Caste stickers will not be allowed in UP.
Key sentence:
- Now the transport department of Uttar Pradesh has begun cracking down on vehicles wearing ‘casteism’.
- After a letter from a professor in Maharashtra, Harshal Prabhu, the PMO became aware of the matter.
- It is not appropriate to paste such stickers on vehicles. Those that are found guilty of the offence will be confiscated from their car.
Caste has always been central to Uttar Pradesh’s electoral politics. But it has become a trend in the last few years to boldly display caste origins on windscreens either vehicle number plates throughout the state.
The Cast and Sub-cast nameplates:
By placing the caste & sub-caste name tags on certain SUVs, cars, motorcycles, and other vehicles, castes such as Yadav, Jat, Khatriya, Lodhi, Gurjar, Brahmin, Pandit, and Maurya tend to compete with each other in claiming their dominant social or political status.
UP transport department started cracking down on vehicles ‘casteism’:
And now the transport department of Uttar Pradesh has begun cracking down on vehicles wearing ‘casteism’. The transport department has initiated the drive after orders from the Prime Minister’s Office, referring to the Hindustan Times’ sister publication Hindustan (PMO).
As quoted by Transport Commissioner Mukesh Chandra:
Similar to Hindustan, which cited from an order sent by Additional Transport Commissioner Mukesh Chandra to all Regional Transport Offices, vehicles bearing caste stickers will now be confiscated (RTOs).
A letter from the teacher in Maharashtra:
After a letter from a professor in Maharashtra, Harshal Prabhu, the PMO became aware of the matter, Hindustan stated. He wrote the IGRS letter, an integrated framework developed for grievance redress. Prabhu has said that the showing of such stickers was a challenge to society’s social structure.
According to Hindustan, the PMO took notice of the letter then sent it to Uttar Pradesh’s government, during which such a drive was initiated.
The vehicle will be Seized DK Tripathi, the deputy transport commissioner:
“It is not appropriate to paste such stickers on vehicles. Those that are found guilty of the offence will be confiscated from their car. Every 20th vehicle, according to our compliance teams, is found to be carrying a very sticker.
DK Tripathi, the deputy transportation commissioner, Kanpur, told Hindustan that our headquarters had ordered us to take action against these vehicle owners.
The Trend of such nameplates:
During the Samajwadi Party (SP) regime during Mulayam Singh Yadav (2003-07), when it became trendy to drive SUVs including motorcycles with ‘Yadav’ written in bold letters on them, the Trend of some individuals displaying their unique caste identities on cars is said to have come to the fore with greater exposure.
Comparably, during the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) rule, vehicles with ‘Jatav’ logos became more noticeable, even as such cars can be noticed even today in some districts, particularly in the western UP.
The latest entrant into another caste rivalry is Kshatriya, Thakur or Rajput (different variations of the same caste) as a mark on vehicles.
