The 2024 elections have been focused on reservations and the rhetorical displacement of the Constitution. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress have clashed over issues of constitutionality and representation in rallies, press conferences and meetings. The Indian Union is at odds with the BJP on the issue of a constitutional safety net for the historically marginalised.
This is unusual: Dalits have rarely been a rallying point in mainstream electoral debates through their anti-caste perspective and constitutional framework. As is happening currently, Dalits have no representation. They are often taken for granted as a community within the broader Hindu religious category, or Bahujan identity. Dalits are an aspirational community who highly value the constitutional promise for two reasons. First, the Constitution was drafted by BR Ambedkar as an egalitarian social document. Second, the Constitution protects and guarantees the interests of Dalits. Hence, they are leveraging the provisions of the Constitution to question the unfinished agenda of the Left, Right and Centre political parties.
The agitation on the issue of guaranteed reservations has serious implications. It is crucial for Dalits to focus on who will guarantee their constitutional promises. Most political parties do not have a strong and vocal Dalit face to vouch for them, hence the political battle turns into mere rhetoric.
One of the key Dalit figures in independent India was Babu Jagjivan Ram, who was with the Indian National Congress from 1937 to 1977. It took another 40 years for Mallikarjun Kharge to become the party’s leader. The BJP boasts of having appointed Ram Nath Kovind as its president, but currently has no one to represent Dalits across India.
The Telugu Desam Party has not produced anyone after GMC Balayogi, who rose to become the Speaker of the Rajya Sabha. The Communist Party and prominent regional parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Yangon SSR Congress, Ahmed Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal and Janata Dal factions also have no prominent Dalit figures as leaders. Backward class parties such as the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal have never produced any Dalits as leaders. As a result, these parties lack credibility when they talk about issues such as reservation. The most prominent example of this is the state of West Bengal, first ruled by the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party, and now by the TMC and BJP.
The state’s politics are explicitly agnostic to caste, but are organised around the dominant upper castes. The Communist Party has never nurtured a leading Dalit figure in its three decades in power, despite the presence of numerically significant Dalit communities such as Rajbanshis, Namashudras, Paundras, Bagdi and Bauris. The TMC too has only fielded Dalits in reserved constituencies as a symbolic nod, but has not produced any prominent statewide leader from the community. The rise of the BJP in Bengal’s political landscape has also been marked by Brahmin and upper caste representation, while Dalits have only been treated as a constituency for the broader Hindu electorate.
On the other hand, independent Dalit parties like BR Ambedkar’s Republican Party of India, Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) have had some tensions with the mainstream. With the exception of the BSP and to some extent the LJP, their penetration into the mainstream has been stagnant. However, their political platform has always been in support of constitutional remedies like reservation, greater protection from caste-based atrocities and against constitutional tampering.
The absence of Dalit leaders in mainstream political parties validates Ambedkar’s warning about the dangers of democracy remaining a mere facade. National and state political circles remain hostile and indifferent to creating Dalit leadership. Executive and cabinet posts in powerful government party organisations have historically been reserved for upper caste political leaders, with Dalit representation remaining in nominal capacity. This is true not only in the composition of the central cabinet (where the Ministry of Social Justice is often the seat of a Dalit minister), but also in many state governments, regardless of the party in power.
Come 2024, long-standing Ambedkarite insistence has resulted in the electoral emphasis on reservation and the Constitution, which will bode well not only for Dalits and their organic leadership in mainstream parties but also for the completion of the egalitarian project that the country began when it adopted the Constitution.
Subhajit Naskar is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University. The views expressed here are personal.
The 2024 elections have been focused on reservations and the rhetorical displacement of the Constitution. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress have clashed over issues of constitutionality and representation in rallies, press conferences and meetings. The Indian Union is at odds with the BJP on the issue of a constitutional safety net for the historically marginalised.
This is unique. Dalits have rarely been a rallying point in mainstream electoral debates through an anti-caste lens and constitutional representation framework, as is happening now. They are often taken for granted as a community under the broader Hindu religious category or within the Bahujan identity. Dalits are a strong-minded community who highly value the constitutional promises for two reasons. First, the Constitution was drafted by BR Ambedkar as an egalitarian social document. Second, the Constitution protects and safeguards the interests of Dalits. Hence, they are using the provisions of the Constitution to question the unfinished agenda of the Left, Right and Centre political parties.
The agitation on the issue of guaranteed reservations has serious implications. It is crucial for Dalits to focus on who will guarantee their constitutional promises. Most political parties do not have a strong and vocal Dalit face to vouch for them, hence the political battle turns into mere rhetoric.
One of the key Dalit figures in independent India was Babu Jagjivan Ram, who was with the Indian National Congress from 1937 to 1977. It took another 40 years for Mallikarjun Kharge to become the party’s leader. The BJP boasts of having appointed Ram Nath Kovind as its president, but currently has no one to represent Dalits across India.
The Telugu Desam Party has not produced anyone after GMC Balayogi, who rose to become the Speaker of the Rajya Sabha. The Communist Party and prominent regional parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Yangon SSR Congress, Ahmed Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal and Janata Dal factions also have no prominent Dalit figures as leaders. Backward class parties such as the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal have never produced any Dalits as leaders. As a result, these parties lack credibility when they talk about issues such as reservation. The most prominent example of this is the state of West Bengal, first ruled by the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party, and now by the TMC and BJP.
The state’s politics are explicitly agnostic to caste, but are organised around the dominant upper castes. The Communist Party has never nurtured a leading Dalit figure in its three decades in power, despite the presence of numerically significant Dalit communities such as Rajbanshis, Namashudras, Paundras, Bagdi and Bauris. The TMC too has only fielded Dalits in reserved constituencies as a symbolic nod, but has not produced any prominent statewide leader from the community. The rise of the BJP in Bengal’s political landscape has also been marked by Brahmin and upper caste representation, while Dalits have only been treated as a constituency for the broader Hindu electorate.
On the other hand, independent Dalit parties like BR Ambedkar’s Republican Party of India, Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) have had some tensions with the mainstream. With the exception of the BSP and to some extent the LJP, their penetration into the mainstream has been stagnant. However, their political platform has always been in support of constitutional remedies like reservation, greater protection from caste-based atrocities and against constitutional tampering.
The absence of Dalit leaders in mainstream political parties validates Ambedkar’s warning about the dangers of democracy remaining a mere facade. National and state political circles remain hostile and indifferent to creating Dalit leadership. Executive and cabinet posts in powerful government party organisations have historically been reserved for upper caste political leaders, with Dalit representation remaining in nominal capacity. This is true not only in the composition of the central cabinet (where the Ministry of Social Justice is often the seat of a Dalit minister), but also in many state governments, regardless of the party in power.
Come 2024, long-standing Ambedkarite insistence has resulted in the electoral emphasis on reservation and the Constitution, which will bode well not only for Dalits and their organic leadership in mainstream parties but also for the completion of the egalitarian project that the country began when it adopted the Constitution.
Subhajit Naskar is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University. The views expressed here are personal.
