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Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
To build on gains, SP homes in on 108 ‘weak seats' for UP polls, dispatches observers
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections just over a year-and-a-half away, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has started its preparations by focusing on 108 Assembly seats that it has lost in the last three polls. The party has appointed observers for each of these constituencies, and they have been asked to submit their reports to party president Akhilesh Yadav. This is the first time the SP is conducting such an exercise. These seats, according to party insiders, are spread across the state, with some of the important ones being Allahabad West and Lucknow Cantonment in central UP; Babina and Charkhari in Bundelkhand; Bansi and Deoria in east UP; Gangoh and Noida in west UP; and Agra Cantonment and Etmadpur in the Braj region. Sources said observers had already paid at least a couple of visits to each of such Assembly constituencies in the past fortnight. They held separate meetings with the district presidents, district unit office bearers, prominent leaders in the constituencies, past candidates, and influential people from different castes and communities, insiders said. SP insiders said the party had appointed former MLAs as observers and that they were from outside the constituencies assigned to them to avoid any bias in their reports. The observers are broadly inquiring about groupism, internal conflict, and social equations, reasons that may have contributed to the losses in these seats. They are also checking the progress made in forming block and booth communities and the response to the party's 'PDA charcha' outreach to Other Backward Classes, Dalits, and minorities. PDA refers to the party's strategy of focusing on 'Pichhda (OBCs), Dalit, Alpsankhyak (minorities)' communities to expand and consolidate its base. 'The observer asked about the social equations and the caste and class composition of voters who were earlier with SP but shifted to the BJP. They also asked if internal conflicts had dented the party in previous elections,' said an SP leader in one of these 'weak constituencies'. 'The SP has devised a multi-pronged strategy for the 2027 assembly elections based on the Lok Sabha election experience. The party organisation has been revamped and transformed into a powerful cadre-based winning machine. The party expanded its social base through 'PDA' panchayats, collation of facts and stories from different constituencies to identify specific issues, and their redressal well before time,' said SP spokesperson Sudhir Panwar. The party has also sent observers to constituencies that its allies contested in previous elections. For instance, the party sent an observer to Shamli, where its former ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), led by Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary, won in 2022. In 2017, the Congress, in alliance with the SP, contested the seat but lost to the BJP. In 2012, the SP, which contested the election alone, lost the seat to the Congress. Among these 'weak seats' are two seats in Firozabad district and one in Badaun district, which are otherwise SP strongholds because of the dominance of Yadav and Muslim voters. The seats in Firozabad are Firozabad City and Tundla. The SP's Akshay Yadav is the Firozabad MP at present, and his victory has given the party hope that it can flip Firozabad City, where he had a lead of 16,000 votes in 2024. The party last won the seat in 2002. However, in the Tundla Assembly segment, Akshay Yadav trailed the BJP by almost 17,000 votes. SP district president Shivraj Singh Yadav said, 'The observer for Firozabad visited recently and held meetings to find out the reasons for defeat in past polls, consulted with party workers and senior leaders. The observer has submitted his report.' 'As the SP won maximum (37 seats) Lok Sabha seats in UP in 2024, the party is seeing a favourable atmosphere for the 2027 Assembly polls. Hence, it does not want to leave the scope for any mistake,' said a senior party leader.
Time of India
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
BJP to launch caste census campaign
Lucknow: The proposed caste enumeration exercise scheduled alongside the national Census in 2027 is set to become the centrepiece of an elaborate ground-level campaign which the BJP plans to undertake in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh. The initiative, sources said, will aim to bolster the party's support among the Other Backward Classes (OBC) ahead of the 2027 state assembly elections. Party leaders were directed to initiate dialogues with various OBC communities to inform them about the anticipated benefits of caste-based enumeration. These include the collection of data to enable targeted welfare programmes, identification of disparities in resource distribution and improved policymaking on affirmative action. Experts say the data will also provide deeper insight into the state's social structure and help promote inclusivity and equality. UP backward class welfare minister and state party chief of OBC Morcha, Narendra Kashyap, told TOI that the campaign, which will be carried out for at least a year, would reach out to all OBC sub-castes which have otherwise remained deprived of privileges, including reservation benefits. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo "The party will hold chaupals and workshops to reach out to the OBC communities," Kashyap said. The use of chaupals and workshops, analysts said, potentially suggests a bottom-up approach, with the BJP's bid to build narratives not just from above but by directly engaging with marginalised – but electorally significant – OBC communities at the grassroots level. The caste census has been a major demand of several opposition parties, essentially the Samajwadi Party and Congress. In fact, the SP's Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) campaign — centred on caste census and social justice — is widely said to have dented the BJP while reducing its tally in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Experts said that by initiating its own campaign, the BJP aims to reposition itself on the issue to avoid ceding any political ground in the run-up to the panchayat elections due next year and subsequently the 2027 UP polls. The party also aims to reconnect with OBC communities, many of which have traditionally aligned with regional players like the SP and the Mayawati-led BSP. Experts suggest that the BJP will seek to steer the caste census narrative toward development and national integration. This includes showcasing its existing welfare schemes for backward castes and linking the census with its broader governance agenda. BJP, as a matter of fact, has also been wheeling out a sharp OBC narrative by invoking historical figures from the backward class communities – most recently, Maharaja Suhaildev and Ahilyabai Holkar. Meanwhile, the opposition is also pulling up socks to make deeper inroads among the OBC communities. After making an effective presence as an ally of the Samajwadi Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party plans to go the extra mile in wooing the OBC. Congress plans to hold 'Bhagidari Nyay Sammelan' in every district from June 14 to July 15.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
UP BJP org rejig: Dalits, OBCs likely to weigh in prominently
1 2 Lucknow: OBC and Dalit communities are expected to weigh in prominently as the BJP gears up to reboot its organisational machinery at the ground level by inducting around 90,000 functionaries in over 1,500 out of 1,918 mandals (divisions). Sources said the party plans to recalibrate 80% of the mandals — a local organisational unit within the party's hierarchical structure — even as the party draws up a broader blueprint of a strategy to counter opposition in the run-up to the 2027 UP assembly polls. A mandal is a key operational layer in the BJP's grassroots machinery, enabling it to maintain a strong local presence. It is one level below a district and usually corresponds to a group of a few municipal wards or several village panchayats, mainly a sub-division within a district for efficient grassroots-level political and organisational functioning. According to BJP sources, the party will appoint over 60 functionaries in each of the over 1,500 mandals where the party has already appointed a president. A similar exercise will be undertaken in the remaining over 400 mandals after the appointment of presidents. The new team is expected to have a sizable presence of OBC, Dalit and women functionaries, a move that could align with BJP's focus on strengthening its grassroots presence and bolstering its social coalition, which catapulted the party to an overwhelming majority in UP in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections. The induction of OBC and Dalit functionaries at the grassroots, experts said, could allow the BJP to counter the opposition's Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) card, which dented the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by shrinking its tally from 62 to 33 in UP. A senior BJP functionary said the induction of a good number of women functionaries at the mandal level is also on the cards. Speculations are rife that women may comprise around 33% of the total functionaries at the mandal level. Is that happens then it would be a strategic move by the party, which has been prioritising gender inclusivity by ensuring significant representation of women functionaries in the new appointments. The party also plans to engage the upper caste leadership strategically at the grassroots level as part of its broader organisational revamp. While OBCs and Dalits form the numerical majority and a critical voter bloc, upper castes (like Brahmins, Thakurs, Baniya, and Kayasthas) have traditionally been a core support base for the BJP. The party aims to retain their influence while expanding its appeal to marginalised groups. In March this year, the party had named 70 new district presidents, of whom 39 were from the upper caste, 25 were OBCs and six Scheduled Caste.
Indian Express
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Half Akhilesh, half Ambedkar': Why an SP poster has BJP, BSP fuming
Amid the Samajwadi Party's (SP) efforts to reach out to the Dalit community, a poster featuring party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Dr B R Ambedkar has not gone down well with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the BJP, which have accused the SP of insulting the architect of the Constitution. The poster places a photo of half of Akhilesh's face close to a similar cutout of Ambedkar's image. While Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the SP was attempting to garner Dalit votes despite 'sitting on the lap of the Congress, which ensured Ambedkar's loss in the 1952 election', BSP's Uttar Pradesh president Vishwanath Pal told The Indian Express that SP leaders, including party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh, never 'respected Ambedkar'. 'The SP government renamed districts that were named after Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram while top SP leaders referred to the BSP government-built Ambedkar memorial in Lucknow as 'ayyashi ka adda (place for debauchery)'. The poster is a grave insult to Baba Saheb,' Pal said. Drama unfolded after the poster was put up outside the party headquarters in Lucknow on Monday by the SP's frontal organisation Samajwadi Lohia Vahini. The Vahini's president, Abhishek Yadav, defended the move saying, 'Akhilesh ji is the only one who can fulfil Ambedkar's dreams of ensuring social justice to deprived classes.' On X, the SP termed Ambedkar a 'messiah of the Pichhda (Backward Classes) , Dalit, Alpsankhyak (Minorities)' — the focus on these communities, dubbed the PDA strategy, is the SP's attempt to broaden its voter base — and accused the 'samanti sarkar (feudal government)' of insulting him. SP spokesperson Ashutosh Verma also defended Abhishek Yadav and the Vahini. 'A party worker is giving out a symbolic message that Akhilesh is leading the way in protecting the Constitution but the BJP, with its narrow mindset, is trying to divert the attention of people from core issues,' Verma said. Sources within the SP said the party's bid to claim the legacy of Ambedkar and honour him gained momentum after Akhilesh took over 2017, with its efforts to consolidate Dalit votes visibly increasing after it registered its best-ever Lok Sabha performance last year — it won 37 seats — seemingly riding on the 'save the Constitution' and PDA planks. Last December, the SP launched its 'PDA charcha' initiative to highlight Ambedkar's legacy while its leaders have been raising the issue of BJP 'insulting the architect of the Constitution' regularly in their addresses. SP and the Dalit vote SP insiders pointed to Mulayam Singh Yadav's 'regard' for Ambedkar's ideology, citing the SP's support to BSP founder Kanshi Ram in the 1991 Etawah Lok Sabha polls. The win, they claim, laid the foundation for the SP-BSP alliance and the composition of a new constituency comprising the Dalits and the OBCs. Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, for the first time since its inception, the SP formed a dedicated wing for Dalits — the Samajwadi Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini — with an aim to 'take forward the ideologies of Ambedkar and socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia'. In 2023, Akhilesh claimed that the 'samajwadi movement' launched by Mulayam Singh and Lohia and the path shown by Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram were the same and urged his party workers to walk this path. Akhilesh unveiled an Ambedkar statue in Etawah on his birth anniversary on April 14 and referred to him as the greatest scholar, economist, social reformer and lawyer that the country had seen. The SP also ran a week-long 'Ambedkar Jayanti Swabhiman Samman Samaroh' campaign to reach out to prominent Dalits across the state and felicitate them. Chequered past The SP and the BSP first joined hands in the 1993 Assembly elections. Though the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, winning 174 of the 425 seats, the SP-BSP combine that collectively won 176 seats went on to form the government headed by Mulayam with the support of the Congress (28), the Janata Dal (7), and smaller outfits. Barely two years after forming the government, differences emerged between the SP and the BSP, following which Mayawati withdrew support in June 1995 and went on to take oath as the CM with the support of the BJP. However, her government lasted only for four months. The SP and the BSP grew further apart and after the SP assumed power on its own in Uttar Pradesh in 2012, Akhilesh scrapped as many as 26 welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) initiated by Mayawati. His government also did away with reservation for SCs in government contracts. The two parties came together again for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in 2018, winning both. Buoyed by their success, the SP and the BSP joined hands with then Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to float the Mahagathbandhan for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, the SP and the BSP snapped ties following the alliance's poor performance in the polls in which Akhilesh's party won five seats and Mayawati's party bagged 10 of the state's 80 parliamentary constituencies.
The Hindu
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Ramji Lal Suman's attackers had govt. support: Akhilesh
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said the attack on party MP Ramji Lal Suman's convoy on Sunday indicated that the attackers had the support of the government. While demanding strict action against the culprits, he said his party workers will not take the law into their own hands as they believe in democracy, law, and the Constitution. 'Under the BJP government, PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak, or backward classes, Dalits, and minorities) are being selectively attacked. Some people have a free hand under the ruling regime; they are openly flouting law and order,' Mr. Yadav said at a press conference. Mr. Suman was attacked because he was going to Sunhara village in Bulandshahr to raise his voice against those who were oppressing Dalits, he added. 'The attack on Sumanji was done to scare him. The attackers have the support of the government and the DGP. But neither are we going to be scared of an attack nor of anyone's threats. Those who are threatening us or Sumanji are not challenging us but the CM and the DGP,' said the SP president. Mr. Yadav pitched for broader unity of the marginalised sections, projecting the SP as a platform for establishing economic equality and social justice. 'The fight of socialists is for the establishment of the rule of economic equality and social justice. The SP will wipe out the BJP from U.P. The day we succeed in establishing the rule of social justice, many problems will be solved,' he said. He also vowed to stand with the government unitedly against terrorism.
