Caste based Politics


India boasts of running the largest democracy successfully for over 60 years. Now the time has come to revisit the facts and analyze one of the key areas where we have failed to achieve what was intended. Indian political arena has undergone radical changes from the moment we have attained freedom from the shackles of the British. Politics in India which were supposed to be free from discrimination and exploitation, have taken a turn around the moment power has been handed over to these fraudulent politicians. Caste based political parties have emerged with a vicious intention of cashing on vote bank of the most commanding class in terms of number.

Time has come to question these deceptive political parties and leaders, whether the triumph of their parties is realistic or not? Lot of caste based political parties sprung to life across the length and breadth of independent India. No state has been vulnerable to this practice. Caste based political parties have initiated a brutal process of concentrating on the large vote bank of a particular caste. It’s disgraceful for every contender to the Parliament to claim their victory as a rational and satisfying to every voter in their constituency. Why are political parties trying to bank on support base of a particular caste? What made the political parties to opt candidates based on the caste?

Though Indian National Congress succeeded in keeping all the sections of the community under its umbrella for a couple of decades, by early 70’s caste based politics have sprung to life. From then on we have seen a vital change in the way the political parties approached the Indian voter. A particular section of the society when deprived of the progress and government aid, are left with not much choice other than to choose a candidate from their lot who can raise their issues at the national level. I should say most of the political parties during 80’s and 90’s succeeded in representing their section and decipher their tribulations. Almost all the sections considered to be backward have succeeded in drawing the attention of the ruling party to unravel their concerns. This is truly a positive sign to the political arena. But with time political parties got side tracked from their actual motto and started to indulge themselves in cheap political tricks.

Now the political situation in the country is very grim. If we analyze the manifestos of political parties in 2009 general elections, the agenda revolved around wooing the various sections of the society. Looks like this general election have witnessed more number of caste based political parties than the previous ones. We have also witnessed political leaders making inflammatory statements in open meetings. The election commission has succeeded in arresting the political parties from crossing limits to some extent but it could not wipe them out completely. Caste based politics are surely a negative phenomenon to the Indian political arena. Political parties and leaders should understand that caste based politics might act as a hindrance to the nations development.

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