Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: In what is being viewed as an attempt to re-draw his electoral strategy in Uttar Pradesh following I.N.D.I.A. alliance’s dismal performance in the recently concluded Bihar assembly polls and shun his party’s ‘pro-Muslim’ image, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has replaced 'A', which stood for ‘alpasankhyak’ (Muslims) in his much touted PDA (Pichda, dalit, alpsankhyak) slogan with ‘aadhi abadi’ (women).
An indication to this effect was dropped after Akhilesh posted a picture on his social media handle showing some of his party’s women MPs, including Dimple Yadav, Priya Saroj, Ikra Hasan and Krishna Devi, sharing a light moment outside the Parliament on Wednesday.
‘’The responsible public representatives of SP keep the flag of PDA high in the Parliament. Women empowerment will be achieved by giving them true representation and not by mere words. It is our resolve to give respect to every woman, who forms part of A in the PDA,’’ Akhilesh said in the post.
In Akhilesh’s PDA, the ‘A’ always stood for ‘Alpsankhyak’ (Muslims), who were considered to be part of the core vote bank of the SP along with the ‘yadavs’.
Political analysts were not surprised by the change even though it was the PDA, which was thought to be behind SP’s spectacular show in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when it bagged 37 seats while the BJP managed to win only 33. The SP even defeated the BJP in Ayodhya riding high on the support of the dalits and backward communities.
‘’It seems to be an attempt to get rid of his party’s pro-Muslim image ahead of 2027 assembly polls in the state,’’ said a Lucknow-based political analyst while speaking to DH here.
Sources in the SP said that the party has realised that it cannot win UP only with the support of the Yadavs and Muslims. ‘’The Bihar results showed that the Muslim votes were divided,’’ said an SP leader.
Earlier also, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hoisted the ‘dharm dhwaja’ (flag) on the spire on the Ram Temple on November 25, Akhilesh had shared a post on his social media handle saying that he would be visiting the Ram Temple in future.