The hidden hand of politics in education markets: how intergroup conflict & everyday choices shape school practices in Delhi, India

In fragmented and politically charged societies, what do parents seek from schools, and to whom are education providers accountable? Global education reforms increasingly promote accountability measures and expanded parental choice as mechanisms for improving school quality, positioning these policies as a means of empowering communities and reducing state inefficiencies. India's education system mirrors these global trends, yet in a country where politics permeates everyday life and influences 1.4 billion socially, religiously, and economically diverse citizens, can education ever remain separate from broader political discourses? This study examines how quasi-market reforms in the Indian capital’s education system privilege certain voices whilst marginalising others, shaping schools in ways that reflect existing social hierarchies. Drawing on tools from political science and political anthropology, it interrogates how seemingly apolitical mechanisms – such as parental voice and choice - are deeply embedded in struggles over power, identity, and exclusion. Through in-depth interviews with 230 parents and school representatives across Delhi and an analysis of 192 school disclosure documents, this research reveals how market-driven competition creates conditions of hyper-accountability, forcing schools to align with dominant group preferences rather than educational principles. Unexpectedly, the findings also reveal a form of religious nationalism that emerges from below - what this study terms 'bottom-up Hindutva' - rather than through state policy as existing scholarship suggests. This operates through parental demands for Hindu-first curricula, pressure to dismiss Muslim staff, and the careful crafting of socio-religious homogeneity in school communities. With this, the research challenges the assumption that parental agency is a neutral or depoliticised force, arguing instead that it serves as a mechanism for entrenching socio-political divisions. By questioning what and whom we consider 'political' in education research, this study calls for a critical rethinking of policies that fail to recognise how quotidian schooling decisions reproduce broader systems of power and exclusion in deeply stratified societies.