Thread by @saaf_oxforduni

Our third speaker Christophe Jaffrelot (@jaffrelotc) has begun discussing 'From Colonial to the Everyday: Hindutva’s Caste Ambiguity'
#CountingCaste
#CasteCensus

@jaffrelotc We need data, showing representation of different castes in different institutions. This is one of the ways to assess the degree of representativeness and hence democratisation, this is true for India and other countries.

@jaffrelotc Those who come from one group will be inclined to speak about their group, especially in parliament. I started looking at this data of Members of Parliaments, in the 80s and this data is a goldmine.

@jaffrelotc Largely because of the saffron wave upper castes are back in power in big numbers. 47.6% of BJP MPs came from upper caste communities, while OBC representatives went down to 20%.

@jaffrelotc This comes down to the sociology of both union and state governments. In 2019 44% of OBCs and 33.5% of SCs voted for BJP. We have to go beyond these broad categories and look at sub caste levels.

@jaffrelotc BJP tried to counter the Jatavs and BSP by promoting other Dalits by giving tickets to non-Jatavs. These groups vote for the BJP because of Sanskritization but also resentment – resentment against Jatav dominance.

@jaffrelotc So, BJP has been able to tap on non-Jatav SCs. Similarly, it exploits non-Yadav OBC votes. So, we need to look at the complexity of intra OBC politics too.

@jaffrelotc Recent cabinet shuffles have been done to show that caste is important for BJP. The rise of BJP has meant end of Mandal and rise of upper caste dominance.

@jaffrelotc But it has also ended elitist bias, reflected in the way they have diluted the positive discrimination policies. For example, budget for Dalit education, these funds have been cut to 6.9-9% in Modi’s time.

@jaffrelotc Scholarship funds have been cut drastically for Dalit students. The number of jobs in the public sector have reduced due to privatisation of jobs.

@jaffrelotc The 10% reservation of EWS stands against the standard definition of reservation and has not helped the poor.

@jaffrelotc Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said ‘Brahmin community always works towards guiding all other communities, and the community has always held a guiding role in this nation. It has always played a role in spreading education and values in society.

@jaffrelotc This is a reflection of deep-rooted ideologies, of casteist discourses. BJP has eulogised moral superiority of brahmins, something no one has done in decades.

@jaffrelotc Today's BJP is probably different, but not different in the way it looks at the cast and I think this is a very important point to make.