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Political system has given a new lease of life to caste issues: Andre Beteille

Kolkata: India’s democratic political system has given a new lease of life to the caste issue, prominent sociologist Andre Beteille said at a public lecture here on Wednesday.

“The political system has allowed caste to be used as a force for mobilising electoral support,” Mr. Beteille said, while analysing the causes behind the increased attention to caste issues in the present times.

He was delivering the fourth Kolkata Port Trust Anniversary lecture, on the occasion of its 137th anniversary.

The problem, however, was not unique to India, he said, and was part of the resurgence of identity politics around the world.

“Caste consciousness among people in India was gradually weakening but now they have been strengthened by identity politics,” he said.

The tendency in Nehruvian India was to dismiss caste as an issue in decline, given the relaxations in its ritual aspects, the increasing incidence of inter-marriages between various castes and the weakening of the caste-occupation links, Mr. Beteille said.

But it has now emerged as a subject of endless debate in the media, he added.

What was ominous, however, was that while earlier the use of caste in electoral politics was justified on the grounds of pragmatism, its use in the present context was justified on grounds of ideology and through an appeal to social justice.

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