Akhilesh Yadav says SP’s PDA plank now extends to Brahmins

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on 5 August that his party's PDA plank, standing for Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak (Backwards, Dalits and minorities), now extends to Pandits or Brahmins as well. The Hindu reported that Yadav made the remarks while addressing a Brahmin and intellectuals' conference at the party's Lucknow headquarters, held on the birth anniversary of socialist leader Janeshwar Mishra, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election due early next year. He said the BJP had tried to redefine PDA ever since losing to it, and argued the ruling party was now targeting Brahmins the way it had earlier targeted Samajwadi Party workers. Yadav pointed to Swami Avimukteshwaranand being stopped from taking a holy dip at the Kumbh and facing what he called a false POCSO case, and accused the BJP of embezzling Ram Temple donations. Lucknow-based analyst Asad Rizvi said the outreach targeted a Brahmin vote share, over nine percent of the population, that has traditionally favoured the BJP.