LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday launched a blistering attack on Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's much-publicised PDA formula, mocking the acronym and alleging that the opposition party's politics remained focused on promoting a single family rather than empowering backward and marginalised communities.
Speaking at a media conclave, Yogi said that while the Samajwadi Party describes PDA as Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak, the acronym actually stood for "Paraya Dhan Apna" and "Parivar Development Authority".
In a direct jibe at Akhilesh, the chief minister said the SP had a history of using slogans of social justice while concentrating political benefits within a limited circle. He accused the party of practising dynastic politics and seeking to mobilise voters through caste calculations rather than governance and development.
"These people talk about PDA, but their politics has always revolved around one family," Yogi said, asserting that the BJP's governance model was based on welfare delivery without discrimination on the basis of caste, religion or region.
The CM also sought to contrast the BJP's record with that of previous SP governments, claiming that law and order had improved substantially under his administration and that welfare schemes introduced by the Narendra Modi government had benefited all sections of society.
Yogi argued that the beneficiaries of schemes such as free ration distribution, housing assistance, health insurance and direct benefit transfers came from every social group, making development a more powerful political force than caste-based mobilisation.
The remarks are the latest in a series of BJP attacks on the PDA slogan, which has become the centrepiece of the Samajwadi Party's political strategy following its strong performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
What is PDA?
PDA, which stands for Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak (Backward Classes, Dalits and Minorities), was coined and popularised by Akhilesh ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The formulation marked a significant evolution in the SP's political messaging. Traditionally viewed as a party drawing its core support from Yadavs and Muslims, the SP sought to expand its social coalition by reaching out to a broader cross-section of non-Yadav Other Backward Classes, Dalits and minority communities.
Akhilesh projected PDA as a social justice coalition that aimed to bring together communities which he argued constituted the overwhelming majority of Uttar Pradesh's population but remained inadequately represented in positions of power and decision-making.
The slogan was closely linked to the SP's demand for a nationwide caste census, greater representation for backward classes and marginalised groups, and a more equitable distribution of political and administrative opportunities.
Why Akhilesh adopted the PDA formula
Political analysts viewed the PDA strategy as the SP's response to the BJP's success in attracting non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits over the past decade.
The BJP's social engineering had significantly broadened its electoral base in UP, reducing the effectiveness of the traditional Yadav-Muslim arithmetic that had helped the SP in earlier elections.
To counter this, Akhilesh attempted to unite a wider bloc of communities under the PDA umbrella. The slogan became not merely an electoral catchphrase but the organising principle around which the party framed issues of representation, reservation, employment and social justice.
The PDA strategy became the defining theme of the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance's campaign in Uttar Pradesh in 2024.
Candidate selection was also tailored to reflect the PDA formula, with the SP fielding a significant number of candidates from backward, Dalit and minority communities.
The results gave the slogan considerable political legitimacy. The SP emerged as the largest party in Uttar Pradesh, winning 37 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress secured six seats. The BJP's tally fell sharply compared to the 2019 election.