UP Govt’s Ban on Caste-Based Rallies: A Political Strategy Before 2027 Assembly Polls?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has imposed a ban on caste-based rallies, a move that has quickly become a talking point in political and social circles. In a state where caste equations have defined political strategies for decades, the decision is not being seen merely as a legal formality but as a socially significant, and perhaps politically motivated, step.

The order came in response to directives of the Allahabad high court issued on September 16. Acting Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar followed up on September 21 with instructions to all senior officials across the state – additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, the director general of police, additional director general (law and order), police commissioners, district magistrates, and senior superintendents of police – directing strict compliance.

The government also clarified that FIRs and arrest memos will no longer record the caste of the accused. Instead, the names of their parents will be entered. However, this directive will not apply to cases involving Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), which remain exempted.

The official notification stated, “Caste-based rallies organised for political purposes promote caste conflict in society. They go against public order and national unity. Such rallies will remain completely prohibited in the state of UP.”

The centrality of caste in UP politics

Uttar Pradesh, with a population of nearly 200 million, has long been regarded as the nerve centre of caste-based politics. The diversity and complexity of its social fabric mean that caste equations dominate every election strategy. The BJP’s attempt to prohibit caste rallies is thus widely interpreted as an effort to reshape the political ground ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

The party has historically claimed to rise above caste politics by positioning itself as a nationalist and ideological force. Yet its track record tells another story. When former Prime Minister V.P. Singh implemented the Mandal Commission report in 1990 to expand reservations for backward classes, the BJP countered it not with direct opposition but by mobilising support for the Ram Mandir movement.

Despite this covert opposition to Mandal, BJP never refrained from joining hands with caste-based parties when it suited electoral arithmetic. It allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1996 and again in 2002.

Even now, despite enjoying a full majority of 255 seats in a House of 403, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has alliances with smaller caste-centric outfits like the Nishad Party, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Apna Dal (Sonelal), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The ministers from these allies reflect the very caste mobilisations the government now seeks to curb. Sanjay Nishad, representing the Nishad community of fishermen and boatmen, serves as a cabinet minister. Apna Dal (Sonelal), centred around the Kurmi/Patel vote bank, has Ashish Patel in government. The SBSP, drawing support from Rajbhar's and Kushwahas, counts Om Prakash Rajbhar among Yogi Adityanath’s ministers.

The era of caste-based parties

For three decades, caste-based parties shaped the political narrative of UP. The BSP under Mayawati consolidated Dalit support, forming the government four times and securing an outright majority in 2007. The SP under late Mulayam Singh Yadav and later Akhilesh Yadav built a Muslim-Yadav coalition, forming governments in 1989, 1993, 2003, and again in 2012.

But since 2014, the rise of the BJP under Narendra Modi has eroded the dominance of SP and BSP. The party swept 71 of 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP that year. In Assembly elections, the SP was reduced to 47 seats in 2017, while BSP managed only 19. In 2022, BSP collapsed further to a single seat, while SP marginally recovered to 111 but could not challenge the BJP’s hold.

The general elections mirrored this decline. In 2014, SP won five Lok Sabha seats and BSP none. In 2019, even after their alliance, SP remained at five while BSP won 10. BJP still held 62.

The breakthrough came in 2024. The SP joined Congress under the INDIA bloc and broadened its appeal with the slogan of PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak). By mobilising non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits alongside its traditional Muslim-Yadav base, the SP won 37 seats, becoming the third-largest party nationally.

BJP was reduced to 33 seats in UP, slipping from 62 in 2019. Nationally, its tally dropped to 240, forcing it to rely on allies such as Janata Ddal (United) (JD (U)), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Apna Dal (S), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to retain power at the Centre.

This upset emboldened SP cadres and boosted Akhilesh Yadav’s stature. For BJP, it was a serious setback – its electoral juggernaut had been halted by a caste-based mobilisation. With UP Assembly elections due in 2027, the saffron party now appears intent on limiting such consolidations.

Anger among marginalised voices

The ban has drawn sharp criticism from activists and social groups. Dalit activist Arun Khote described it as “a well-calculated strategy to stop mobilisation of marginalised communities against the injustices of the past eight-nine years.” Speaking to The Wire, he argued that if Dalits and other groups were able to reach consensus, a political resistance could dethrone BJP in 2027.

Shiv Kumar Yadav of the Yadav Sena Sangathan also criticised the move. He noted that caste rallies are not always political but sometimes intended to end inter-caste rivalries.

“I founded Yadav Sena to build friendship with Dalits, because misconceptions were being spread that Yadavs are against Dalits,” he said. According to him, the real battle is “85 versus 15”– the 85% marginalised versus 15% dominant castes.

Without naming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he accused forces in Nagpur of not wanting backwards and Dalits to unite into a formidable political block.

Even BJP’s allies expressed unease. Sanjay Nishad, a minister in the Yogi government, remarked that while respecting the court’s order was everyone’s duty, silencing historically oppressed voices was unacceptable.

“The government should approach the court for a revision,” he said.

Opposition’s sharp attack

The opposition Samajwadi Party was quick to call out the BJP’s double standards. The party's OBC cell in-charge Rajpal Kashyap pointed to how the government had mandated that shopkeepers along the Kanwar Yatra route display original names of owners, a rule widely seen as an attempt to identify Muslim shopkeepers. “That same government now says caste rallies promote division. It brazenly promotes communalism while evading social justice,” Kashyap said.

He added that BJP fears gatherings of marginalised communities because they inevitably raise questions of atrocities and discrimination. He cited the recent Lakhimpur Kheri bank recruitment, where out of 27 positions, only two went to SC/ST candidates and six to OBCs, well below reservation norms.

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