Opinion and commentary

In post-Mandal India, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempt to build electoral alliances tying upper castes and non-dominant OBCs is not new. This is a strategy the party used in the mid-1990s across North India to resist the consolidation of pro-Mandal parties and prevent the formation of large coalitions of “backwards”. Mid-1990s onwards, the BJP distributed more tickets to non-Yadav OBC candidates in Bihar to counter the Janata Dal and, subsequently, Rashtriya Janata Dal.