ABSTRACT
Caste communities are presented as determining electoral outcomes; they work as pressure groups and influence the governance agenda of the Indian state at the local, regional and national levels. The popular social science formulations on the relationship of caste with democratic politics emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. This chapter focuses on the internal political dynamics of the rise of Dalit identity politics around the question of sub-classification of Scheduled Castes, by focusing on the Punjab experience of dividing quotas into two categories of Scheduled Castes. It discusses this through an empirical analysis of the rise of Balmiki identity in Punjab and their mobilization around this contentious question of sub-classification. Following the practices in democratic regimes of the Western world, the Indian Constitution invested all legislative powers in certain institutions of governance to be made up of elected representatives of Indian people.
