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limits of caste politics

The real question is, do all Dalit-Backward castes see themselves as a community? Do they seem to be standing with one identity, forgetting their separate identities?

The controversy over renaming a district in Andhra Pradesh has turned violent at a time when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appears to be doing new maneuvers in Bihar to demand a caste census. It may seem strange to many people to see these two incidents together at a glance. But if you look deeply, you will see a connection between them. The Government of Andhra Pradesh decided to change the name of Amalapuram district to BR Ambedkar district. Protest erupted over this. Now it is to be noted that which communities are opposing it the most. This protest has come from the OBC castes and especially Kapu caste among them. Whereas there is a general belief in the urban intelligentsia that Dr. Ambedkar is the representative of all the Dalit-Backward castes i.e. Bahujan community. This class has presented the caste census as a solution to all the problems of the country. Clearly, the incident of Amalapuram shows that in Indian society it is difficult to formulate Bahujan equations on the basis of caste.

In the 1990s, there were signs of this happening, but after that there was a competition among different castes to identify themselves, it has now made such a possibility very bleak. The weakening position of parties like BSP, SP, RJD is the result of this new situation. Whereas these parties probably still think that if the caste census proves once that Dalit-Backward castes are in majority, then their politics will shine again. But the real question is, do all these castes see themselves as a community? Are you seen forgetting your separate identities and standing with one identity? It is difficult for anyone who has an understanding of the caste system and the internal structure of Indian society. But when there is no intellectual and political capacity to bring out the real issues, then Nitish Kumar and leaders like him are left with no option but to raise similar issues.

Shubham Bangwal

Shubham Bangwal is a Senior Journalist at Youthistaan.com You can follow him on Twitter @sb_0fficial
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