A consensus on issues of national concern can sometimes be hard to reach, particularly in a democracy of more than a billion people, and one that has countless social markers. In India, there seems to be a consensus of an exceptional order on the question of economic reforms. The country’s two main political blocs—the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance—are closer to each other on economic reforms than not. Even the Left-ruled West Bengal is embracing economic reform despite its ideological pretensions. At the same time, however, there are a few dissenting voices that question the process—as well as benefits—of the economic reforms that were initiated in 1991 by then finance minister and current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Dalit middle class, in particular, sees economic reforms more as a “challenge” than an opportunity. Notwithstanding the fact that the reform-led new economy is introducing a host of “caste-neutral” occupations, Dalits see the new political consensus on reforms as undermining the grand consensus India had arrived at six decades ago. With the launch of the republic in 1950, India’s political class had agreed to integrate Dalits into mainstream society and its economy. Now, Dalits worry that due to reform-led privatization and job cuts in the public sector, the Dalit middle class is getting a short shrift. Since 1991, the Congress and the BJP have both taken turns at power. Even regional parties with committed Left support have had their share of ruling India. But none of them truly appreciated that a Dalit concern existed.