The quota within quota: Has the process of class supplanting caste begun?

Political parties and jaatis are re-evaluating caste politics in the wake of a generational shift in leadership

Former Madhya Pradesh (MP) chief minister Uma Bharti is from the Lodhi (or Lodha, Lodh) caste, an Other Backward Class (OBC) community that provides significant support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh and MP. 

Earlier this month, she wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that 50 per cent of the seats in the 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies be set aside for women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBC. 

Among all the parties in the Lok Sabha, the BJP has the largest contingent of OBC Members of Parliament (MPs),