The recent decision of the Allahabad High Court banning "caste rallies" is a welcome step for two reasons. First, the Indian voter being a caste oriented individual finds himself unable to resist the pull and pressures of caste lobbies. Second, the social scientists in India have taken whole sale the post colonial theories which revolve around identity, identity formation and political mobilization on identity lines. What is shocking is that in the Indian context Identity politics is being seen as a sign of democratic functioning without understanding the divisive and violent role played by identity politics. Democracy in India has degenerated into a numerical game, a mere arithmetic of assembling caste voting blocks for one or the other alliance. In fact voters in India do not have much of a choice since ideology is underplayed and caste factors dominate the electoral battle. And after the promulgation of the Mandal Report the backward castes and the political parties associated with them have come to dominate the landscape and the language of post colonial social science legitimizes such politics.
Cast based rallies are not only the basis of political mobilization but also an important marker of the strength of a political party and a very important bargaining chip in the distribution of tickets for the elections. In Tamil Nadu the caste based political parties like the DMK and the PMK openly indulge in violence in order to firm up political support. In the name of democracy violence is unleashed against an unsuspecting electorate and the people have no protection from criminals who have come to dominate the political space.
The Allahabad High Court has taken a small step in the right direction and already the political parties have begun to make threatening noises. In Uttar Pradesh, as in Tamil Nadu, caste based politics dominates. The Samajwadi Party with its Yadava support base and the BSP with its dalit and more particularly the Jatav support base are openly indulging is violence against each other. Uttar Prasesh and Bihar are in the grip of caste mania and violence is now reaching alarming proportions. It is against this background that the Allahabad high court has issued its decision banning caste rallies.
All political parties with the exception of the Communists and the BJP have condemned the Allahabad High Court order on the ground that it is an infringement of democratic right of free expression. The Supreme Court of India has taken another giant step towards cleaning up the political sewage in India. It is a shocking statistics that 40% of Indian MPs and MLAs are criminals and even after being convicted continue to occupy positions of power on the strength of the "appeal" process or the most ridiculous instrument of Indian jurisprudence "anticipatory stay". With the present judgement criminals who have been convicted cannot contest elections or occupy elected office. This is a welcome sign of things changing.
The criminals who run India are unlikely to yield ground that easily and will try their best to undo the two judgements. I hope that they do not succeed.
