Narratives of the Dispossessed and Casteless: Politics of Land and Caste in Rajarhat,West Bengal |
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Authors: | Ritanjan Das |
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Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth , UK ritanjan@gmail.com |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACT This article examines the political narratives around a two-decade -old process of land acquisition and development in the “global city” Rajarhat, a former rural settlement in the Indian state of West Bengal. These narratives are built against the backdrop of a neoliberal state acting as a corporate facilitator, particularly in matters of land, and the concomitant dispossession. The multifaceted politics of Rajarhat took shape during the erstwhile communist regime in West Bengal, the dichotomy of a self-identified Left state engaged in forceful and violent land acquisition thus forming an interesting paradox. The article also presents evidence against the long -held political myth of caste relations being irrelevant in Bengali politics, by examining the upper-caste -dominated social relations in Rajarhat and the formation of low-level cartels or “syndicates” in the area . In conclusion, the article points to the reinvention and redeployment of caste relations – even in increasingly urban spaces where “hierarchical” caste practices are usually taken to be on the decline – rooted in the duality between land struggles and development. |
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Keywords: | Rajarhat West Bengal Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI(M)) land acquisition displacement caste |
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