Dalits

In the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab, where the Aam Aadmi Party registered a massive and historic win, most analyses tended to underestimate the caste factor. The ascendance of Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief ministerial face of the Congress simply failed to impress upon the people. The background of the failure of the Channi experiment by way of examining the multilayered reality of Dalit identity in Punjab is explored in this article.

.

The history of reservations in India shows that it was an outcome of a long process of struggle to gain recognition and representation for the minorities, especially Dalits. It also shows that the Dalits as an important third force in politics, apart from the Hindus and Muslims, had to compromise and even sacrifice their legitimate demands in this process. Any tinkering with reservations, therefore, is in bad faith and an assault to the Indian nationhood.

.