Class and Caste in the 2019 Indian Election–Why Have So Many Poor Started Voting for Modi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6170749 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christophe Jaffrelot (0000-0002-8019-0398, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 149-160 |
| Publication date | 2019-11-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Indian Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2321-0230 • E-ISSN: 2321-7472 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/2321023019874890 |
| OpenAlex | W2988239720 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 5 |
In the 2009 and 2014 elections, the poorer the voters were, the less BJP-oriented they were too. The situation changed in 2019, when the prime minister appeared to be equally popular among all the strata of society, including the poor. Modi’s massive appeal to the poor is counterintuitive given the weakening of pro-poor policies like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the elitist character of BJP. If class has lost some of its relevance for explaining the results of the 2019 elections, caste is showing some resilience, not as aggregates in the garb of OBCs or SCs, but as jatis at the state level. In spite of the BJP’s claim that the party’s ideology was alien to any consideration which may divide the nation, its strategists have meticulously studied caste equations at the local level in order to select the right candidates. This caste-based strategy partly explains the above-mentioned class element as the small OBC and Dalit jatis that the BJP has wooed are often among the poorest—and upper caste poor vote more for BJP than their co-ethnic rich anyway
Appeal · Caste · Development economics · Economics · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Turnout · Voting · Law · Social and Economic Development in India · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies
Modi regime and the disempowerment of ‘Other Backward Classes’
The Nature of Caste Prejudice
The Promise of Memory
Was the 2019 Indian election won by digital media
The Ballot Box Paradox
From Silent to Authoritarian Revolution
Locating Contemporary Indian Federalism
Beyond Discrimination
Globalization, crisis and right-wing populists in the Global South
The BJP’s 2019 election campaign
Ethnonationalist Gender Norms
Social Policy and State–Community Relationships
The Rise and Fall of Agrarian Populism in Post-colonial India
Relocations of Hindutva
Of Caste and Indian Politics
The Politics of Social Welfare
Who Is in the Middle
Gujarat 2022 Elections
The Great Transition Towards Populism in Indian Politics
Motivations for partisan attachment in the developing world
Love Jihad and the Governance of Gender and Intimacy in Hindu Nationalist Statecraft
The Populist Revolt against the West
| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,67 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |