Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Monday said the division of Uttar Pradesh into four smaller states was “inevitable”, reviving a long-standing political debate over the restructuring of the country’s most populous state.
Speaking to ANI, Rajbhar said making a leader from the Rajbhar community the chief minister of a proposed Purvanchal state would be a non-negotiable condition for any future electoral alliance.
“The division of the state is inevitable. When the state is divided—encompassing regions like Purvanchal, Madhyanchal, Bundelkhand, and Harit Pradesh—if you look at the area where we are currently seated, starting from Ambedkar Nagar, the Rajbhar community holds the largest vote share across the entire Purvanchal region. The proposal to divide Uttar Pradesh has been debated in state politics for decades. Under the proposed four-way split, Purvanchal would comprise eastern Uttar Pradesh, while Madhyanchal or Awadh Pradesh would cover the central region. Bundelkhand would form the southern region, and Harit Pradesh or Paschim Pradesh would comprise western Uttar Pradesh. However, he is not the first political figure to call for the state’s division. The proposal, however, did not progress as the Centre took no further action. Targeting Yadav over his recent press conferences and political outreach, Rajbhar referred to the SP government’s decision to end reservation for Scheduled Caste employees in government promotions.
Rajbhar’s remarks come ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and have renewed debate over the proposal. In 1955, BR Ambedkar proposed dividing Uttar Pradesh into three smaller states in his book Thoughts on Linguistic States. In 2011, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government passed a resolution in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly proposing the division of the state into four regions.
Therefore, for any party entering into an alliance, it will be a predetermined condition that the Chief Minister of the future Purvanchal state will be from the Rajbhar community,” said Rajbhar.
