Is Politics Going Casteless? A dialogue with Politically Untied Jatis in North India

Abstract

Obituaries on the demise of caste politics in India have already been read. It is argued that religious identity has trumped caste as a tool of political mobilization. Underlining that changing terms of political discourse represents a major break from the past; this article finds the coexistence of ‘casteless’ politics and the ascendancy of dominant castes in electoral politics perplexing. The article argues that politics in India is going ‘beyond’ caste but not without caste. The article offers ‘post-caste politics’ as a prism through which emerging political situation could be studied.