Karnataka: ‘The Rich-Poor Issue, and Not Just Caste, Is Driving This Election’, Says Yogendra Yadav https://www.youtube.com/embed/LscBF_DRm0s?start=622&end=770 how class issues are more important than caste in this election.
While we hear only about the caste arithmetic in the poll analysis, we Karnataka there is a tendency that within each caste the voting pattern tends to shift a bit towards the rich-poor divide. This is more so, when the predominant choice is between the Congress and the BJP. This may not indicate a shift towards class consciousness. But that there is more campaigning around the issues relating to the poor, by one party.. or that experience and/or awareness of the political process is higher. That perhaps is an indicator for other actors in civil society, which has tended to get stuck within the current political silos.
Pure Political Mobilisation perhaps will give way to appreciation of benefits to work on alternatives, be they livelihood, education, health, as well as participation.
In most states, where we see the rise of regional formations.. there seems to be nothing "regional" about the issues. There is nothing preventing the mainstream parties from campaigning and programmatically assimilating these issues as federal play with in the larger national frame.