Why caste still matters in Indian politics

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, made several costly miscalculations in this year’s general election. He overestimated his own popularity. He underestimated the extent of economic angst, especially about under-employment and inflation. And he relied excessively on Hindu nationalism to mobilise voters from the nation’s religious majority. But perhaps his most telling error was to mishandle what is still the most important fault line in Indian society: caste.