Caste in politics
Topic: Gender, Religion and Caste in Politics · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "Gender, Religion and Caste"
Meaning
"Caste in politics" means the ways caste shapes politics. NCERT gives three forms:
- Parties choose candidates and ministers to match the caste mix of the voters.
- Parties appeal to caste feeling to win votes, and some parties are seen as speaking for particular castes.
- Universal adult franchise (every adult gets one vote) pushed leaders to mobilise voters. It also brought new political awareness to castes once treated as low.
NCERT warns that caste alone does not decide elections. No Lok Sabha constituency has a clear majority of one caste, and no party gets all the votes of any caste. Asking for votes in the name of caste is a corrupt practice under s.123(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1951.
Example
Before an election, a party picks a candidate from the caste most voters in that constituency belong to. It may still lose, because voters also judge government performance, leaders and party loyalty.
Don't confuse with
- Politicisation of caste (politics in caste): the reverse effect. Here politics changes caste, for example when castes form coalitions or new groupings such as "backward" and "forward" castes.