Akhilesh, Oppn. allege caste favouritism in key posts; ‘PDAs being sidelined’

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of selectively “neglecting” officials from the PDA social group and “favouring” those from the Thakur (Rajput) community in key government postings.

The PDA acronym, devised by Mr. Yadav, stands for Pichde (backward), Dalit, and Alpsankhyak (minority).

To support his claim, Mr. Yadav shared four different datasets, including police postings.

The SP chief alleged that out of the 27 appointments at Lakhimpur Urban Co-Operative Bank Ltd., 15 went to officials from the Thakur community and eight to PDAs.

Similarly, Mr. Yadav stated that in the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), out of 22 posts, 11 were filled by candidates from the Thakur community. He also shared data from the Banda Agricultural University and the Gorakhpur police alleging high numbers of posts filed by Rajput candidates.

The Hindu cannot independently verify the data shared by Mr. Yadav. “The roar of injustice in appointments. 90% of PDAs are fully ignored. If the BJP goes, equality of opportunity will come,” Mr. Yadav wrote on X.

On the accusations, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Lok Sabha MP from Nagina and president of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), alleged that the Lakhimpur co-operative bank recruitment was a “scam” and a “living proof of the corruption and casteist mentality” prevalent in the Yogi Adityanath-led government.

“Of the 27 vacancies secretly announced, 15 positions were directly distributed to the people of the Chief Minister’s caste. Distributed like sweets, most of these positions were given to relatives of the Ministers, MLAs, MPs, and local leaders of the BJP by flouting rules and regulations. Disregarding the reservation rules, SC/ST were given only two posts and OBC were given only six,” said Mr. Azad.

He demanded the immediate cancellation of the recruitment process and a fresh recruitment exercise conducted with complete transparency and fairness, in accordance with the reservation rules.

The Congress said that the OBCs and Dalits are “facing oppression and injustice” under the BJP government, with certain people belonging to the social group of the Chief Minister getting key postings.

“It is a known fact that in key postings in districts, officials hailing from the OBC and Dalit groups are neglected, with people of the Chief Minister’s caste getting important positions. The Dalit community is facing atrocities on a large scale in the State. Such partiality is not good for the bureaucracy and social structure,” said Anil Yadav, a senior leader of Uttar Pradesh Congress.