Explain how caste as a social category is also becoming a political category in the democratic politics of India. (2021, 15 Marks)
As a social category, caste is an endogamous, hereditary group ranked by purity and pollution. It becomes a political category when it is used to claim power, representation and resources from the state. Rajni Kothari named this conversion the “politicisation of caste”: under universal franchise, numbers acquired a value that ritual rank never had.
The mechanism of conversion
The process runs through five linked steps: counted → organised → mobilised → represented → entitled.
- Counted by the state: colonial censuses from 1871 to 1931 fixed fluid local jatis into ranked, all-India lists; Nicholas B. Dirks (Castes of Mind, 2001) argues that colonial rule made caste the defining idiom of Indian society. The Constitution continued this through Scheduled Caste and Tribe lists (Articles 341–342) and backward-class provisions (Articles 15(4), 16(4)). The Mandal report (1980, implemented 1990) and Census 2027, recording caste for every community, give caste an official statistical existence.
- Organised into associations: Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph (The Modernity of Tradition, 1967) showed caste associations acquiring offices, journals and bargaining power — a traditional form performing a modern function.
- Mobilised by movements: the Satyashodhak Samaj, Periyar’s Self-Respect Movement, Ambedkar’s organisations, the Dalit Panthers (1972) and the backward-caste movements publicised discrimination and pressed demands for rights and equality, moving caste into the policy agenda.
- Represented through parties: parties use caste to win votes and legitimacy — tickets, ministries and promises are allotted to secure caste blocs. Christophe Jaffrelot (India’s Silent Revolution, 2003) traces how the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party challenged upper-caste dominance in the north, a transfer the Dravidian parties had achieved earlier in Tamil Nadu. Kanchan Chandra’s patronage democracy explains the logic: where the state distributes jobs and services, caste becomes the signal of who will share in them.
- Entitled through policy: land reform, reservation, education and development schemes are debated caste by caste. The creamy layer, the Rohini Commission on OBC sub-categorisation and State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh (2024) permitting sub-classification within Scheduled Castes show the political category splitting into finer units.
How the conversion changes caste
Kothari identified three effects: caste is secularised from ritual group to interest group; integrated into multi-caste alliances because no caste is a majority; and given a new consciousness as lower castes discover their numbers. The Rudolphs call this the “modernity of tradition” — caste survives by changing its function.
Limits of the conversion
- The social category persists beneath the political one: endogamy remains the norm, and 57,789 crimes against Scheduled Castes were registered in 2023.
- The political category is not a bloc. Sub-castes split — fewer than half of Jatavs backed the BSP in 2024 — and welfare beneficiaries and religious consolidation cut across caste.
Conclusion
Caste has become political because democracy made it countable, organisable and rewardable. From mobilising voters to shaping policy and articulating grievance, it is now a political category — and the caste census will deepen that transformation while testing whether it serves the most deprived.