Caste in Indian politics / edited by Rajni Kothari - LBSNAA catalog
Chandra, K. (2004). Party Polity: Dynamics of Indian Party Politics. Delhi: Sage Publications.
Fifteen years after the publication of "Caste in Indian Politics," Kothari's work remains remarkably relevant. The book's insights continue to inform scholarly research, policy discussions, and electoral strategies. The 1990s saw the rise of caste-based parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which explicitly leveraged caste to mobilize support.
Caste provides a ready-made, flexible organizational structure that politicians can mobilize for electoral purposes. It is not merely a rigid social hierarchy but a "basis for consciousness" that can be manipulated and aligned for power. Rajni Kothari Caste In Indian Politics 15.pdf
He argued that modern politics breaks the vertical bonds and strengthens the horizontal ones. A Chamar (Dalit) in village A has more political common cause with a Chamar in village B than with his own upper-caste landlord.
: The Indian party system has evolved in a context where caste plays a crucial role. The Congress party, which dominated Indian politics for decades, often managed a broad coalition of caste groups. The rise of regional parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also been linked to caste dynamics, with some parties explicitly representing the interests of certain caste groups.
—The renowned sociologist André Beteille contributes a chapter analyzing shifts in political power through the caste system in Tamil Nadu during the 1970s. Beteille examines how the rise of Dravidian parties challenged Brahminical dominance and reconfigured the relationship between caste hierarchy and political authority. Caste in Indian politics / edited by Rajni
"Rajni Kothari Caste in Indian Politics 15.pdf" represents far more than a scanned academic text. It is a window into one of the most creative moments in Indian social science—when a small group of scholars, working primarily through the newly established Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, fundamentally reoriented how scholars and citizens understand India's democratic experiment.
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Caste is not just destroying politics; politics is using caste to organize itself. Delhi: Sage Publications
—This foundational essay establishes the theoretical framework for the entire volume. Kothari defines politics as "identifying and manipulating existing and emerging allegiances in order to mobilise and consolidate positions". He critiques the dichotomy between tradition and modernity, arguing that modernization in democratic societies proceeds through fusion and accommodation rather than replacement. The introduction also provides a critical survey of existing literature and establishes the methodological approach of combining empirical fieldwork with theoretical analysis.
That is indeed a foundational text. If you have the PDF of (specifically referring to Rajni Kothari's seminal essay, often titled Caste and Politics or found as the introduction to his edited volume), you are looking at one of the most important explanations of how democracy transformed India.
Kothari's work offered several key insights into the dynamics of caste and politics in India. Two of the most significant contributions were:
This study examines the Mahars of Maharashtra, a community prominently associated with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. It provides a historical account of how this Scheduled Caste group learned to use political mobilization as a tool for social uplift and assertion, laying the groundwork for later Dalit politics.
— if you are working with the actual scanned text: