Paper short abstract:

The paper conceptually approaches the actual operation of caste in rural West Bengal through looking at the representative politics of a non-party political formation - Matua Mahasangha and its modes of interactions with the formal world of party-politics.

Paper long abstract:

Caste in West Bengal is a much neglected topic in the study of Indian politics. Due to the overwhelming presence and unchallenged authority of the urban, upper-caste bhadralok in all avenues of public life in the state, the Dalit question has been tactfully suppressed by the former all throughout. The situation however has changed in the recent past.

This paper intends to understand this change in the politics of caste through an ethnographic study on the role of a non-party political organization of the Dalits - the Matua Mahasangha (MM) in contemporary rural West Bengal. The rural politics of the state, which was virtually controlled by the 'party' in the past, has entered a new phase since the last days of the longstanding Left Front regime. The earlier political legitimacy enjoyed by the party at the grassroots level in the rural areas has now been replaced by a host of non-party political formations. MM, which is the central religious organization of the Matuas who are almost exclusively Dalits, is one such politically influential rural institution, capable of influencing the state election scene. Drawing upon the ethnographic case studies the paper shall explore the fashion in which MM has mobilized the Dalits on an autonomous political line, the actual operation of caste in these processes of interest articulation and practices of mobilization and modes of interactions with the world of party politics.