OBC leadership and electoral politics in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

This focuses on i) the rise of the backward caste movement and the leaders who led that movement since independence in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and ii) electoral politics of UP especially since 1989, that witnessed an upsurge of backward castes in the wake of following the acceptance of the Mandal Commission recommendations and their co-option by newly formed parties, especially the Samajwadi Party (SP). The chapter also examines whether there is an interconnection between the robustness of the backward castes movement and the political empowerment of other backward castes in UP. While on the surface the OBCs seem a formidable social group, in reality they are fragmented into upper backwards, more backwards and most backwards. The empowerment of OBCs through quota politics is a reality now reflecting in the OBC population. However, subcastes and the differential economic status among them seem to be major stumbling blocks in the development of a cohesive OBC politics. This has allowed the lower OBCs to be subsumed by major political parties. Overall, do the politics of UP foretell the emergence of a united class/caste OBC movement in UP or in India for that matter? Narendra Modi’s arrival on the scene has jeopardized that possibility.