Seeking OBC Status: Political Strategies of Two Dominant Castes

This article investigates the claims of backwardness made by two dominant castes, the Lingayats in Karnataka and the Marathas in Maharashtra. It argues that the narratives of OBCization of the Lingayats and the Marathas present an interesting account of how the dominant castes manipulate the state institutional discourse of reservations to seek political legitimacy. The article also attempts to posit the claims of backwardness of these two castes against each other in order to develop a comparative understanding of the state-specific patterns of caste politics. Finally, the article tries to assess whether and how the dominant castes are able to (re)construct their dominance under the changing circumstances and what the implications of this strategy are for the project of hegemony.