Unity by Inequality

Brahmin-Yadav friction in Uttar Pradesh exposes the fragility of the BJP’s project of Hindu consolidation / Politics

- SAGAR

In the last week of June, Brahmin residents in Etawah tonsured the head of a preacher and forced him to rub his nose at the feet of a Brahmin woman, who then sprinkled her urine on him. They were punishing the preacher for reciting verses from the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita. Mukut Mani Singh Yadav belongs to the Other Backward Classes. Yadavs are traditionally ranked as a Shudra community, the lowest in the Hindu social hierarchy. Hindu social codes, particularly the Manusmriti, prohibit the recitation of holy texts in the presence of Shudras and prescribe severe punishments—such as pouring molten lead into their ears—if they attempt to hear, recite or memorise the verses. The Brahmin residents were reportedly offended that a man of a supposedly lower caste had dared to recite the Gita to them.

The myth of a homogenised “Hindu identity” and so-called “Hindu unity”—the political mission of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh—it turns out, is not just a hollow narrative, but a brittle political coalition that collapses as soon as it is put to test in the social realm. OBCs form a major constituency of the Hindu population and have been the BJP’s primary support base across Narendra Modi’s three terms as prime minister. Modi, too, has routinely positioned himself as an OBC during election campaigns. But the Etawah episode suggests that twice-born castes tolerate the BJP-RSS vision of Hindu unity only as long as it serves electoral outcomes. When lower castes assert themselves socially or venture into roles traditionally reserved for Brahmins, that unity quickly unravels.