Trapped in its image as the heartland of national politics, Uttar Pradesh never managed to establish a strong regional political culture. But there is a chance that this is set to change very soon.

In the fierce electoral battles currently raging in Uttar Pradesh, locked in combat are four key political players: two of these are 'national' parties, Congress and BJP, while the other two are 'regional' ones, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The present electoral battle is yet another episode in the larger political and social churning that UP has been experiencing, which promises to transform not just UP but India itself, in dramatic and rather unpredictable ways.

Political analyses have been preoccupied with the category of caste-based votebanks and the centrality they have unfortunately come to occupy in UP's political life.