From Social Justice to Aspiration

Abstract

The 2000s have witnessed transformation in lower-caste politics in Uttar Pradesh: the Bharatiya Janata Party obtained the support of a section of Dalits and backwards in the 2014 and 2019 general and 2017 assembly elections. Examining the ideology/methods used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to obtain their electoral support, the chapter argues that in 2014 and 2017 they deftly wove together the promise of inclusion within the Hindu fold through non-Brahminical Hindutva and rapid economic development; in 2019 nationalism and able marketing of welfare schemes attracted an even greater number. These strategies proved successful in Uttar Pradesh due to a shift from desire for social justice to aspiration among the lower-castes impacted by globalization and cultural modernization. Will this new social coalition be sustained? Dalits have little space in it; growing atrocities have made them unhappy. A shift in the lower castes from the social justice parties towards the Bharatiya Janata Party has immense significance for Uttar Pradesh and national politics.