‘It’s jatisuchak and insulting to Dalits’: BJP MLC seeks renaming of UP villages and towns named after SC community

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Shashaktikaran Sangh (BSS) has written a letter to CM Adityanath, requesting him to change the name of Chamari village of Kalpi tehsil in Jalaun district.

In the letter, BSS president Nanak Chand said the current name of the village appears to be “jatisuchak’ (caste indicator) and socially “objectionable”, which hurts the sentiments of a large section of the society. He demanded to rename the village with some ‘respectful and inspirational” name.

In his letter, MLC Nirmal, who is also the president of Ambedkar Mahasabha Trust, wrote, “Certain villages across various UP districts have Scheduled Castes names that make Dalits feel insulted. There would be villages with such names in almost every district of the state. It might make Dalits feel anxious.”

He noted that if anybody deliberately addresses a Dalit with such names, it is punishable under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“Having names of villages or institutions with caste names is not appropriate. It hurts the sentiments of Dalits,” Nirmal said.

Nirmal has appealed to the chief minister to get a list of such villages from across the state and get removed these names and rename the villages.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Nirmal said, “If you deliberately address somebody — belonging to the Scheduled Castes — with words like Chamraua and Chamarkheda etc— that is a punishable offence under the SC/ST Act. If such words are so sensitive, how can these words be used in naming any village, institution, or district? It is possible that such names were popular in the pre-independence era. But after Independence and in view of the existing laws, such names should have been corrected, but no one paid attention to that.”

An analysis by The Indian Express of the village directory released as part of Census 2011 has found that UP has 2,865 villages named after castes, clans, and sub-castes of Brahmins, Thakurs, Banias, Kayasthas, Yadavs, Jats, Gurjjars, Kurmis, Lodhas, Dalits, and others, with names such as Babhanpur, Shuklaganj, Thakurai, and Harijanpur.
The demand for renaming such villages has come at a time when caste politics, especially on the issues of honour of Brahmin and Dalits, is heating up in UP ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

After the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party announced that it will celebrate the birth anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram as PDA Diwas and hold programmes across the state on March 15, BSP president Mayawati slammed Yadav for doing so. The Congress has announced to observe Kanshi Ram’s 92nd birth anniversary as “Samajik Parivartan Diwas” and to mark the occasion, the Congress’s OBC and SC departments will organise a programme in Lucknow on March 13 with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, as the chief guest.