Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A party once defined by the red of its flags and caps, and known for its Muslim-Yadav (MY) social base, is now embracing blue. With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election due in early 2027, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is painting his political canvas in more colours, signalling an attempt to expand the party beyond its traditional social coalition and occupy as much of Uttar Pradesh’s political spectrum as possible to challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hindu voter mobilisation.
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The latest colour, blue, is most closely associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its politics of Bahujan assertion. So, the blue T-shirts are not merely a uniform, they are a political signal from the former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav-led SP.
In politics, colours are used for a sense of association, with people instinctively relating certain colours to parties, like saffron with the BJP, red with the SP, and yellow with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jan Suraaj Party (JSP).
Addressing a press conference on September 8, the 53-year-old SP chief announced that his party’s student wing, Samajwadi Party Chhatra Sabha, would adopt blue T-shirts and blue jeans as its new dress code and launch a two-week student awareness campaign across educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh.
“When the new generation has a new way of thinking, then their uniform should also be new,” Akhilesh said, explaining that the new dress code would give the student wing a distinct identity while reflecting the socialist values of the party and the idea of the “Bahujan Samaj”.
AKHILESH YADAV AIMING FOR BAHUJAN VOTEBANK WITH BLUE?
The change is significant because workers of the Chhatra Sabha previously wore red shirts or kurtas. Blue, meanwhile, carries an unmistakable political association in Uttar Pradesh with the BSP, its founder Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan movement and, later, former Chief Minister and party supremo Mayawati.
By choosing blue for the SP’s student outreach, Kannauj MP Akhilesh, who has built his politics around the PDA — an acronym he coined for ‘Pichhde’ (backward classes), ‘Dalits’ and ‘Alpsankhyak’ (minorities) — appears to be sending a pointed political signal. The SP is increasingly seeking to make inroads into the Bahujan vote bank that has traditionally been associated with the BSP.
This outreach is crucial to Akhilesh’s larger electoral strategy. He appears to be attempting to become the “Czar of all” in Uttar Pradesh by expanding the SP’s appeal across social and political constituencies, from Bahujans and backward classes to Hindus, Brahmins, women and young voters.
The blue dress code is only the latest manifestation of that broader strategy. Akhilesh has been reaching out to Hindu voters through temple politics and his proposed rath yatra, expanding the PDA acronym to include Pandits as one of its possible meanings, while positioning his wife Dimple Yadav as a prominent face to connect with women and younger voters.
And at the heart of this expansion lies a clear new target. The BSP, which is facing one of its most serious political crises and for whom the 2027 Assembly election could prove particularly consequential.
WHY AKHILESH IS TRYING TO RAID BSP’S BAHUJAN VOTEBANK
In 2023, Akhilesh coined the acronym PDA, and positioned himself as the leader fighting for the rights of Pichhde, Dalit and Alpsankhyak. The formula became one of the SP’s principal electoral pitches during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, when the SP emerged as the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh, winning 37 of the state’s 80 seats. This result had a bearing on the BJP as it couldn’t reach the majority mark on its own in the Lok Sabha to form the central government like it did in 2014 and 2019.
The blue dress code push fits neatly into the SP’s strategy of expansion and solidification of the Bahujan voters. Even initiatives like the “gaon, Dalit samvad” programme of the SP have helped this attempt.
On the other hand, the Congress, SP’s key ally, has also placed Dalit leader Rajendra Pal Gautam as its state in-charge in Uttar Pradesh, which is another indication of the importance both parties attach to the Bahujan plank.
The political calculation is straightforward. The 2024 Lok Sabha election suggested that the old electoral boundaries separating the SP from sections of the Dalit electorate were no longer as rigid as they once were.
The victory of SP’s Dalit candidate Awadhesh Prasad from the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, which includes Ayodhya, was particularly symbolic. In the Lok Sabha, Akhilesh Yadav has made it a point to highlight Awadhesh to the cameras by seating him prominently.
For the SP, the challenge now is to convert that parliamentary breakthrough into a durable Assembly-level coalition. And with its recent moves, Akhilesh appears to be doing precisely what the political moment demands.
AKHILESH HAS FOCUS ON ALL: PDA, PANDIT, SANATAN
But Akhilesh Yadav’s political expansion in UP is not moving only towards the Bahujan side.
In a striking broadening of the PDA formula, he recently said that the “P” could also stand for Pandit while addressing a Brahmin Sammelan in Lucknow. Flanked by people dressed as Lord Hanuman and Sugreev, he accused the BJP government of neglecting and targeting Brahmins.
It was a political signal. For years, the BJP has enjoyed a strong relationship with sections of the upper-caste electorate, including Brahmins. Akhilesh now appears to be testing whether that support can be loosened. The timing is significant as there is some anger among the general castes against the BJP-led Centre over the UGC Equity Regulations.
The SP chief is increasingly speaking about temples, astrology, Lord Hanuman and the Ram Mandir.
The party’s criticism of the Ram Mandir donation irregularities, the Chanda Chori case, has been framed around accountability rather than faith. But the very decision to make the issue politically central showcases how deeply the SP is trying to arm-twist the BJP ahead of the electoral battle in 2027.
Akhilesh’s own proposed rath yatra adds another layer. The rath has long been associated with the politics of the Ram Mandir movement, particularly since the 1990s.
The SP, therefore, is not abandoning its social justice politics. It is attempting to place that politics alongside a vocabulary that can speak to Hindu and upper-caste voters as well.
DIMPLE YADAV’S OUTREACH FOR SP TO APPROACH WOMEN AND YOUTH
The social engineering of Akhilesh is also visible in the SP’s approach towards women.
Dimple Yadav, once kept away from electoral politics amid the party’s attempts to counter allegations of dynastic politics, has since become one of its most recognisable political faces.
Ahead of the 2027 Assembly election, her political visibility has grown significantly.
During the protests of Cockroach Janta Party at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, in interactions with distressed students and at carefully arranged party events in Lucknow, Dimple has increasingly occupied the foreground of the SP’s public campaign.
She has taken on the BJP over issues such as NEET and examination irregularities, spoken about women’s safety and representation, and unveiled a major welfare promise for women.
Her role serves an important political purpose. Dimple gives the SP a woman face who can potentially connect with voters outside the party’s traditional Muslim-Yadav and PDA constituencies.
The 2024 Lok Sabha result gave Akhilesh the proof that not only his Muslim-Yadav formula, but a wider coalition could work. So, the vision of SP now is to encash the 2024 general election success in the upcoming 2027 Assembly polls. He wants to get Dalit and non-Yadav OBC votes, which have consolidated for the BJP, for the SP in 2027.
Blue for the Bahujan constituency. PDA for backward classes, Dalits and minorities. Pandit outreach for Brahmins. Sanatan references for Hindu voters. Dimple for women. Student campaigns for the youth. These are the strategies of Akhilesh that show that he is attempting to be the Czar of Uttar Pradesh in 2027. The blue T-shirt is the latest symbol of that ambition.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
