Politics of Representation and Relevance of Caste Identity: A Comparative Study between BJP and Congress Governments in India

Abstract

Indian democracy has reconfigured caste from a historically entrenched structure of social stratification into a consequential category of electoral mobilisation and representation. The paper is theoretically grounded at the convergence of representative democracy, substantive representation, and the socio-political study of caste. Building upon Hanna Pitkin's distinction between substantive and descriptive representation and Charles Taylor's ‘politics of recognition’ further provides a framework to examine how caste-based identities are publicly recognised and politically legitimised. The study engages with Rajni Kothari's examination of caste identity and political mobilisation, which conceptualises caste as a significant foundation of political structuring and electoral contestation in India. Although both political parties have sought to diversify their social alliances through caste-centered representation, their political strategies differ in their modes of incorporation, political communication, welfare interventions, and their perspective on caste identities. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of political strategies employed by the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in representing and mobilising caste identities, with a specific focus on Dalits and OBCs. The paper argues that both parties vary in the ways they seek to transform caste identity into political representation. It argues that caste continues to be a significant axis of Indian democratic politics, even as its political interpretation and patterns of mobilisation continue to change.