Conclusion: Whither Dalit Politics?

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the key arguments related to the mobilization of the marginalized. It considers how the experience of Dalit mobilization informs a larger research agenda on democratic mobilization of marginalized groups, ethnic politics, social movements, and political parties. Dalit parties, the chapter reiterates, represent the voice of the marginalized; however, the voice comes at a price: electoral choice. The chapter goes on to argue that the presence or absence of Dalit parties in legislatures is increasingly an incomplete indicator of the vibrancy of Dalit politics, because Dalit politics is taking root in new dimensions of the public sphere: organizations in new sectors, an online Dalit public sphere, and a Dalit diaspora.