Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday made a spirited defense of the new social coalition ‘PDA’ his party is seeking to forge ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Akhilesh Yadav claimed that ‘PDA’ is the name of the unity born out of shared consciousness and feeling against the exploitation and oppression of those who are ‘pichhde’ (backward), Dalit and ‘alpasankhak’ (minority).
“PDA is basically the name of that unity borne out of consciousness and common feeling against the exploitation, oppression and neglect of backward, Dalit and minority,” a rough translation of his tweet in Hindi reads.
“In this fight, people from every class are involved who stand for humanity,” Akhilesh said, adding that he was against injustice.
He requested everyone involved in this fight to rise above party politics and join him in this mission.
“… all those people of every class are also involved, who are on the side of humanity. I am against any kind of injustice. Everyone should rise above party politics and join it,” he said in his tweet.
Akhilesh Yadav was apparently compelled to issue clarification as Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Monday trashed the ‘PDA’ formula, maintaining that for the Samajwadi Party, the abbreviation stood for nothing more than ‘Parivar’ (family), ‘Dal’ (party) and ‘Alliance’.
Mayawati dismissed the ‘PDA’ formula as nothing but ‘tukbandi’ (rhyming) that the SP had coined at a time when the backwards classes, Dalits and minorities were passing through tough times.
UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, too, had attacked SP over ‘PDA’, stating that it stood for ‘parivarvad (dynasty), dangaiyon ka sung’ (support rioters) and ‘apradh karne wale ko sanrakshan’ (patronage to criminals). He said this was based on SP’s past, present and future.
Akhilesh Yadav while floating the new social coalition ‘PDA’, dismissed BSP the claims of the supremo that she snapped her alliance with the SP after 2019 Lok Sabha poll as the latter’s votes did not transfer to the BSP. Akhilesh said BSP won 10 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and in 2022 assembly elections which BSP contested alone, the party got only one which explained if SP’s votes were transferred to the BSP or not.
Earlier, the SP chief said that the ‘PDA’ (backward, Dalit, minority) alliance would defeat the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “In 2024, the ‘PDA’ alliance will defeat the NDA,” he had tweeted.
Akhilesh’s comments come at a time when the opposition parties are scheduled to meet at Patna on Friday under the leadership of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to formulate plans for forming an alliance in the run-up to the 2024 general elections.