caste politics

Playing With Faith

V Shoba

With the Congress cashing in on the Lingayats’ demand for a separate religious identity, Karnataka’s caste politics comes full circle on the eve of a nervous Assembly election

Historical Wrongs and the Present

Madhavankutty Pillai

Dalit assertion is no excuse for violence against neutral parties

Sujatha Gidla: Identity Crisis

Rohini Mohan

Sujatha Gidla is a subway conductor in New York with an Indian backstory of caste and isolation, now captured in a critically acclaimed memoir

The Battle for Karnataka

Amita Shah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is setting the poll agenda but the BJP has found a way to counter it

Return of the Brahmin

Kumar Anshuman

Who will win the race for the highest caste vote in UP? Kumar Anshuman reports on a community’s struggle to regain political glory

Shahabuddin: “What Should I Kill People For? My Ego?”

Kumar Anshuman

An unrepentant Shahabuddin returns home and the rift in Bihar’s ruling coalition gets wider

End of an Illusion

Rahul Verma and Pranav Gupta

Mayawati needs to build a coalition that goes beyond mere social identities

Beware the Cow Boys and Girls

Haima Deshpande

Cow vigilantes come in all shades—from a man who maintains peace with Muslim neighbours to a woman who gave up a glamorous career for it

Dalit: The Overcomers

Kumar Anshuman

A warmer Dalit story beyond the familiar narrative of discrimination, dispossession and brutalisation. Open portrays lives that have turned adversity into opportunity