The caste faultlines in Modi’s India

As India completes 10 years of being governed by the Hindu nationalist BJP, Divya Arya explores the divergent political and religious views of different castes in modern day India.

Despite government led programmes to increase job opportunities and reduced caste based discrimination, inequalities still exist particularly in smaller towns and villages.

In this episode, the BBC’s Divya Arya travels across the vast country, from small towns in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to villages in Rajasthan and Gujarat, meeting Hindus from different castes.

She meets a young Brahman influencer who makes reels about her caste pride, and hears her anger at the government’s positive discrimination policies. Some of these guarantee sought after jobs for people from so called lower classes.
She also meets a man from the lower Dalit caste who has moved away from Hinduism to embrace Buddhism after being accused of killing cows, a sacred animals for Hindus.

Divya meets another Dalit man from the same area who has joined an organisation with close links to the ruling BJP. She asks why someone from the Dalit community would want to join a group that could hold discriminatory views about them.

As India heads towards a general election, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks likely to be elected for a third straight term, the varied experiences and motivations of Hindus reveal that age old divisions still exist in the country.

Producer / Presenter: Divya Arya