The Mandal rhetoric against upper caste feudalism is not true anymore
Social justice politics in India has moved far beyond the trajectory of annihilation of caste which Ambedkar and his comrades wanted it to take. The real political game changer in social justice politics was not the rise of Dalits but that of OBCS. The OBC resurgence in politics drew a lot of initial legitimacy by claiming to challenge oppressive feudal hierarchies dominated by a handful of upper castes. While this rhetoric still continues, facts have changed dramatically on the ground. OBC landlords – if one uses the term for those who own more than 10 hectares of land – outnumber their upper caste counterparts by a ratio of 2:1. This is most likely the result of upper castes selling their land to OBCS (the only social group which had the means to buy it) to migrate out of villages. To be sure, OBC households in general are twice the number of upper caste households in rural India. It is the fact that this ratio is maintained even among the biggest landowners is the sign of land transfer from upper castes to OBCS.
These facts outline the difficulty of forming a social alliance to generate political pressure for rescuing agriculture.
SCS are still the poorest and most exploited community in Indian villages, making them adversaries of the “farmers”. Anecdotal accounts do not offer any evidence that OBCS are any less oppressive in dealing with the SC worker than upper castes. Upper castes and OBCS could make a case for supporting agriculture, and they have a rich farmer class which can take a lead in this cause. But they do not see eye to eye on other political issues, especially reservations.
The challenges facing political mobilisation to rescue Indian agriculture from its current crisis are partly a result of India’s feudal past. The socially downtrodden never had enough land, and hence stakes in agriculture. A democratic revolution sans redistributive reforms – land reforms were a stillborn project in most parts of India – has only complicated these problems further, where political parties find it easier to ignore the agrarian crisis and exploit other avenues for mobilising votes.