Opinion | Social Justice, Electoral Math And Battle For UP's Upper Castes

Updated: Jul 30, 2026 14:17 pm IST Published On Jul 30, 2026 14:13 pm IST Last Updated On Jul 30, 2026 14:17 pm IST

Published On Jul 30, 2026 14:13 pm IST

Last Updated On Jul 30, 2026 14:17 pm IST

The Cockroach Janta Party's protests at Jantar Mantar have wound down. But the national conversation they reignited - over social justice, equity and merit - hasn't gone anywhere. And Uttar Pradesh, heading into its consequential 2027 assembly election, may be the only state where that conversation collides directly with hard electoral arithmetic. Three forces are converging here at once: the BJP's upper-caste base, the Samajwadi Party's expanding caste-outreach strategy, and a national debate on social justice. Few other states carry all three at this scale, or with these stakes.

Brahmins account for close to 10 per cent of Uttar Pradesh's population, with the community concentrated most heavily in the central and eastern parts of the state. Add Rajputs, Baniyas and other upper-caste groups, and the bloc becomes electorally significant well beyond its numeric share - a bloc that has voted overwhelmingly with the BJP through the last two election cycles.

The data bears this out. In the 2022 Assembly election, CSDS-Lokniti's post-poll survey found that 79 per cent of upper-caste (Brahmin, Rajput and Vaishya) voters backed the NDA, against just 16 per cent for the Opposition alliance. Two years later, in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, that loyalty held firm at the individual........

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