Welcoming the decision of the lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court stay on caste-based political meetings and rallies in Uttar Pradesh, the political parties said it would give a level-playing field to all the parties.
A high court Division Bench comprising of Justice Umanath Singh and Mahendra Dayal have in a judgement banned holding of caste-based political meetings and rallies. The high court has also issued notices to four main parties in the State — SP, BSP, BJP and Congress — on the issue and directed them to submit their replies within four weeks.
“This decision is a big slap on the faces of political parties indulging in caste-based politics,” BJP State president laxmikant Bajpai said in a statement on Thursday. He said to divert the attention of people from the Government’s failures, parties like Samajwadi Party were pursuing caste-based politics.
“Same is the case with BSP which cannot look beyond caste,” Bajpai said and added, “Caste-based rallies cause rift in society.” Reacting to the high court’s decision, BJP State spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that some parties like SP and BSP, were freely organising caste-based rallies against the constitutional norms.
In a similar reaction, UP Congress spokesman Amarnath Agarwal said all parties should follow the verdict of high court for welfare of the society. “The Congress leadership, including Rahul Gandhi are against caste-based politics and they believe that such line is the handiwork of perverted minds,” he said in a statement. CPI State secretary Girish also said that caste-based rallies only created differences in society and should have been restricted earlier.