UGC rules row: Letter in blood sent to PM as protests intensify in UP

Deoria/Raebareli (PTI): Protests against the new UGC rules intensified in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, with large-scale demonstrations reported from Deoria, an agitator writing a letter to the prime minister with his blood in Kaushambi, and a BJP functionary quitting his post in Raebareli.

The row erupted after the University Grants Commission (UGC) on January 13 notified the new regulations, making it mandatory for all higher education institutions to constitute equity committees comprising members from OBC, SC and ST communities to address complaints of discrimination and promote inclusion.

The move has drawn backlash from several quarters, with many claiming that the UGC Regulations 2026 could be misused to foment caste-based discontent and vitiate the academic environment.

In Deoria, thousands of people staged a sit-in on the district court premises, raising slogans against the Centre and the state government.

The demonstrators, who marched from the Subhash Chowk to the Collectorate, raised slogans outside the district magistrate's office and later blocked the road outside the district court, disrupting traffic for nearly an hour, officials said.

Members of the legal fraternity also extended support to the agitation, during which some protesters were seen sporting black armbands.

The district administration initially failed to clear the blockade as the protesters demanded that District Magistrate Divya Mittal first come to the site.

Mittal later reached the spot, accepted a memorandum and persuaded the protesters to clear the road.

Pritam Mishra, president of the Deoria Collectorate Bar Association, claimed that the “discriminatory” new rules would adversely affect the students.

Some lawyers claimed that the regulations could create social discord and deepen divisions.

In Raebareli, the BJP Kisan Morcha's Salon mandal president, Shyam Sundar Tripathi, resigned from his post in protest against the new UGC regulations.

In his resignation letter dated January 25, addressed to the prime minister and party leaders, Tripathi said he was dissatisfied with the new rules, which he termed “harmful” and “divisive”.

In Kaushambi, a video of a protest by a local office-bearer of the ‘Savarna Army’ has gone viral on social media.

Abhishek Pandey, the district head of the ‘Savarna Army’, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his blood, calling the new regulations a “black law" and demanding their immediate rollback.

Claiming that the rules would negatively impact the future of the ‘Savarna’ youth, Pandey appealed to people across districts to register similar protests.

The new regulations replace the UGC's 2012 equity regulations, which were largely advisory in nature.

Seeking to allay concerns, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday assured that the new framework would not lead to harassment or discrimination, as there would be safeguards against the misuse of the regulations.