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Politics of renaming takes centre stage in battle for Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh
After Yogi renames Bhadohi, Mayawati hails move, demands restoration of names of all districts after Dalit icons
The political battle to win over Dalit support has taken centre stage ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
First, chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced that Bhadohi will be known as Sant Ravidas Nagar again. Then, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati demanded restoration of names of all districts, which were christened after Dalit icons by her government.
Yogi Adityanath had made the announcement about renaming Bhadohi while addressing Samajik Samarasta Sankalp meeting at Seer Goverdhanpur, the birthplace of Sant Ravidas, in Varanasi on Wednesday (July 29).
“My government has also restored the name of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College, Kannauj, which was renamed by the Samajwadi Party government,” he said.
The BJP is no stranger to the politics of renaming. After coming to power in Uttar Pradesh 2017, the Yogi government renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj, Faizabad district as Ayodhya and Mughalsarai as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar to underline the Hindutva message.
After the 2024 Lok Sabha poll setback, in which Dalit votes shifted to the INDIA bloc, the BJP leadership redrew its strategy.
Now, in a Dalit outreach ahead of the 2027 assembly election, the BJP has launched the Shri Guru Ravidas Maharaj Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan from July 29 to February 20, 2027 across Uttar Pradesh.
Along with Ravidas, the party has decided to highlight the contributions of Bhimrao Ambedkar and other great personalities from Dalit community, said Lal Singh Arya, the national president of the BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha.
Mayawati, who is working to regain her party’s hold on Dalits before the polls, welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to rename Bhadohi.
In a post on X, she said the state government should also restore the names of other districts named after Dalit icons, including Kasganj district that was renamed Kanshi Ram Nagar by her government.
“The BSP will be grateful to the state government if the renaming of Kasganj is done before the death anniversary of Kanshi Ram on October 9 or on that very day,” she said.
“As is well known from media reports, the current UP government has restored the name of Sant Ravidas Nagar district, which was originally established by the BSP government by granting Bhadohi the status of a district. The name was later changed by the Samajwadi Party (SP) government due to its narrow casteist mentality, and now it has been re-established as Sant Ravidas Nagar district. The party is grateful to the state government for this restoration,” Mayawati said.
She also said during the four BSP governments in UP, numerous new districts, tehsils, development blocks, police zones, and ranges were created to streamline administrative arrangements and serve the public interest better.
“The names of several of these districts were given after great seers, gurus, and luminaries born from time to time among Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). In this sequence, several new districts such as Sant Ravidas Nagar, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar, and Bhim Nagar were created. The SP government changed the names of these districts solely due to its casteist thinking, malice, and narrow political motives, something people will never forget,” she said.
“For the proper development of the Kasganj area located in the Braj region, a new district was created by granting Kasganj the status of district headquarters in the name of the Kanshi Ram revered by the Dalit community, whose name was also changed by the SP government due to its opposition to the backwards, Dalits and minorities,” Mayawati said.
Political observer SK Srivastava said Dalits account for nearly 20% of Uttar Pradesh’s electorate and play a decisive role in more than 126 assembly constituencies.
“After the Congress lost its hold on the Dalit community, the BSP made inroads, paving the way for the formation of four governments under Mayawati,” he said.
“In the 2017 assembly election, the BJP won over the Dalits and maintained its hold over the community in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2022 assembly elections. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the SP-Congress alliance shocked the BJP by winning 43 seats. The results clearly indicated that a large chunk of Dalits shifted to the alliance,” he said.
“The upcoming 2027 assembly election has set the stage for the battle for Dalit votes in UP. The BJP, SP, BSP and the Congress are mobilising their resources to win Dalit support by organising events to mark birth and death anniversaries and renaming districts, educational institutions, parks and memorials after Dalit icons,” he said.
