On April 20, 2025, Uttar Pradesh witnessed yet another political spectacle. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, invoking his PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) formula, accused the BJP government of presiding over a State where atrocities against Dalits are rampant. In the heated landscape of 2025 elections, “Dalit outreach” has suddenly become the new battleground — a race among Opposition parties desperate to claim the moral high ground after decades of abandonment.
But the Dalit community knows better than to be mere pawns in a game of electoral arithmetic. Outreach cannot erase historical betrayals. Public statements cannot substitute for concrete power-sharing. For too long, Dalit aspirations have been exploited, not empowered. While parties chant slogans of upliftment, they remain silent on internal casteism, on structural economic deprivation, and on political exclusion. The question is not who cries louder about atrocities today — the real test lies in who is willing to dismantle the feudal structures that breed those atrocities tomorrow.
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The Numbers Tell a Grim Story
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2023 data, Uttar Pradesh continues to top the country in crimes against Scheduled Castes, accounting for over 25% of the total cases registered nationwide. In 2023 alone, more than 15,500 cases of atrocities against Dalits were reported from Uttar Pradesh — an increase of nearly 10% over the previous year. Cases ranged from physical assaults, murders, sexual violence to land dispossession and social boycott. Behind these numbers lies a brutal everyday reality of indignity, fear, and caste terror.
The 2024 India Justice Report further exposes that Dalit communities continue to face the longest delays in accessing justice in Uttar Pradesh courts, with over 65% of atrocity-related cases pending for more than five years. Political regimes have changed, Chief Ministers have changed, slogans have changed — but for Dalits, justice remains a distant, betrayed promise.
PDA or PR? The Real Test of Commitment
While Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA formula strategically tries to consolidate OBCs, Dalits, and minorities under one electoral umbrella, it must be asked: where was the PDA vision when the SP was in power? How many Dalit ministers held key portfolios? How many Dalit voices were allowed to shape the party’s core agenda? Political outreach must be measured not by election speeches but by representation in power, policies of redistribution, and real dismantling of Savarna dominance in bureaucracies and institutions.
Similarly, the BJP, despite its occasional symbolic gestures — like appointing Dalit candidates to constitutional posts — has presided over growing anti-Dalit violence, land alienation, and suppression of Ambedkarite movements. Its model is not empowerment but tokenism.
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A Crisis Beyond Elections: The Need for Structural Change
What Uttar Pradesh needs — and what Dalits deserve — is not a new marketing strategy for elections, but a radical restructuring of power. Caste atrocities will not end merely because political leaders declare solidarity during election rallies. They will end only when:
- Land redistribution is prioritized to break feudal dominance.
- Education, employment, and healthcare are guaranteed without caste discrimination.
- Atrocity cases are fast-tracked and justice is delivered within fixed timeframes.
- Dalits are empowered as decision-makers, not merely voters.
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In the absence of such structural commitments, Dalit outreach will remain just that — outreach, not emancipation.
Dalit Resistance Is Not for Sale
Dalits are not waiting for saviors in khadi or saffron. The history of Dalit resistance — from the battlefields of Bhima-Koregaon to the struggles for Rohith Vemula — shows that dignity will not be gifted; it will be claimed. Political parties must understand that today’s Dalit voter is conscious, critical, and watching. They know that slogans will not dismantle caste. Only radical reimagining of power will.
The race for Dalit votes is on. But Dalits are no longer running after political promises. They are demanding accountability, representation, and justice.
