The making of a political stronghold: A Dalit neighbourhood’s exit from the Hindu Nationalist riot system

Abstract

This article highlights the contribution of political competition and people’s movements to the dynamics of symbolization of space. In India, the symbolic appropriation of space represents an important yet under-explored local repertoire of collective action that impacts the contemporary reproduction of local subjectivities. This case study narrates the political conflict that occurred in a Dalit (Untouchable) basti of the North Indian city of Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh). One political faction of the youth sought to overpower the Hindu Nationalist faction and turn the neighbourhood from an armed bastion of the Hindu nationalist politics and Hindu-Muslim violence into a stronghold of Dalit emancipation. Interrogating the notion of political stronghold, the study documents the techniques and stakes involved as well as the power networks that were mobilized in this localized political battle, which contributed to the defeat of a local riot system.