The minister has been demanding a separate Purvanchal state for years. He has again raised the demand ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

“My intention is to see the state divided in the coming years. Uttar Pradesh will be divided into four parts,” he said during his address to people.

He then said his demand for a separate Purvanchal state would also open the way for his son to become its chief minister.

“The day Purvanchal becomes a separate state, if the first chief minister is to come from a particular community, it will be a Rajbhar, my son, who will become the chief minister,” he said.

Supporters at the rally responded with slogans after the statement. Rajbhar has long demanded that Purvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh) be separated from the state and made a separate state. In March this year, he repeated the demand, saying a separate state could improve representation and speed up development in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

No census, no quota

The minister also called for changes to Uttar Pradesh’s 27% OBC reservation. Arguing that the quota benefits have not equally reached all backward communities, he sought sub-categorisation within the OBC quota.

He said a caste census should provide the basis for deciding how the reservation benefits are distributed. He wants the sub-categorisation issue to be pursued after only after a caste census.

Rajbhar also referred to a meeting he said he had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the reservation issue. According to him, he told the prime minister that he wanted the 27% reservation to provide a greater share to communities that have got fewer benefits.

“I spoke to the prime minister over this issue. He told me, ‘Om Prakash ji, your demand is justified, but some people are opposing it,’” he claimed.

He further said PM Modi suggested caste enumeration as a way forward. “I will conduct a caste-based census. Once the castes have been counted, there will be no difficulty in deciding how the reservation should be divided,” he quoted the prime minister as saying.

What Rajbhar has said about Purvanchal

The demand for a separate Purvanchal state is not new for Rajbhar. He has repeatedly argued that eastern Uttar Pradesh should have a separate administrative identity.

In March, he called for a separate Purvanchal state during a gathering in Maharajganj. He said the move would help eastern districts develop fast and get better political representation.

 He also said leadership of such a state should come from communities that have historically had less representation.

The statement comes at a time when political parties in the state are preparing for the 2027 assembly election. Rajbhar’s SBSP is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Allianc (NDA) in the state. He has previously declared that his party will once again contest the upcoming poll with the BJP.

Quota betrayal?

During the Deoria rally, he also attacked the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress over their record on representation of backward communities. He questioned the share of benefits received by different OBC groups and accused earlier governments of failing to provide adequate representation.

Reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) has been a regular part of Rajbhar’s political messaging. In February, he questioned SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s stand on the 27% OBC quota and the representation of backward communities other than Yadavs.

Rajbhar has also argued for changes in the way reservation benefits are distributed. In August, he supported reservation based on economic conditions and said families that had benefited from quota policies should not continue to receive all the benefits.