brahmin movement in Maharashtra: an ideology of empowerment 153 From non-brahminism to Dravidianism in Tamil Nadu 166 The Non-Brahmin as a bureaucratic creation: the quest for empowerment 172 Caste federations: the case of Gujarat 180 6. Were there Low Caste movements in North India? 185 The Kayasths os Chandraguptas 185 Sanskritisafion and Division among Yadavs and Kurmis 187 The Νοrth Indian Untouchables, Sanskritisation and bhakti 199 7. Caste as the building block of the Other Backward Classes': the impact of reservations 214 How to discriminate positively? The constitutional debate 215 The first 'Backward Classes'Commission or the partial concealment of caste 221 TheAIBCFand the quotas: an ephemeral low-castes front 229 Reservation policies: the North-South contrast 237 Part III. QUOTA POLITICS AND KISAN POLITICS: COMPLEMENTARITY AND COMPETITION 254 8. The Socialists as defenders of the Lower Castes, Jat politicians as advocates of the peasants 254 The Socialists and the Low Castes 256
Contents ix Kisan politics and the mobilisation of the Jat farmers 271 Charan Singh's marginalisation within the Uttar Pradesh Congress 289 9. The quest for power and the first Janata Government 305 The BLD: a joint venture 305 The Janata experiment 309 The Mandai Commission: the reservation issue revisited at the Centre 320 When the North lags behind: reservation policies outside the Hindi Belt in the 1980s 324 The Lok Dal fighting for Mandai 327 10. The Janata Dal and the rise to power of the Low Castes 335 Quota politics takes over 335 Caste polarization around Mandai 343 The electoral fallout of the Mandal affair 349 Geographical unevenness 352 Are the OBCs a social and political category? 363 11. The renewal of Dalit politics: The B.S.P. party of the Bahujans? 387 Kanshi Ram and the Bahujan Samaj: from interest group to political force 388 Towards a 'bahujan'front? 396 Using Ladders to Attain power... and Consolidating the Dalit vote bank 409 Part IV: THE UPPER CASTES' POLITICAL DOMINATION ON TRIAL: THE CONGRESS(I), THE BJP AND MANDAL 426 12. The Congress(I) and the 'Coalition of Extremes' revisited 427 The end of a catch-all party 428 The Congress accommodating strategy in Madhya Pradesh: a new version of the 'Coalition of Extremes' pattern 435
x Contents 13. The Hindu Nationalist division of labour: Sewa Bharti and the BJP between Sanskritisation and 'social engineering The welfarist strategy of Sewa Bharti 454 The BJP from Sanskritisation to graded 'social engineering* 14. Conclusion Select Bibliography Index 501 TABLES 1.1. Distribution of operational holdings in India by size group, 1953-72 2.1. Caste and religion of delegates to the Annual Sessions of the 49 Congress, 1919-23 2.2. Profession of Delegates to the Annual Sessions of Congress, 1919-23 50 2.3. Caste and community of non-muslim members of the assembly of Bombay Presidency, 1920-37 2.4. Caste and community of Uttar Pradesh Congress MLAs, 1952-62 67 2.5. Caste and community of Congress Cadres in Uttar Pradesh, 1964-8 68 2.6. Caste and community of members of the Uttar Pradesh Government, 1937-67 70-1 2.7. Caste and community of Congress MLAs in Bihar, 1957-62 72 2.8. Caste and community of members of the Pradesh Congress Committee of Bihar, 1947-60 73 2.9. Caste of Congress candidates to the Rajasthan Assembly, 1952-67 75 2.10. Caste and community of Congress MLAs and in parentheses of all MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly, 1952-67 76 2.11. Caste and community in the Congress Government of Rajasthan, 1952-67 77 2.12. Caste and community of Congress MLAs and (in parentheses) of all MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, 1957-67 81 2.13. Caste and community of members of the Congress Government in Madhya Pradesh, 1953-67 82 2.14. Caste and community of Congress MPs and (in parentheses) of all MPs elected in the Hindi Belt, 1952-67 83 44 51