ABSTRACT
The pattern of inclusion of the dalits and tribals by the Congress party in MP during the 1980s and 1990s has been different from the other states of the Hindi heartland. Beginning in the early 1980s, the strategies of the Congress party towards the lower castes and tribals in these states underwent considerable divergence with different political consequences. In states such as UP and Bihar, beginning in the mid-1980s, an upsurge from below led to strong identity-based movements that evolved into political parties such as the BSP, SP and RJD that captured state power in the 1990s with the support of the lower castes/backwards and led to the collapse of the Congress party.
