Caste, class, gender, religion and nationality are all powerful labels, but how important are they to a country's development and economy?

In less than a month, India, the world’s largest democracy, will go into general elections. The massive electoral exercise, with 900 million people eligible to vote, will take more than a month to complete.

Over 15 million of these are young first-time voters.

WorklifeIndia will travel across the country to capture local voices and find out what voters want ahead of elections. This time, we went to Varanasi, a holy city for Hindus and the constituency of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to discuss identity politics.

Electoral promises and policies in India often tend to revolve around identity. So, is the spread of identity politics a positive phenomenon? Or does it hinder growth and development?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Seema Chishti, deputy editor, The Indian Express; Anjoo Sharan Upadhyaya, professor, Banaras Hindu University; Mineshi Mishra, student activist, Banaras Hindu University

Image: Indian women queue to cast their votes during the last phase of Lok Sabha election on May 12, 2014 in Varanasi, India (Credit: Ajay Aggarwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)