BJP is attempting to use citizenship issue to woo Namasudra community in Bengal | The Indian Express

BJP is attempting to use citizenship issue to woo Namasudra community in Bengal | The Indian Express

Written by Ayan Guha |Updated: May 3, 2019 9:37:54 am

The writer is assistant professor of political science at Hamdard Institute of Legal Studies and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

BJP is attempting to use citizenship issue to woo Namasudra community in Bengal

Identity issues have not made any remarkable impact on the mainstream electoral politics in Bengal. But the current elections seems to have brought identity related concerns to the centrestage.

The Namasudras, who constitute the second-largest Scheduled Caste group in Bengal are crucial to the electoral calculus in Nadia and North 24 Parganas, where half of the community is concentrated.

It is generally believed that unlike other states of India, caste and religion don’t play a significant role in West Bengal’s electoral politics. Academic literature often articulates this as West Bengal’s “exceptionalism”. As a result of the electoral decline of the Left Front and some limited attempts by the Trinamool Congress at community-based mobilisation, the so-called exceptionalism thesis has come under some critique. Even then, it is largely acknowledged that identity issues have so far not made any remarkable impact on the mainstream electoral politics in the state.