Territorial Democracy: Caste, Dominance and Electoral Practice in Postcolonial India

Author(s): Jeffrey Witsoe

Source: Political and Legal Anthropology Review , May 2009, Vol. 32, No. 1 (May 2009),
pp. 64-83
Published by: American Anthropological Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24497526

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 Page 64 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

Jeffrey Witsoe
University of Pennsylvania

Territorial Democracy: Caste

Practice in Postcolonial India

This article examines the relationship between caste identities and electoral democ
racy in India. Drawing from fieldwork in Bihar, I suggest that at the center of what
is popularly referred to as "caste politics " is the influence of local relations of
dominance and subordination on electoral practice, resulting in what I refer to as
"territorial democracy. " The article examines how a politics of caste empowerment
has challenged a long history of upper caste hegemony, contributing to a break
down of state institutions as newly elected lower-caste politicians have clashed with
an overwhelmingly upper-caste bureaucracy. The article seeks to demonstrate the
radical potentiality of democracy and argues that an ethnographic mapping of the
ways in which electoral practice is embedded within local power configurations is
necessary in order to understand the dynamics and implications of democracy in the
postcolonial world, [caste, politics, democracy, postcolonial, territoriality, crime, Mafia,
Bihar, India]

I was visiting a friend at his village situated about 60 kilometers west of Patna, the
capital of Bihar. The region in which my friend's village is located is infamous for
criminal activity, most notably the activities of a handful of men with reputations
of being powerful "mafia dons." There were three main mafia dons in the region,
all elected politicians. The most powerful of these three was recently elected as a
member of parliament, and the brother of another was a previous minister in the Bihar
government. Most importantly, these men are popularly perceived to be (upper caste)
Bhumihar leaders, and this region is commonly referred to as a "Bhumihar belt," an
area of Bhumihar dominance.

Local people told me that these mafia dons patronize a large number of smaller
level criminals. My friend's brother, Shiv, happens to be such a character, referred to
locally as a goonda or, in English, as a "gangster."1 Shiv's prize possession was his
Kalashnikov assault rifle, and whenever I met him a younger sidekick armed with
an American-made Springfield rifle accompanied him. My friend recounted that ten
years earlier criminals had gunned down his elder brother, a postman, while he was
delivering mail. His youngest brother Shiv took it upon himself to take revenge
and acquired a gun for the purpose. After accomplishing the act of revenge, he had
acquired a reputation as a goonda and continued with this lifestyle.

My visit was just a few weeks before elections were to be held for local government
bodies (panchayati raj) in April 2001, and there was a great deal of election-related

PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, Vol. 32, Numbers 1, pps. 64-83. ISSN
1081-6976, electronic ISSN 1555-2934. © 2009 by the American Anthropological Association.
All rights reserved. DOI: 10.111 l/j,1555-2934.2009.01024.x.

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May 2009 Page 65

discussion and debate occu

during informal meetings
portion of this debate qui
Shiv and a handful of oth
sitting on the verandas of
but with guns resting pro
and was very active dur
around the village, gun in
evening there was a festiv
including a gun-toting Shi
village children, I asked an
of goondas like Shiv. He p
reside just over there." H
would prey on the village.
we tolerate him."

Shiv's "protection" of Rajp

ple, during the run-up to
were no non-Rajput candi
considering the large Cham
(Rajputs) dominate them (
Shiv."

The presence of character

dominance in Bihar, as we
for their castes.2 Although
he was seen as a necessary p
intrusion of other castes.
a necessary evil, "our goo

Not only do people tolerate

In the 2005 state assembly
major parties had criminal
from jail, and most impor
assembly or, for the bigge
about their political role; w
about his political ideology
ward, he answered empha
raksha kaarte hai).

In this article I examine t

democracy that results in
racy I refer to the ways
of dominance and subordi
the ways in which elector
dominance. This relations
explains the violence that
plains why, in stark contr

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 Page 66 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

tend to be more intensely contested, and

elections.6 "Territoriality" here needs to b
nation-state, and from the legally delin
municipal ward, etc.) that are electorall
highlights the ways in which struggles
beyond the boundaries of the official po
battle for a single parliamentary seat is t
village and regional dominance, of whic

Elections, therefore, tend to not be abo

from the perspective of the dominant, el
village, controlling labor, and ensuring
subaltern, elections are about challengin
whom one's parents and grandparents
demanding minimum wages (that are a
preventing indiscriminate violence by u
trampled honor. Since territorial demo
subordination that are underpinned by vi
process takes on added intensity, but o
exercise territorial dominance are able
elected reciprocate by protecting the ter
the relationship between electoral practi
to perpetuate inequalities, I seek to show
precisely because electoral practice is em
and resistance—also opens the possibility
as have occurred across north India over the last two decades.

As state institutions have weakened in Bihar and other parts of north India over the
last two decades, power has shifted from the bureaucracy and police to informal
"democratic" networks of politicians, an expanding class of political middlemen, and
criminal organizations, so much so that these informal democratic networks surpassed
the postcolonial state as a source of patronage and protection for most people. Since
democratic practice in Bihar is territorially articulated, it makes sense that democratic
networks could provide an alternate structure of governance.

The next section situates the concept of territorial democracy within anthropology's
larger engagement with democracy. I then turn to a brief examination of the colonial
and postcolonial history that is crucial for understanding the development of territorial
democracy. I next turn to Rajnagar, a village where I lived in Bihar, in order to
demonstrate the ways in which territoriality, caste, and electoral practice play out
within a specific site. In conclusion, I summarize the argument and reflect on the
recent political change that has occurred in Bihar.

Anthropological Engagement with Democracy

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, "democracy" has achieved an almost global
hegemonic status; most countries now claim to be democracies, even if this claim is

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May 2009 Page 67

contested in many cases.7

ingly encounter some form
opened the possibility for
2001) that could destabilize
analysis of the ways in wh
cultural contexts.

As Caldeira and Holston pu

a different approach to un
and, on the other, its speci
other histories suggest the
tization" (1999: 692). But w
"limitations of a democra
graphically examining the
postcolonial world is a par
tions of democracy (and, b
added advantage of avoidin
democracy). It is important
to reduce the concept of d
democracy" versus a more
for example, Wood 1995, e
an ethnographic examinat
"substance" as well as the
be productively examined.

This article therefore cont

racy" by focusing on the
democracy has been consi
of a twenty-one month im
1977), with regular electio
followed by peaceful trans
portantly and in stark cont
by subaltern groups (Koh
often partial, experiments
the world have observed,
which I would argue has p
to become deeply engraine
think of democracy as an i
clear, electoral democracy
cludes criminal actors (suc
social antagonisms. As I sh
"success" of India's democ
resolved when viewed from

Anthropologists have ofte

of democracy (Abélès 19
Banerjee (2007), for exam

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Page 68 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

Bengal as rare opportunities for a "sacr

poor and marginalized to voice their dis
in the way of tangible material benefi
of democracy needs to be constructive
praxis through ethnographic examinatio
(2004) rightly argues for an investigatio
constitute elections. Her study focuses o
to produce democratic authority and le
the postconflict Bosnian elections wher
worker.

While electoral democracy can ritually

cratic legitimacy, there are also context
can catalyze profound social change, an
much anthropological treatment of dem
tentiality of democratic practice corre
classic conception of democracy as soci
as a "Tocquevillian revolution" in India—
calization of democracy (Laclau and Mo
resonates with Claude Lefort's (1988) co
ing displaced transcendent sovereignty
of power as an empty space" wherein s
hinged and indeterminate by entering in
democratic practice.9 Lefort's conceptio
is particularly useful for understanding
the wake of the politics of caste empow
undermined and destabilized by electora

I suggest, furthermore, that the democr

specific to a postcolonial context chara
electoral practice and relations of domin
relations of dominance and subordination
from the analytic distinction (one whic
tween an elite colonial politics on the o
dominance and exploitation on the othe
plies this dichotomy to contemporary In
arguing that in postcolonial settings, wh
practices predate the independent nation-
elite-inhabited "civil society" and what
ety revolves around the formal legal-cons
in theory a part, in practice the interact
is mediated by "political society," referr
organizations that often disregard the f
this distinction is questionable since the
For example, the politicians emerging
positions of the highest authority within
of "mafia" ministers that have served in

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May 2009 Page 69

remains a useful analytic

racy in postcolonial settin

Liberal democratic theory,

from the perspective of C
relations of dominance an
of people have been denie
and rape, freedom of mo
best a farce and at worst
context, the lack of anyth
of policy-oriented debate
of "deliberative" (Basset
democracy difficult to app
debate among citizens, th
power and challenging do
appear remarkably "undem
perfect sense from the p
precisely the "illiberal" ch
a radicalization of democr

On the one hand, I seek to

local power relations inter
any "anthropology of dem
than mere "naked" power
"naked dance" (nanga nach
in Bihar was made possible
"democratic idea, which h
The penetration of the "
the "democratic imaginary
with the dynamics of an
combination that made it in
hegemony in Bihar. While
the discursive constructio
of caste empowerment, th
can only be understood in
would be empty and ineffe
structures of power throug

While many may take the

practice in Bihar to demons
the breaking down of exis
degree of violence, especia
inequalities. Since such vio
and has been accompanied
is best understood as resul
took place in Bihar during
not to imply that it was e

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 Page 70 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

undomesticated face of democracy—wha

that has entailed significant costs in ter
points to the limitations of social transfo
mobilizations based on caste.

I now turn to a brief account of the relationship between caste and territoriality in
the colonial and postcolonial periods, the historical context for the remainder of the
analysis.

The Historical Background of Caste and Territoriality

Caste is central to democratic practice in contemporary India in large part because of

the historical role of caste identities in reinforcing elite dominance by underpinning
and legitimizing social divisions within the agrarian economy. In colonial Bengal,
which included present-day Bihar, land tenure was regulated through the legal frame
work of the permanent settlement, enacted by Cornwallis in 1793. The permanent
settlement effectively produced a class of zamindars who had the legal right—a right
that could be bought and sold—of revenue collection, exercising a great deal of
control over villages.12 The desire of the East India Company to maximize profits
discouraged the costly expansion of an internal security apparatus. Rather, alliances
were made with agents of local power who were allowed a degree of control over
their own territories of operation. The zamindars who enjoyed this legally sanctioned
territorial control tended to be from locally dominant caste groups or, in the case of
absentee zamindars, to make their own alliances with locally dominant caste groups.
The colonial state allowed and even encouraged the existence of what could be termed
"intra-state territorialities," what Yang (1989) refers to as a "Limited Raj."

From the late colonial period, land scarcity resulting from India's burgeoning popu
lation, and a fragmentation of landholdings (caused by the division of inherited land
among brothers), forced landed elites to tum to the state in order to reinforce their
dominance. Caste facilitated relationships between landlords in the countryside and
an expanding and predominantly upper-caste urban elite. Caste organizations founded
universities and patronized caste-based educational scholarships. In this way agri
cultural surplus and rural power were channeled into urban pursuits, educational
capital, and access to government—on the basis of emerging caste networks that be
came instrumental for accessing state resources and public employment.13 Privileged
access to administrative jobs, in tum, allowed patronage relationships that dispro
portionately transferred public resources to already dominant castes. It is important
to keep in mind that the centrality of caste as political identity and the continued
influence of local dominance on electoral practice are both products of the colonial
legacy.

The newly independent Indian state, under the leadership of Nehm, embraced a
socialist vision intended to catalyst a broad and radical societal transformation.
Nehm and other Congress leaders believed that caste inequality would wither away
as socialism was progressively established in India, an understanding based on
the Marxist emphasis on class as the primary contradiction to be overcome. The

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 May 2009 Page 71

class-based character of
caste identities in elector
The superior access by m
contacts within the adm
trative recruitment at bo
caste in public life blun
expansion of state instit
in the 1950s, actually se
(due to the fact that th
The gap between the em
caste at the state, distr
ures of planning—prom
champion of caste empo
socialism."

The Congress relied heavily on landed elites as a base of political support in the
countryside, which served to buttress their elite position. Akhil Gupta (1998), for
example, described a shift in the reproduction of caste dominance from a patronage
that was based on control of land to a "brokerage" that was based on control over
the distribution of development resources. As Paul Brass put it, "Local power cannot
persist without control over or influence in government institutions" (1997:334).14
Territorial democracy emerged as a mechanism for reproducing caste dominance;
while upper-caste control of state institutions facilitated the dominance of upper
caste landlords, the votes that these landlords delivered elected members of their own
castes to office, enabling upper-caste control of the state and the village in a mutually
reinforcing pattern.

The Politics of Caste Empowerment

Popular participation in the electoral process surged in north India from the late 1980s,
especially among people from lower caste and class backgrounds as well as from
an increase in rural participation, a phenomenon that Yogendra Yadav (2000) has
termed the "second democratic upsurge."'5 This upsurge in voting turnout by people
from lower-caste backgrounds coincided with a progressive increase in the number
of members of state legislative assemblies and members of the national parliament
from lower-caste backgrounds. This has been especially true of representatives from
what are officially termed the "Other Backward Classes," castes that are officially
designated as "backward" but that did not suffer from a history of untouchability,
the latter officially designated as the "Scheduled Castes" or Dalits (literally, "the
oppressed").16

By the mid 1990s, OBC politicians dominated the state assemblies in north India,
especially in what were then the two most populous states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.17
The increasing number of members of state legislative assemblies from OBC back
grounds has been accompanied by the formation of state governments in Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh led by regional parties claiming to represent "backward caste" interests
and, in the case of Uttar Pradesh, a party claiming to represent Dalit interests (the

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Page 72 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

Bahujan Samaj Party). Such a party, th

Prasad Yadav, was the governing party
Janata Dal) until 2005. Although politic
nated political life in Bihar for most of
now to imagine a future chief ministe
Nitish Kumar, who became chief minis
defeated the RJD in 2005, is also an OBC
terial contenders.18 Jaffrelot (2003) has
"silent revolution" in north India. In Bih
from 1985 to 1995 the number of backw
more than doubled (reaching 50 percent)
more than halved (sinking to 17 percen
democratic representation in the state.

The election of lower caste politicians,

control over state institutions, the hig
overwhelmingly by officers from uppe
of Lalu Yadav's tenure as chief minis
government and the higher levels of the
and internal conflict as the centrality o
divisions within, and between, state in
bureaucracy has been intensely debated
of bureaucrats are readily apparent. The p
social character of the bureaucracy, unde

This intrastate caste conflict further we

under severe stress. Bihar and many ot
faced a deepening fiscal crisis caused by
politicians eager to provide patronage t
pension and debt servicing costs, and by m
government to the states (a result of IM
a payment of balance crisis in 1991). Fac
elected lower-caste leadership in Bihar h
institutional reforms required to dislod
or to promote a private sector also owne
(Witsoe 2006). Instead, institutions wer
networks of informal power coordinat
caste politicians were able to circumvent
on an oversized public bureaucracy for
of as a stripping out, or privatization, of
politicians developing the capacity to pr
a profound shifting of governmental po
elected representatives.

I now turn to Rajnagar, the fictitious n

more than 5000 in Bhojpur district wh
ways in which territorial democracy pla

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 May 2009 Page 73

Territorial Democracy i

Until recently, Rajput fam

in which Rajnagar is situa
Bhojpur district during th
owned a significant portio
relationships with local ad
a regional hegemony. Aft
1990s, however, rival cen
2002, there were two larg
an upper-caste ownership
contractors, two importa
drug smuggling gangs and
lower castes. There were
in Bhojpur at the time of
Leninist), a communist g
agricultural laborers, and
from Bhumihar landowne
as well as the Ranvir Sena
collect "taxes" and dispens
Rajnagar).

While Rajput landlords had, until a few years before, controlled all of the sand mining
from the banks of the Sonne river (the most important non-agricultural enterprise
in the region surrounding Rajnagar), an RJD-protected lower-caste group, locally
referred to as the Baloo mafia (sand mafia), now controlled a substantial portion of
this activity. Specific sites of mining, as well as informally recognized rights to levy
"taxes" on vehicles using access roads, were divided into distinct territories controlled
by different groups. None of the members of this group were from the previously
dominant Rajput caste.

These changes in regional political economy were strongly reflected within Rajna
gar. In Rajnagar's colonial past and well into the post-independence period, Rajput
tola, the residential area of the Rajpur ex-zamindars (colonial landlords), occupied
the political, social, and ritual center of the village. At the center of Rajpur tola is
Rajnagar ghar, a relatively wide hill about a hundred feet high, that villagers claimed
was manmade and was at one time considerably larger. Local historians told me that
Rajnagar was the site of a Rajput chiefdom with Rajnagar ghar as its military center.
The earlier presence of such a visible military establishment within the heart of the
village emphasizes the historical use of direct force in order to capture and maintain
territorial caste dominance, what David Ludden (1999) refers to as "agrarian territo
riality." During the colonial period, Rajput zamindars "owned" most of Rajnagar as
well as sizable land in nearby villages, and this dominance continued as ex-zamindars
became commercial landlords. Rajput landlords supported the Congress party and
were rewarded with privileged access to the local administration and police, judiciary
(a Rajput from an ex-zamindari family in a neighboring village, for example, had been
a High Court Justice), and cooperative institutions (of which almost every member

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Page 74 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

had been Rajput). There was clearly a lo

making their present decline quite dram

Since caste identity is so central to the

to briefly sketch Rajnagar's social topo
is spatially organized around the reside
group is usually predominant. In Rajnag
what people from other castes referred
a Rajput Tola, and so on. The empowerm
and Yadav villagers in particular, effect
of Rajnagar's political, social, and rit
the undisputed center of the village. Rat
spots within the different tolas. Most of
tea-stalls, village shops, the veranda of
house of a particularly sociable villager.
often about politics.22

The political change of the last two d

level in the changing caste background
every section of the village there were
the interests of their caste and residen
spoke commented on the increased num
in Rajnagar put it, "There is only polit
politicians (bache log bhi neta haï). Ther
the common situation in the past, alm
lower-caste backgrounds, protecting the
whom they provide the benefits of rel
public institutions that had previously
local netas enabled lower-caste villagers
that had occurred in Bihar.

The Emergence of Yadav Dominance

As on many late nights, the sound of d

companied by vigorous drumming, clap
Rajnagar village. Unlike in the past, ho
lage no longer dominate this type of p
graphic representation of the recent cha
(devotional singing) occasionally took p
ghar, at the heart of Rajput Tola. These
include dozens of participants, as well
alcohol. The attendance was usually almo
mainly small kisans (farmers) and labore
occasionally been involved in minor conf
other castes were seldom present at the
side their houses. These bhajans struck m

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May 2009 Page 75

farmers, small politician

other people remained h

I do not view these bhaj

the emulation of practi
groups attempting to ra
ethnographers. The over
seen not as an attempt to
status, but as an attemp
territorial control. Alth
also bhajans held by oth
of the village, demonstr

While many Rajput villa

ments appear to be retai
expanding in all directio
village, a vivid image of
cultivating households,
wage labor, a willingnes
and the ability to thrive
Rajput landlord's contro
in which the politics of
of agricultural productio

The breakdown of publ

served to facilitate this
as credit from cooperati
the playing field. One Ra
expressed - lamented his
a crucial factor in his ec
of crops by laborers sin
explained, "We all decide
thinks that they are La
Not only had Rajputs in
they had earlier enjoyed
dominance and patronag

Electoral Territoriality

Yadav power was most v

including the ones adjac
who manipulated votes i
the booths for their ow
sections of villages, usu
a constant electoral thr
occur "peacefully" as has
preventing other people

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 Page 76 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

fraudulently voting for absent villager

an enemy polling booth can be held hos
stamp the ballots (if nobody reports it t
sure to be a smaller turnout in the re-
and steal the ballot box, or bombs an
abandonment of an opponent's polling bo
I have witnessed all of these tactics emp
in Bihar. "Booth-capturing" is widesprea
is generally understood in Bihar that ever
in a competitive contest (although the r
of influence over police and election off

During the 2004 national elections, I obs

in Rajnagar were occupied by local cast
the polling booths despite precautions s
machines. As I observed in some detail,
referred to in Bihar as "bogus votes," v
In addition, inside the polling booths th
voting machines and directed voters to v
required courage to vote for a candidate
booth "managers." While I was observin
for example, a young villager voted fo
date and then defiantly clenched his fi
insults at him and threatened to beat hi
"managers" despite the fact that I am cl
joking until two "managers" grabbed m
my finger towards the RJD button. Aft
the button themselves. By the end of t
"manager" was busy filling out bogus vo
voting machine, while the election off
trolling polling booths publicly signifie
had occurred within village power relati
relationship between electoral politics an
democracy.

Territorial Democracy and the Future of Bihar

We are now in a position to distinguish two types of "caste politics" that are frequently
conflated. This will help to expose both the conservative and the radical potentials of
territorial democracy. First, there has been a long history of a caste politics involving
the discretionary implementation of state policy in order to protect the interests of
upper castes. Upper-caste landlords exchanged the votes that they controlled because
of their dominant position within the agrarian economy for protection and privileged
access to public resources supplied by upper-caste politicians. This mutually benefi
cial relationship between upper-caste landlords and politicians, however, was always

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May 2009 Page 77

precarious; lower castes

their mobilization could

A second type of caste

empowerment," has bee
in which lower-caste le
caste lines in an effort t
and resources by upper
the coming to power of
employees within state
was not an attempt to ch
territorial democracy t
"turn the tables" and em
the institutions of the p
and economic liberalizat
structure of governance
upper castes.

While shifts of power h

did not disappear; it sim
but there were many gro
the case for smaller, ge
proportion of voters (o
dominance. Since these a
one of the central limita
most subaltern groups h

In the state assembly el

succeeded in mobilizing
to as "Extremely Back
Kurmis and, to a lesser ex
benefits of the RJD's "b
to power a decade and a
Commission deployed m
such as the installation o
voting, significantly re
This election led to the f
of Nitish Kumar (a Kurm
could be interpreted as a
had developed over the p
of state control over th
that this outcome was o
upper-caste groups who
(not the least the bureau
chief minister.26 So wh
dominance will undoubt
world.

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 Page 78 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

Thus while democratic politics within p

nance of the status quo, or even reinfor
Bihar after Independence, this is an outc
local power relations in interaction wit
the 1990s, however, also demonstrates th
foundly alter social relations. If electora
dominance, subaltern democratic mobili
This is why the "success" of India's dem
inextricably connected.

In conclusion, I have sought to show th

rethought in postcolonial contexts such
subordination so profoundly influence
a context makes electoral violence in
fact, democracy in Bihar would be dev
"equality," and "liberty" affirmed in th
practical meaning, without the electora
inant and subaltern that necessarily en
"uncivil" (Galdeira and Holston 1999)
like Bihar results from the same dyn
icalization. What many argue to be t
nial contexts turns out to also make ne
possible, outlining the potential for a s
politics.

Notes

1. The word goonda is from the English word "goon."

2. Srinivas's influential concept of the "dominant caste" asserted that "[a] caste
may be said to be 'dominant' when it preponderates numerically over the other
castes, and when it also wields preponderant economic and political power"
(1962:300). While Srinivas's concept of the dominant caste has been criticized
(Dube 1968 and Oommen 1970 are early criticisms), I believe that the concept is
still relevant, not least because the English term dominance is popularly used to
refer to the strength of groups designated in caste terms within various contexts.
See also Raheja (1988) and Quigley (1993), where caste practice is asserted to
revolve around the "centrality" of the dominant caste. See Karanth (1996), for a
more recent account of the dominant caste concept.
3. "Criminals as Leaders - yet again?" via www.Indiatogether.org. November 19,
2005.
4. See Jha (1996) for an account of the "criminalization" of politics in Bihar.
5. My use of the term territorial democracy bears no relation to its use in debates
regarding federalism in the United States or to its occasional use to differentiate
national from global democratic process.
6. In Bihar, for example, village-level panchayat elections often result in hundreds
of deaths.

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May 2009 Page 79

7. According to Freedom
representing 62% of coun
8. Michelutti ( 1999), for e
themselves as a "caste of p
the Hindu god Krishna, w
9. See also Hansen (1999) a
Lefort's political philosop
10. As Khilnani writes, "T
imagination and has begu
paternalistic state. Democ
is changing the relations
11. See Witsoe (2005) and W
of caste empowerment in
12. See Guha (1996), Mitr
power of zamindars in la
13. See, for example, Bay
14. See also Jeffrey and L
15. The first "democratic up
of opposition parties.
16. There have been consti
since Independence.
17. See Jaffrelot (2003),
the time when it bifurcat
ranked as the third most
18. See Witsoe (2006) for a
2005 elections in Bihar.
19. In 2002, out of a total
groups, while only seven
groups (Witsoe 2006).
20. See Louis (2002) and M
history of agrarian strug
in Bhojpur at the time o
Rajnagar or Koilwar, whe
(as political parties fieldin
21. Harijan, meaning "child
mer untouchables. Many
use the term dalit, "the
Castes.

22. I never encountered wo

23. Other limitations that
politics depends on democ
cians that could be seen a
democracy (see, for exa
neous caste identification
of class heterogeneity, ef
of lower caste elites (see

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 Page 80 PoLAR: Vol. 32, No. 1

24. See Witsoe (2006) for a more detaile

25. Not surprisingly, the RJD alleged t
tematically targeted (see Witsoe 2006
be noted, however, that even the pres
(which would be practically unfeasible
fear of future violence or other forms o

26. It is also important to note that it

politics of caste of caste empowermen
resulting from democratic practice that
as a national political force in India (s
1999).

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