New Delhi, Feb 11 : Is Rahul Gandhi cutting himself off from the youth with his caste politics? For some time, he has been consistently talking about caste and each of his public speeches is heavily loaded with references, often in a clear provocative style.

He may be believing that by talking about caste blatantly, which his party never exhibited so openly, he will jitter a sensitive nerve in the society and break the BJP’s ‘Hindu’ spell. But he seems to be overlooking the fact that this period is different.

For a majority of the young population in India, the priorities are good education, a paying job, a sound social circle, a mobile phone, laptop and enough space to enjoy and explore. For them, the circle includes those with whom the ‘vibe’ gets matched and which often transcends caste and religion. More youths want and aspire for a cosmopolitan life and caste seems to be the least concern for many of them.

The political hawks may say that the population of such youths is not that big and caste continues to remain one of the top societal concerns. It may be true in certain pockets and regions, but the recent state elections have proven that caste is no longer the basis for voting a candidate. Had it been so, the electoral results in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan would have been different.

Even before these three, the electoral results would not have been so in 2014 and almost every election after that. Had elections in India only been caste-influenced, then Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would not have been in such a bad state in Uttar Pradesh. So would not have been Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.

The truth is that the Congress has been going down consistently and the BJP’s vote share is ever on rise. The Congress party won 52 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, just eight seats more than its 2014 tally. Its vote share -- 19.5 per cent -- was almost the same as 2014. On the other hand, the BJP increased its seat tally and vote share in consecutive elections, since its defeat in 2009.