Articles by A K Verma

The landslide victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections surprised not only its rivals and political observers, but even its own leaders. While the 71 seats won in UP significantly contributed to the BJP securing a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own, it is significant that the party made electoral gains across all castes and communities and across all regions in the state. This victory signalled a paradigm shift in voter behaviour, with a preference for good governance and development pushing out the identity politics of caste and community.

Issues of identity, inclusion, social justice, political representation and empowerment form the backdrop of this enquiry that highlights the sufferings of tribals in Uttar Pradesh and points to a historical wrong that failed to recognise tribes in the state as scheduled tribes. This paper argues that contrary to conventional knowledge, UP has a substantial population of tribes who were "excluded" from constitutional and administrative category of scheduled tribes and wrongly placed in the "lower/lowest categories" of the Hindu social hierarchy. From a zero population of the scheduled tribes until 1970 to a population of one lakh in 2001 to an estimated 26 lakh plus in the 2011 Census is a bizarre story of tribal "annihilation" and upsurge in the state that warrants revisiting tribal issues. This will help to give them their due in political representation and socio-economic life as per their actual share in population.

An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937-1961 by Paul R Brass (New Delhi: Sage), 2011; p xxx + 575, Rs 895.

Farmers' suicides in Bundelkhand are a result of several years of neglect of the agricultural sector and industrial backwardness. Neither the Uttar Pradesh nor the Madhya Pradesh government has made efforts to address the basic issues of ecological degradation, agricultural modernisation and rural indebtedness. The demand for a separate state only serves to satisfy political ends and is no solution for the multiple problems of Bundelkhand's farmers.

The Bahujan Samaj Party's performance in the November-December 2008 assembly elections reveals an increase in the party's growth on the road to becoming a national party. However, its performance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will not necessarily follow the pattern of its Uttar Pradesh "model".