hugo gorringe university of edinburgh; [email protected]
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‘Show me a better party & I’ll join it’: Dalits, Disillusionment, Disunity & the Durability of Dreams. Hugo Gorringe University of Edinburgh; [email protected]. Dalit Politics in TN. Dravidian Context Successive Challenges Disregard of Dalit Issues 1999 Third Front From Movement to Party. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
‘Show me a better party & I’ll join it’: Dalits, Disillusionment, Disunity &
the Durability of Dreams
Hugo Gorringe
University of Edinburgh; [email protected]
Dalit Politics in TN
• Dravidian Context• Successive
Challenges• Disregard of Dalit
Issues• 1999 Third Front• From Movement to
Party
Disillusionment: The Poverty of Panther Politics
– Supping with the Devil?
– Broad-basing Support
– Big Man Politics
– ‘Thirumangalam Formula’
– Downplaying Dalit Identity?
Disunity: The myth of vote bank Politics?
‘Even when the PMK and DPI were in alliance why were they not able to win a single seat and Vijayakant could? … It means that the people
were unhappy about something. The Dalit people rejected the Dalit parties.’
• Can’t Win Alone
• The Primacy of Caste?– The Wrong Candidate?– The Wrong Alliance?
• Dalit Politics, but Caste Parties
Dreams: Strength of Symbols
Why the residual attachment?
– Caste– Dreams: The Leader and the
Legacy– Failure of Others– Not *just* symbolic
The Strength of Symbolism
Show me a better party …
– Cong & BJP
– Dravidian Parties
– CPI(M): TNUEF
– BSP
– Alternate Front?
Discussion
• Vernacularisation of Institutionalisation
• Revisiting Caste Vote-Banks
• Re-assessing ‘symbolic politics’
Conclusion‘It’s a blessing we lost [the 2011 elections] …
The party would have disintegrated had we won. 10 MLAs enriching themselves? The party would have
been ruined. Now at least we can rethink and restructure’.
• Professionalisation … in local politics
• Alternative Party not Alternative Politics
• More of the Same ≠ Dalit Liberation
Recent Online Papers (2012)
• ‘Party Political Panthers: Hegemonic Tamil Politics and the Dalit Challenge’, SAMAJ (South Asia Multi-disciplinary Academic Journal): <samaj.revues.org/pdf/3224>
• ‘Caste and Politics in Tamil Nadu’, Seminar 633, May (Special Issue: Caste Matters)
• ‘From Non-Brahmin to Non-Dalit: Dalit Politics in Dravida Land’, Centre Right India: 11 July 2012. <http://centreright.in/2012/07/from-non-brahmin-to-non-dalit-caste-politics-in-dravidian-land/>