Jaffrelot, Christophe. "The Caste-based Mosaic of Indian Politics". Seminar, 49-53. University of Toronto Press, 2012.

Jaffrelot, Christophe. "The Caste-based Mosaic of Indian Politics". Seminar, 49-53. University of Toronto Press, 2012.

• Following independence, Indian states included multiple linguistic, ethnic, and social jati groups. Pressure from dominant caste and linguistic groups in that state prompted the continuous redrawing of border primarily along linguistic lines. These new states were often dominated by a single language and contained a small number of major jati: Maratha in Maharashtra, Kamma and Reddy in Andhra Pradesh, Vokkaliga and Lingayat in Karnataka (49).
• Within the new states, large jati began aligning themselves with a single political party, an alliance which usually defined the political landscape. In Andhra Pradesh, this has manifested in the Reddy support for Congress and the Kamma support for first the Communists, then the Telugu Desam Party (49).
• Voting patterns in the Indian states, however, are not totally defined by caste. There are important distinctions, like that only some castes are politically mobilized like the Vokkaliga, and that, while the majority vote on caste lines, as many of 40% of that caste can vote for other parties (50).
• While neither Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party are associated with a caste group at the national level, their support within states is usually politicized along caste lines. These parties thus represent different caste interests in different states (53).
• Factions within caste groups are a major component of Indian politics, especially at the local level. Political parties will often attempt to divide the vote of jati by running candidates expected to attract significant splinters of a divided vote (50).
• Caste is often aligned with party loyalty through local mechanisms, as peasants, especially in rural areas, will often depend on the political opinions of a few educated individuals of their jati. This means that political consensus among a small number of local elites can have huge electoral impact on a larger population (50).
• The Dalit political movement has its roots in the work of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who founded a number of Dalit political and social movements from the 1920s to the 1950s. None of these movements, however, managed to gain the support of multiple jati of Dalits and foundered politically. Change really only came after the expansion of reservations in the public sector for Dalits allowed the development of a Dalit middle class, which was able to organize around the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984 under Kanshi Ram (51).
• The election of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh has resulted in both economic transformations, such as an actual implementation of the reservation system, and social transformations, observed by a trend of Dalits no longer showing public subservience towards other castes (51). A similar collapse of caste distinctions was also observed following Communist victories in West Bengal, when the landowning Syed caste had to begin according more respect to the politically empowered sharecroppers (50).
• In the 1990s and early 21st Century, the Bahujan Samaj Party managed to become a national political party, attracting Dalit votes across multiple jati and states. In 2009, however, the party suffered a major loss in national seats, threatening its future as a national party (53).
• Despite being a Dalit-interests party, only 18% of the candidates fielded by the Bahujan Samaj Party were Dalit in 2009. The Bahujan Samaj Party was able to attract Dalit votes because its leader was a Dalit, not its candidates, who often came from the upper castes (53).