ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the articulation of dalit and adivasi political identities in the post-Nehruvian era has posed challenges for both the theory and the political practice of the Indian communist movement. The social basis of these identities formed by marginalized groups who constitute a large part of the rural and urban working classes that need to be mobilized to fight the current neoliberal challenges. The chapter shows that the critique of non-class analysis is limited to describing the political functions of identity politics and does not deal with the larger problem of class-community relations. The development of adivasi consciousness has taken different forms in the post-Nehruvian period and has been conditioned by the uneven impact of both affirmative action and developmental strategies. Hence, the adivasi consciousness is a political consciousness whose significance, function and meaning are derived from the class positions of its organizers and ideologues.
