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During a fairly long period under the Mughal rule, especially between Akbar and Shah Jahan, Agra prospered as the capital of Hindustan. Today it is considered as the Dalit capital of North India—if
not the entire country. Perhaps it is second only to Nagpur where the chief architect of Constitution Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar along with 3.65 lakhs Scheduled Caste followers abandoned Hinduism and embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956 a few weeks before his death on December 6.
It is other thing that this Maharashtrian city is now known more for being the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh–where Narendra Modi recently paid his first visit after becoming Prime Minister 11 summers ago—than for being the focal point of Dalit politics in India.
Like Nagpur, the city of Taj Mahal too is associated with Ambedkar, where he addressed a massive and historic rally on March 18, 1956 to announce that he is going to embrace Buddhism. It was here in Agra
that he regretted that the educated among them had betrayed the cause of the movement.
Agra district has, according to the last Census, about 22.4% Scheduled Castes population—Nagpur too has about the same proportion. Uttar Pradesh has 21.3% of Dalits. There are districts in India with larger population of Scheduled Castes than Nagpur and Agra, but these two cities have a long history of struggle for Dalits assertion—that is why they remain in the limelight.
Dalit-Rajput clash
Over 168 years after the last Mughal titular head of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was exiled from India following 1857 First War of Independence, Agra has become a battleground not between Rajputs and
Mughals, or Jats and Mughals, but between Rajputs and Dalits, in particular Jatavs, the caste to which Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, Mayawati and late leader Kanshi Ram belong. Jatavs also known as Ravidas in north India have substantial presence in Agra, Meerut, Kanpur and some other districts of Uttar Pradesh known for leather and footwear industries. In south India Madigas, a Dalit caste, are engaged
in this work.
Obviously, the urban pockets of these places in Uttar Pradesh have substantial Muslim population as well, though it is also a fact that Agra like Delhi, witnessed big migration of the community to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. The tannery and leather business have a long history.
That is why there is good presence of Qureshis (Butchers), the Muslim caste engaged in cattle slaughter profession and related business. Agra, Meerut, Kanpur, etc. are traditionally cantonment cities which further gave a boost to boot and belt industries.
But in 21st century saffron India no battle, political or not so political, can be fought without dragging the name of Mughals.
So, it all started with the speech of Dalit Samajwadi Party MP, Ramji Lal Suman, in the Upper House of Parliament. Hitting out at the repeated evocation of the names of Mughal emperors Babur and Aurangzeb, he thundered as to who, if not Rana Sanga, invited Babur to get rid of Ibrahim Lodhi from the throne of Delhi. He even used the word ‘gaddar’ (traitor) in this regard. This was enough to rake up storm in the House and the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and even some of its allies went on warpath, though his remarks were expunged from the record.
The Sangh Parivar bayed for his blood. The Karni Sena, an outfit of Rajputs, went on a rampage and attacked Ramji Lal Suman’s house in Agra and vandalized it. Armed with swords and other weapons, Rajput mob openly raised slogans against Suman and his party. The police barricade erected around it was demolished by them.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav, who went to his house on April 19 blamed the Yogi Sena and not Karni Sena responsible for targeting 74-year-old Suman. He charged chief minister Yogi of funding
and openly backing his castemen (Rajputs). He asked as to why no action has been taken against the perpetrators and told the BJP that the entire controversy was the outcome of the Sangh Parivar’s favourite pastime of raking up history.
The brazen targeting of the house of Dalit Rajya Sabha MP, Ramji Lal Suman, not only exposed the utter failure of the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, but also showed the growing
powerlessness of the Scheduled Castes in the state. The decline of BSP after it was voted out of power in 2012 and the subsequent rise of the Saffron party had weakened the SCs, especially Jatavs, who form about 60% of Dalit population in UP.
Rise in crime on Dalits
In the recent past several incidents of crime against them have been reported in UP, and in most of them Rajputs are involved. A Dalit girl was raped in Agra and a bridegroom was assaulted for daring to
lead his baraat on a horseback. Several other cases of rapes have been reported, the most gruesome one in Rampur, where a pre-teen physically handicapped girl had her private parts burnt by the perpetrator.
Mayawati is just paying lip service. There is a general perception that she does not want to take on the BJP which may open cases against her.
Opportunity for Samajwadi Party
The complete decimation of BSP provided the Samajwadi Party an opportunity to exploit this situation.
In the Lok Sabha election held in 2024 it made a big comeback. Eight Dalits, the same number as the BJP, won on SP ticket in Uttar Pradesh—up from zero in 2019. This included the historic victory by its candidate, Awadesh Prasad, from all important Ayodhya seat, which incidentally, was not a reserved seat. The SP put up another candidate from a general seat (Meerut), though it could not win. This made it clear its priority.
The way in which the SP is trying to woo the Dalit votes deserved a dispassionate study. Akhilesh is repeatedly alleging that the Yogi government is engaged in harassing, torturing, and mistreating the
PDA, which stands for Pichada (backward castes), Dalits, and Alpsankhyak (minorities). In the last year’s Lok Sabha poll, the BJP could win only 33 seats besides, two by its allies. The SP and its allies
Congress bagged 37 and six seats respectively.
As Rajputs and Jats of the west UP largely voted for BJP and its allies Rashtriya Lok Dal the task for SP to exploit the social contradictions has become easy. Apart from the Rajput-Dalit tussle in west UP, Agra
in particular, had especially in pre-BSP era of 1970s and 1980s saw several Jat-Jatav blood-letting.
Ever since 2014, the BJP strategy has been to woo non-Jatav Dalits and non-Yadav backward castes votes.
Though the Jatavs voted for Mayawati till 2024, they are looking for some other alternative as BSP has been completely marginalized. Jatavs, who form something between 11% and 12% of the State’s population, may not drift towards the BJP, which had played a crucial role in weakening the BSP. Thus, SP has been in a planned manner attracting them towards its side. But for this, it will have to keep in check any Yadav-Dalit contradiction in the state. The Dalit-Yadav relationship got sore following reported assault on Behanji Mayawati in Lucknow Guest House in June 1995. The incident followed her decision to withdraw support from the Samajwadi Party-BSP government. She was then the deputy CM of UP under Mulayam Singh Yadav. The BJP then backed her and installed her as the chief minister for the first time.
However, Dalit and Yadav relationship improved in 2019 after Behanji and Akhilesh buried the past to unitedly fight the Lok Sabha election. The BSP won 10 and SP, five seats.
Both Congress and Samajwadi Party understand this situation. That is why during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in February 2024 Rahul Gandhi, accompanied with sister Priyanka, and Akhilesh Yadav jointly held a public meeting in Agra. Though BJP’s S P Singh Baghel won last year’s parliamentary election from here, Congress and Samajwadi Party have stepped up their efforts to woo Dalits of UP as the Assembly election is due in early 2027.
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