Political Aspirations in the Precariat Times: Dalit Youths in Delhi

Recently, voluminous scholarship on Indian youths has drawn attention towards their inclination to communal politics that seeks cultural homogenization and exorcizing of the ‘other’, crucially of Muslims. Increasing formalization and casualization in the labour- market intensified by the restructuring of the economy, are depicted as important reasons for the youths drifting into communal politics. Wider economic transformations and the drastic alteration in the occupational structure hinder the integration of youths into formal, stable, and secure employment. Disillusioned with the contemporary labour market, communal politics alternately offers a cultural purpose and identity to the youth, mainly to young men. It allows them to renegotiate and recuperate their fractured masculinities.

Focusing on the political aspirations of youths in a Dalit predominant neighborhood in Delhi, the paper argues that politics also acts as a means for the precariat youths to gain social status and economic mobility, which is denied in the job market. In the local aspirational model, joining politics and becoming a political leader emerged as one of the dominant aspirations among the youth. Also, many are active in local political structures to secure a prominent political position. Despite possessing higher educational degrees, most have failed to obtain stable and secure formal employment and upward mobility that their educational degrees promised. Becoming a political leader is expressed in the idiom of serving the people. However, it is hard to ignore the distinct lifestyles of the incumbent and former political Dalit leaders. Focusing on young political aspirants the paper examines the meaning and significance of politics, how politics figure as a route for upward mobility, and what are the modes through which youths enter the local political structures. Also, it focuses on the influence of political interests/inclinations of Dalit youth in the formation of coherent and autonomous Dalit politics.