Welcoming the decision of the lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court stay caste-based political meetings and rallies in Uttar Pradesh, the political parties said it would give a level-playing field to all the parties.
“This decision is a big slap on the faces of political parties indulging in caste-based politics,” Bharatiya Janata Party state president laxmikant Bajpai said in a statement issued here on Thursday. He said to divert the attention of people from the Government’s failures, parties like Samajwadi Party were pursuing caste-based politics.“The same is the case with Bahujan Samaj Party which cannot look beyond caste,” Bajpai said and added: “Caste-based rallies cause rift in society.
” Reacting to the High Court decision, BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said some parties, especially the ruling SP and the 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 the High Court for the welfare of 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 Dr Girish also said that caste-based rallies only created differences in society and should have been restricted earlier.A High Court division bench comprising Justices 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 political parties in the state — SP, BSP, BJP and the Indian National Congress — on the issue and directed them to submit their replies within four weeks.