The Uttar Pradesh government order banning caste-based political rallies — besides a bar on the public display of caste names on vehicles and signboards, and the mention of caste in police records — has been welcomed by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha (ABKM) and the Brahmin Mahasabha. However, leaders of the Yadav, Jat and Gurjar bodies have opposed it.
“I appreciate the order. Caste should not be displayed. I do not have ‘Kshatriya’ written on my car. What difference does the display of caste make? Lord Ram and Maharana Pratap never talked about caste. Showing off your caste is not appropriate. It divides society. Caste system is the biggest hurdle in bringing social harmony in society,” ABKM national president Mahender Singh Tanwar said.
Pitambar Sharma, the UP president of the Akhil Bharatvarshiya Brahmin Mahasabha, also welcomed the order and said the display of castes “sends a wrong message to society”. “We do not encourage this practice. If we come to know that any person has written ‘Brahmin’ on his vehicle, we ask him to remove that. Mostly Jat and Gurjar follow such practices.”
On the other hand, Kaptan Singh Yadav, the UP president of Akhil Bharatiya Yadav Mahasabha (ABYM), said the order has been passed with “a political intent to prevent mobilisation of different castes, especially the Yadav community, in favour of the Samajwadi Party (SP)”.
“The ABYM holds sammelans (meetings) of Yadavs and other caste groups. At a recent meeting in Kanpur, over 40 castes came together. The BJP government is scared of the Opposition (SP) slogan of PDA (pichchda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) solidarity.”
Kaptan added that the display of caste names, particularly on vehicles, has been a long-time practice and that it would “be interesting to see how the state government stops this practice”.
The state president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gurjar Mahasabha (ABGM), Dinesh Singh Gurjar, said the order “may stop inter-caste clashes happening at various places,” but added that state government officials “should have held a meeting with leaders of caste organisations before issuing the order”.
“A meeting may have helped the government in implementing the order effectively. Also, the government should apply the order equally to all castes. It should not happen that vehicles with Gurjars stickers get challans and vehicles with Kshatriya stickers are spared,” Dinesh said.
He too echoed Kaptan’s sentiment that the order seemed to have been timed to counter Gurjar mobilisation towards the SP.
Jaiveer Singh, the general secretary of the Jat Mahasabha in Muzaffarnagar, found the government order “discriminatory”.
He asked why “the order was not applicable to SCs and STs”. In police mention of castes, the order makes an exception for cases filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“I am proud that I am a Jat. But we should be proud only when we are working for the welfare and prosperity of our caste. What is wrong if somebody displays his caste as Jat or Gurjar? By signifying their own caste, they are not abusing others or hurting others. This order (government order) will be opposed,” Jaiveer added.
On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government issued a 10-point directive banning caste-based political rallies, the public display of caste names on vehicles and signboards, and the mention of caste in most police records. The order, issued by officiating state Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar to all district magistrates and police chiefs, aims to “eliminate caste-based discrimination” and is based on a Allahabad High Court judgment delivered on September 16.
Different dominant caste groups in Uttar Pradesh display their caste identities by putting up stickers on vehicles and through display boards outside their villages. This is a common sight across western UP, mostly by Gurjar and Jat communities. Yadav, Brahmin and Kshatriya communities also display their caste in a similar manner.