Sunilraj, Balu and  Borah, Prithiraj  <br/><br/>
Between assertion and victimhood: Upper-caste discontent and the protests against UGC equity regulations 

 - Economic & Political Weekly  
 - 61(16), Apr 18, 2026: p.35-40 
<br/><br/> Focusing on the protests and debates against the recent University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, the article examines how upper-caste common sense manifests as both assertion and victimhood when caste-based policies challenge entrenched exclusions and hierarchies. Recent protests have displayed an unabashed upper-caste assertion in public space, not merely through claims of victimhood but also through open sloganeering such as Brahmanvad Zindabad. This marks a qualitative shift in upper-caste politics, one in which the earlier “cloaks of civility” appear to have been discarded. –Reproduced <br/><br/>https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/16/perspectives/between-assertion-and-victimhood.html<br/>