Murmu and beyond: BJP’s strategy of exclusion through symbolic inclusion

With indisputable statistical data, Christophe Jaffrelot and Gilles Verniers’ study proves that the BJP government under Yogi-Adityanath today has unprecedented dominance of Brahmins and upper caste both in terms of number of elected MLAs and ministers in the positions of actual power in the government. Thus, while the symbolic co-option of the non-dominant Dalits and OBCs was successful in breaking the hold of the so-called Mandal Parties over the OBC and Dalits, it was also successful in breaking the politically challenging categories emerging from the politics of social justice.