Over the last couple of years, India’s most underprivileged citizens have taken to the streets in thousands to
protest violence, government policies, and to demand more rights.
Hundreds of millions of people from the nation’s lowest caste will be a force to
be reckoned with when they head to the polls to vote in the national elections due by May.
This is your Bloomberg QuickTake on Lower Caste Political Power
Hindus, which make up 80 percent of modern India, were traditionally split into four
hierarchical groups.
The lowest of all, Dalits, now form a quarter of the population, - about
16 percent of all voters On the ground, there is a lot of discontent,
especially amongst the Dalits.
One hopeful to replace Narendra Modi as prime minister is is Mayawati -- a former Delhi
slum native who has been elected chief minister of India’s most-populous state of Uttar
Pradesh four times.
Her party, Bahujan Samaj, vows to end caste discrimination and build a society based on
equality and fairness.
Laws against caste discrimination were adopted seven decades ago, but with some exceptions
caste remains a major factor in determining how people earn a living and whom they marry,
especially in the small towns and villages where around 70% of Indians live.
Modi rode a wave of dissatisfaction and emphasized his own modest background to take power in
2014, but his BJP party has developed a potentially problematic reputation as far as Dalit voters
are concerned.
Despite living in a stratified society where circumstances of birth define a large part
of what the future will hold, voters in the world’s largest democracy will soon be hitting
the polls as equals.
Each political party will tailor its message with that in mind.