2027 UP polls: Why caste equations are central to RSS coordination meetings and BJP’s state leadership revamp

An indication of the shift was seen last week when Chaudhary announced party presidents of 11 districts. The list included an additional column highlighting the “caste” of each appointee — like Kashyap, Brahmin, Thakur, Pasi, Vaishya, Maurya, Kayasth. Of the 11 presidents, six are from upper castes, three OBCs and two from Scheduled Castes.

According to sources, the RSS’ prant meetings have seen the participation of the BJP’s top state functionaries as well. Sources said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath participated in the coordination meeting of the Gorakhpur prant, held in Gorakhpur city, on Tuesday. It was also attended by Chaudhary, general secretary (organisation) Dharampal, RSS Prant Pracharak Ramesh and functionaries from other RSS off-shoots.

Chaudhary and Dharampal also attended the coordination meeting of Kashi region in Varanasi on Monday. A similar meeting of the Awadh region was held last week, sources said.

“Coordination meetings of the other three regions — Paschim (west UP), Bundelkhand and Braj — will be held soon. In these meetings, all organisations of the RSS will give a brief about their ongoing programmes and the challenges they are facing on the ground. The BJP too has to discuss its programmes and challenges,” said an RSS functionary.

Another functionary, who attended the meetings, said, “As the BJP is ruling in the state, the party leaders, in the meeting, also received feedback on government schemes being implemented on the ground, and the social and political challenges prevailing in the state.”

As part of a tour of various prants in UP last month, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat repeatedly made an appeal to eradicate discrimination in society, saying there was no caste system in the RSS and the same idea should be practised in society.

“The RSS’s appeal to rise above caste lines and work for the Hindu community, and similar messages at Hindu sammelans, is coming at a time when the Opposition political parties — the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress — are trying to woo different caste groups, especially Brahmins and Dalits, ahead of the 2027 assembly elections in UP. If all castes, Dalits, OBCs and upper castes, unite as Hindus, that will certainly help the BJP,” said a senior BJP leader.

Caste undercurrents gather steam

Over the past few months, Brahmin politics has been heating up in state, especially after tensions flared between Swami Avimukteshwaranad Saraswati, the “Shankaracharya” of the Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand, and the BJP, as well as the Adityanath government. The former has been targeting the UP government and Adityanath since his alleged mistreatment during the recent Magh Mela in Prayagraj, while the CM had questioned Saraswati’s stature as the ‘Shankracharya’.

The now-stayed UGC’s equity regulations, aimed at curbing caste-based discrimination in higher education institutions and which were widely criticised by upper-caste groups, has added to the heat.

During the Akhil Bharatiya Brahman Mahasabha’s recently organised “Prabuddha Sangam” in Lucknow, where Brahmin leaders from across parties were present on stage, BJP leaders, including Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak, former Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, and Rajya Sabha member and former Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, reportedly faced uncomfortable moments when members of the audience sought responses on the UGC regulations.