New Delhi. As the results of the Lok Sabha elections are eagerly awaited, political analysts have said that this year’s election was “one of the most polarised elections” in which various parties used “caste and religion” to garner votes. They said that while on the one hand the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) focused on integrating various backward castes into the Hindutva camp, on the other hand the opposition ‘India’ alliance tried to garner votes of other backward classes (OBCs) by promising to conduct a caste survey if it came to power.
Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit organisation working on electoral reforms, said this election was one of the most polarised elections ever. “There has been polarisation on the basis of caste, religion and region. This did not happen before. Caste has always been an important factor in mobilising voters in elections. But here both caste and religion-based politics dominated,” he told PTI. Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Ansari, associate professor at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), mentioned that the regrouping of castes has posed a challenge to the BJP.
He said the issues raised by the ‘India’ alliance such as unemployment and inflation and its promise to conduct a caste-based survey if voted to power had dented the BJP’s carefully cultivated OBC vote bank. The BJP’s ‘social engineering’ has been focused on integrating various backward castes under the Hindutva camp. Ansari said in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party did ‘social engineering’ by forming a ‘PDA’ (backward, Dalit and minority) alliance. In Bihar, the political scenario was shaped by the ‘Maai-Baap’ (Muslim, Yadav, Bahujan, Agada, Aadhi Aabadi and Poor: poor section:) alliance.
In Maharashtra, Marathas and Muslims united under Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), he claimed. In states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, OBC politics continues to be influential due to the legacy of social reformers like Periyar. Ansari said the Mandal Commission’s impact was more in North India, where influential castes like Yadavs and Kurmis benefited, while extremely backward castes were left behind in the race. Sushila Ramaswamy, professor of political science at Jesus and Mary College, said caste and religion are important factors, but their influence is limited.
He told PTI-Bhasha, “Caste is a fundamental reality in the Indian context but there are limits to caste-based mobilization. Identity politics in caste and religion has its own limitations. People now aspire to live a good life.” Caste-based equations are still important but the rise of temple-centric politics has underlined the importance of mobilization for votes on religious grounds. These elections have proved that ‘Mandal’ and ‘Kamandal’ still dominate politics.
‘Mandal’ is used in the context of caste-based politics of votes. The concept was popularised during the Mandal Commission in the 1980s. On the other hand, ‘Kamandal’ is a symbol of temple politics which has played a significant role in highlighting issues related to Hindu identity and mobilising religious sentiments. In recent years, the ‘Kamandal’ element has dominated Indian politics with political parties wooing Hindu voters with temple-centric narratives and agendas, especially in areas where religious symbolism holds a lot of importance.