In UP, Congress weighs SC/ST Act-like law to protect poorer OBC communities

• Congress is considering an SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act-like law for poorer and landless OBC communities in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

• The proposal is aimed at communities such as Nais, Prajapatis, Kashyaps and Vishwakarmas, with the party framing it as a move beyond reservation towards legal protection and welfare.

• The proposal draws on the Congress-led Mahagathbandhan's 2025 Bihar outreach to Extremely Backward Classes, while the BJP is also stepping up its OBC mobilisation in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress is considering an SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act-like law to provide specific legal protection to poorer and landless sections of the OBC community in Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

The proposal is part of the party's efforts to expand its social base in Uttar Pradesh, where it has been out of power since 1989.

Under Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has stepped up its outreach to OBCs and repeatedly stressed the principle of 'Jiski jitni hissedari, uski utni bhagedari' — representation in proportion to population.

The proposed legislation is being considered for inclusion in the party's manifesto for the Assembly elections. Anil Jaihind, chairman of the Congress' OBC department, told National Herald that the party would enact such a law if it came to power in the state.

Jaihind said the OBC category was numerically large, but several smaller communities within it remained socially, economically and politically backward and particularly vulnerable.

"SCs and STs have constitutional and legal safeguards. They have the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. But there are sections among OBCs which are even more vulnerable and have no comparable legal protection," he said.

He said communities such as Nais, Prajapatis, Kashyaps and Vishwakarmas constituted a significant section of the poorer and landless OBC population in Uttar Pradesh and faced discrimination and harassment, particularly in rural areas.

Official government data on poverty by social group, based on 2004-05 estimates, showed that 36.6 per cent of the OBC population in urban Uttar Pradesh and 32.9 per cent in rural Uttar Pradesh lived below the then official poverty line.

Jaihind said Rahul Gandhi had agreed with the need to address the concerns of these communities.

The proposal remains at a preliminary stage. Asked whether the Congress had discussed the issue with its alliance partners, Jaihind said consultations had yet to begin and that the contours of any alliance would ultimately be decided by the party leadership. "But the party will do its part to pitch for this," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh proposal draws on the Congress-led Mahagathbandhan's outreach to Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) in Bihar. Ahead of the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, the alliance had unveiled a 10-point Atipichhda Nyay Sankalp, which included a promise to enact an EBC Atrocities Prevention Act on the lines of the SC/ST law.

The Bihar resolution also promised to increase EBC reservation in panchayats and urban local bodies from 20 per cent to 30 per cent and provide residential land to landless EBC families. It also included measures relating to education, government contracts and reservation.

The Congress is now considering incorporating some of these measures into its OBC outreach in Uttar Pradesh.

The move comes as the BJP, too, steps up its outreach to OBC communities in the state ahead of the 2027 polls. The BJP OBC Morcha has announced a family-to-family campaign targeting 75 major backward caste groups, with plans to strengthen its booth-level network and deepen its engagement with different OBC communities. The strategy was discussed at the Morcha's state executive meeting in Mathura in July.

Political observers see the Congress' OBC outreach as part of the broader contest over the social coalition in Uttar Pradesh, where the opposition's PDA — pichda, Dalits and minorities — has emerged as a central political theme.

The BJP, meanwhile, has been seeking to consolidate its support among non-Yadav OBC communities through its organisational and government outreach.

The proposed law would add a new element to the Congress' social-justice pitch, shifting the focus from reservation alone to legal protection and welfare measures for poorer and landless sections of the OBC community.