Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday, 31 July welcomed the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's decision to restore the original name Sant Ravidas Nagar to Bhadohi district, while pressing the state administration to go further and reinstate the original names of several other districts in Uttar Pradesh.

What Mayawati Said

Posting on her X account, the BSP supremo said her government had created numerous new districts — named after saints, social reformers, and eminent figures from Dalit and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities — to strengthen the administrative system and serve the public interest. She alleged that the subsequent Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government reversed these names owing to what she described as a 'casteist' mindset and narrow political agenda.

'The party is grateful to the state government for this move,' Mayawati said, in an unusually open endorsement of a BJP-led initiative.

The Kanshiram District Demand

At the centre of Mayawati's demands is the restoration of a district in the Braj region that the BSP government had named after Manyavar Kanshiram — the founder of the BSP — with Kasganj designated as its district headquarters. The SP government, she alleged, renamed it as part of what she characterised as an 'anti-PDA' (Backward, Dalit, and Minority) agenda.

Mayawati said the BSP would be grateful to the current dispensation if the original name honouring Manyavar Kanshiram was restored on or before 9 October — the death anniversary of the BSP founder.

Background: The Bhadohi Renaming

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently announced the renaming of Bhadohi district back to Sant Ravidas Nagar, making the declaration at an event in Varanasi — the birthplace of Sant Ravidas. The move was widely seen as a gesture toward Dalit and OBC communities ahead of future electoral cycles.

Broader Pattern of Renaming Politics

The renaming of districts in Uttar Pradesh has long been a politically charged exercise, with successive governments using nomenclature to signal ideological priorities. Mayawati's BSP originally created several districts and named them after Dalit icons and social reformers during its tenure. The SP government's subsequent reversals, and now the BJP government's partial restoration, reflect the ongoing contest over symbolic representation in India's most populous state.

Mayawati also noted that new tehsils, development blocks, and police zones created during the BSP government were similarly renamed by the SP. She called on the Yogi administration to comprehensively restore all such original names, framing it as a matter of justice for Dalit and OBC communities.

Whether the BJP government moves beyond Bhadohi to restore the Kanshiram district name — and by the symbolically significant deadline of 9 October — will be closely watched as a signal of the ruling party's outreach to BSP's traditional voter base.