That afternoon was not ordinary in the Samajwadi Party office. Usually, the stage where some male leaders sit with Akhilesh Yadav was filled with more than two dozen women and only Akhilesh Yadav looked like Odd One Out. This is the same Samajwadi Party in whose name its founder Mulayam Singh Yadav has been recorded that he had opposed women's reservation in Parliament. Whatever may be the reason, history remembers him for this very reason. Now his son Akhilesh Yadav is saying that A in his PDA means half the population. Obviously it has political implications, it has some ambitions and there is a gap that remains unfulfilled by two elections. This is the reason why Akhilesh Yadav has announced to give Rs 40 thousand to women.
Samajwadi Party, which formed the government in 2012 by getting 29.15 percent votes, got 32.76 percent votes in 2022 but could not come to power. There were many reasons and SP is trying to find out and correct those reasons. Since the 2022 election results, it has been seen that he has made surprising changes in his strategy. Samajwadi Party, which was once famous for voting only for Yadavs and Muslims, wove such a bouquet of castes, classes and other equations in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that flowers came in the hands of Akhilesh Yadav but thorns pricked the BJP. Now Akhilesh Yadav wants to control this thorn and stop the speed of the intoxicated elephant like BJP. His effort in this campaign is that women should also play the role of mahouts. In this sequence, many announcements have been made from one line.
What are the promises of Samajwadi Party?
Akhilesh Yadav, who explains the different meanings of different letters of PDA, has this time said that A means half the population. It is promised that if Samajwadi Party government is formed in UP, every poor, exploited and deprived woman will be given Rs 40,000 every year i.e. more than Rs 3000 every month. Apart from this, promises like laptop, bicycle, mobile, housing and free legal aid have also been made to the women.
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SP, which was trying to change its image, gave place to the women leaders of the party on the stage to convey this message strongly. All the senior women of the party including Akhilesh Yadav's wife and MP Dimple Yadav, MP Priya Saroj, MP Iqra Hasan and MLA Ragini Sonkar were seen on the stage and some of them also expressed their views.
SP's strategy is changing
Actually, Samajwadi Party has been stuck on issues like women's safety and law and order for a long time. Both BSP and BJP have taken advantage of this. In the era of Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP does not seem to be making any special efforts for women voters, but Akhilesh Yadav, who has seen his fate in the 2022 elections, has now understood the importance of each vote. This is the reason why he is not failing to explain that A in PDA means half the population. On the issue of women's reservation, he also said that the government has immediately implemented women's reservation according to the bill that has been passed in the Parliament.
Also read: 40 thousand rupees to women, laptop, school…, what did Akhilesh Yadav announce before the elections?
There is talk that this ploy to woo women may continue in ticket distribution also. Samajwadi Party, which has 5 women Lok Sabha MPs, has a total of 15 women MLAs. It is expected that this time SP can increase the number of women in ticket distribution so that this number can be increased further.
The way Dimple Yadav took to the streets and helped people during the students' march to Parliament in Delhi. That incident has also aroused some sympathy in favor of SP and now SP is trying not to let it cool down. That is why apart from Dimple Yadav, efforts are being made to empower women by promoting other women leaders also.
Is the reason hidden in the figures?
Women voters in Uttar Pradesh are about 45 percent. Women have proved to be decisive in the elections of many states in the past, hence every party's emphasis is on them in the elections of UP. In the 2022 elections, BJP had fielded 45 women candidates and SP had fielded 42 women candidates, while Congress had given tickets to a total of 155 women candidates. However, Congress's slogan of 'I am a girl, I can fight' failed and it was left with only 2 seats. The main fight then was between the alliance of BJP and the alliance of SP. This was the reason why the elections were lost despite higher vote percentage.
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Now if we look at the results of the last 3 elections, it is understandable why Akhilesh Yadav is laying so much emphasis on women voters. In 2012, when SP won majority on its own, it got only 29.15 percent votes. In 2022, it got 32.76 percent votes, that is, despite getting about 3 percent more votes, it could not reach power. It is believed that women voters played an important role. BJP cornered SP a lot in the name of law and order and its effect was visible in the results also.
At the same time, BJP, which got only 15 percent votes in 2012, got 40.54 percent votes in 2017 and 42.20 percent votes in 2022. Congress and BSP became weak and their votes were taken over by BJP. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was seen that Akhilesh Yadav collected the votes of Dalits to a large extent and now he has his eyes on women also.
Samajwadi Party feels that if in addition to its traditional vote, it gets a fair number of votes from women, youth and to some extent Brahmins, then its vote percentage will increase by 3 to 5 percent. On the other hand, if the effect of anti-incumbency is seen, BJP's vote percentage will decrease and SP may be in a position to win. In such a situation, women can be decisive because the result of women joining SP will be that it will not lose the seats with less margin and it can also win on some seats which are not considered easy for it.
Also read: 'Don't say anything that BJP can take advantage of', Akhilesh started giving advice to his leaders.
Now it remains to be seen what BJP does in response to this announcement of Akhilesh Yadav. Also, it will be interesting whose promise women will trust more. The reason for saying this is that Mamata Banerjee, the woman Chief Minister of West Bengal, had already started the scheme to send money to women's accounts, but women voted in favor of BJP and Trinamool Congress was voted out of power.