A major section of the upper caste leaders of the ruling BJP have started raising their voice against the new UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutes) Regulations, 2026 which has now turned into a forward versus backward debate ahead of the 2027 assembly polls.
While several upper caste leaders of the BJP had hitherto chosen to remain silent over the issue, veteran leaders like Kalraj Mishra have now openly called for the amendment of the new rules that he has termed as “unconstitutional.” Demanding that students of all social groups should be included and given a chance to raise a complaint, Mishra said that the guidelines of the UCG will promote separatism and lead to violation of the fundamental rights of the Constitution. Mishra, a veteran Brahmin face of the BJP who has also served as the governor of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan also said that there should be a provision for acting on those raking fake complaints which is not there in the regulation as of now.
After both his sons came forward to speak against the regulations, former Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh too has criticised the regulations saying that they will lead to division in the society, even at school-level. Speaking at his home in Gonda, Singh said that while the swarna (upper caste) tradition was to uplift those at the bottom (level of society), people sitting in offices cannot run the society. “If you have to run the society, you have to come to the villages and see, in villages, people play together without any bias of casteist colour. No child asks another about his/her caste. Do you want that in future, an OBC or a Dalit not be given entry in this house? You are creating such an atmosphere. So, I appeal to you with folded hands that this matter (regulations) should be withdrawn. I want to appeal to the upper caste society that they should contact the sensible people of the OBC and Dalit society and make them oppose this because we stay together in the villages,” he said. He also said that while he was about to create a sanatan vatika after inaugurating his Rashtra Katha by saints from 52 different communities and groups, they (government) had “killed his mission by bringing this law.”
Soon after, his son and Kaiserganj MP Karan Bhushan too wrote a post against the regulations claiming that the parliamentary committee on education, women, children, youth and sports- of which he is a member- had no contribution in formulating the new UGC rules. “A section of the media is spreading doubts about me in connection with the new rules of the UGC on social media and news channels. Running such a campaign without knowing my side is extremely unfortunate. I want to make it clear that the parliamentary committee of which I am a member, has no contribution in formulating these rules,” he said. He further said that his sentiments are with the people of his society and it is his demand that the UGC, while respecting public sentiment, reconsiders its regulations and brings it again with relevant amendments so that no casteist hatred can spread in the society. He added that one cannot let educational institutions be turned into a centre of casteist battle.
Singh’s stand is in consonance with what the chairman of the committee Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said. Digvijay Singh has told mediapersons that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education had issued a report which was unanimously adopted by the committee which had made some recommendations to strengthen the UGC’s draft committee regulations. He said that the UGC accepted only some of the recommendations of the committee and said that at least two major recommendations were not included in the final Equity Regulations released in January 2026 and criticised the UGC for “getting rid of a provision of penalty for filing of fake complaints.”
Meanwhile, more resignations of upper caste leaders of the BJP flowed in with a district general secretary of BJP’s Firozabad unit Shashi Tomar resigning in protest against the new UGC regulations. In Prayagraj, former BJYM general secretary Shivam Mishra was among those who led a protest against the regulations. He remarked that they will start a fast until death if the regulations are not withdrawn. In west UP’s Meerut, members of the Rajput community organized a panchayat in the Salava village declaring that they won’t vote for the BJP till the time the regulations are withdrawn while in Lucknow, members of the Karni Sena led a protest against the regulations.
Speaking to TDG, a UP BJP leader said that while the BJP top leadership seems to be in favour of implementation of the new UGC regulations which the party is viewing as a tool to woo the OBCs and Dalits ahead of the 2027 assembly polls, its upper caste leadership is uncomfortable with the new regulations as they have to face the upper caste voters and communities in their respective constituencies. “The BJP has brought the regulations with an eye on the 2027 assembly elections so that it can woo the backwards (OBCs) and the Dalits which together constitute over 60 per cent of the population of UP but this has alienated its traditional upper caste voter which has helped it install in power. Clearly, the sentiment within the top leadership of the party is that it can easily placate its upper caste voter closer to the polls but the regional leadership of the party which has to face these communities are finding it tough to answer their voters which is why upper caste leaders like Kalraj Mishra are speaking out,” he said.
Dr Shashikant Pandey, professor, political science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow told TDG that the while the BJP knows that the new regulations will result in agitation by the upper caste groups, it is in wait and watch mode as these regulations can help project the party as the benefactor of the backwards and Dalits ahead of the assembly polls in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and UP. “BJP is saying that the regulations have been brought by the UGC but clearly, they have been brought with the government’s knowledge. The sentiment within the party may be that the move will help the party counter the Samajwadi Party’s PDA (pichchde, Dalit, alpsankhayak) pitch in UP, it can also help it garner votes of the backward communities in Tamil Nadu which has a sizeable share of this population but it has become difficult for the party’s upper caste leadership to defend the undefendable which is why they are openly criticizing the UGC’s regulations. Now, the upper caste communities who are the traditional voters of the BJP are protesting against the regulations. The strategy of the party may be to watch how far their agitation stretches and then weigh its options on whether to withdraw the regulations or put them in back burner,” he said.
