‘PDA’ includes Pandits, says Akhilesh in SP bid to woo Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has expanded the definition of his 'PDA' political platform to include Brahmins (Pandits) ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. He criticized the BJP government for allegedly neglecting the community and mismanaging religious donations.
Why it matters
This move represents a strategic attempt to broaden the SP's electoral base by appealing to upper-caste voters in a state where caste-based politics is highly influential.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday (August 5, 2026) sought to expand his party’s ‘PDA’ constituency and include Pandits or Brahmins in its Pichhda-Dalit-Alpsankhyak (Backwards, Dalits and minorities) matrix ahead of the State Assembly poll due early next year. The SP has used the PDA plank as a call for broader unity of forces of social justice since the 2022 Assembly election.
“People keep talking about PDA and inventing new meanings about it. Ever since they (BJP) lost to PDA, they have been trying to redefine it. But they have forgotten that the ‘PD’ in PDA also stands for Pandit. The more they inflict peeda (pain), the stronger PDA will become,” said the SP chief while addressing a ‘Brahmin/Prabuddh varg Sammelan’ at the party headquarters in Lucknow on the birth anniversary of late Socialist leader and MP Janeshwar Mishra.
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