Dalit sammelans, chaupals: How UP Congress is planning to consolidate LS poll gains

Following its success in regaining a sizable chunk of its once-secure Dalit vote bank in Uttar Pradesh after decades, the Congress has begun preparing an extensive outreach campaign among the community to retain their support for the 2027 Assembly polls.

The outreach will include special membership drives among Dalits, identifying influential Dalit personalities in each Assembly constituency, as well as organising division-level “sammelans” and district-level “Dalit chaupals” to talk about their issues.

At a recent high-level meeting in the state Congress headquarters in Lucknow, a detailed 15-day programme was designed after hearing the suggestions of prominent Dalit leaders from across the state. Sources said while the programme had not been officially announced yet, the first four sammelans were proposed to be held in Gorakhpur (eastern UP, CM Yogi Adtiyanath’s turf), Lucknow (central UP), Varanasi (eastern UP, PM Narendra Modi’s constituency), and Meerut (western UP).

Congress insiders said the steps were taken following directions from the Congress high command. “Dalits have traditionally been our supporters but in between, due to some misconception, they drifted away over time. However, in the recent elections, they supported us, either in the name of the Constitution or because of Rahul ji,” said Alok Prasad, head of the UP Congress’s Scheduled Caste (SC) department and vice-president of the UP Pradesh Congress Committee.

He said, “If the Dalits take a step to support us, it is now our responsibility to take one more step to reach out to them. There are instances of land grabbing, issues related to availing reservations, tricking people in the name of scholarships, etc. They supported us. It’s now our turn to listen