Position of Muslims in proposed divided Uttar Pradesh

By Shafeeq Rahman,

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ms. Mayawati has announced to divide the largest state of India into four parts for effective governance and better development of the region. It could be a political gimmick to hide the failure of her government in delivering during last five years as claimed by opposition political parties due to the timing of such announcement. But the division is a long time demand by the people of the state and indeed necessary to manage such large state.

All national and state political parties except Samajwadi Party are in principle agree for the division, they are objecting only the timing of the announcement. Progress in small states is always better in comparison to large states. Uttrakhand is the best example of development after bifurcation from Uttar Pradesh. However, final division will take time and will be scanned under different legal formalities.

The table below can help in assessing the post divided structure of Uttar Pradesh with reference to assembly seats and population with the breakup of largest minority community Muslims and with reference to prominent scheduled caste.

Since the Chief Minister only announced the name of proposed states as Awadh Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Paschim Pradesh and Purvanchal, formulation is based on economic division of state by UP planning department.

Results show that scheduled castes population would be approximately same around 20 percent in all four regions as in existing undivided Uttar Pradesh but the Muslim percentage would be different from the current position. Presently Muslim percentage in the state population is 18 percent but after division Paschim Pradesh will accommodate the largest share (24.44%) while the Muslim share would be least in Bundelkhand (6.69%), rest two states would accommodate around 17 percent share.

(Shafeeq Rahman is a professional researcher on India-centric socio-economic and political databases. [email protected])