From Pooja Pal to Roli Tiwari Mishra and Richa Rajput: Whenever SP leaders are questioned, goons of Akhilesh launch misogynistic, hateful attacks on non-Yadav women

The Samajwadi Party (SP) tirelessly portrays itself as a follower of Lohia’s ideology and a champion of ‘social justice’. However, when it comes to respecting women and safeguarding their dignity within the party, its true and deeply troubling face comes to the fore. The party has long displayed a pattern in which women are treated merely as political pawns. Whenever a woman leader, whether from within the party or outside it, dares to question the party’s policies, the conduct of its leaders, or the dominance of a particular group within the party, the party’s entire machinery, along with its supporters, hounds her and attacks her character. Whether it is Pooja Pal, Roli Tiwari Mishra, or Richa Rajput (Lodhi), each of these women faced abusive language, threats, and highly offensive online trolling whenever they raised sharp questions before the party’s top leadership. The language used within the Samajwadi Party towards non-Yadav communities and women is so crude and disgraceful that no civilised society would accept it. The women who speak out, whether while in the party or after leaving it, are subjected to particularly vile forms of targeting. Pooja Pal said only the Saifai family, Atiq, Mukhtar, and Azam have a future in the SP The latest controversy erupted after Sirathu MLA Pooja Pal raised a political question, which directly attacked the casteist and narrow-mindedness of the Samajwadi Party. Tagging SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav, Pooja Pal posted an X, “Mr Akhilesh Yadav, you were asking what I got? Today, I will answer your question. Akhilesh ji, I am proud to be a daughter of the Pal community and a BJP member. I am in a party where even a tea seller can become Prime Minister. It depends on my ability. Akhilesh ji, I am in a party where a son or daughter of the Pal community can become an MLA, MP, Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Chief Minister, Governor, Prime Minister, or President. No one except Atiq, Mukhtar, Azam, and the Saifai family has ever had a future in the SP, nor will they ever have.” श्री अखिलेश यादव जी, आप पूछ रहे थे कि मुझे क्या मिला? आज आपके प्रश्न का जवाब देती हूं।अखिलेश जी, मुझे गर्व है कि मैं पाल समाज की बेटी हूं और भाजपाई हूं। मैं उस पार्टी में हूं जहां चाय वाला भी प्रधानमंत्री बन सकता है। ये मेरी क्षमता पर निर्भर करता है।अखिलेश जी, मैं उस पार्टी…— पूजा पाल (@poojaplofficial) July 17, 2026 Following this post, SP’s casteist trolls crossed all limits against Pooja Pal. When a daughter of a backward community raised valid questions about merit and participation, the SP trolls began attacking her character and caste. This shows how non-Yadav leaders are treated within the party. Roli Tiwari Mishra: “If you want to do politics in the SP, get used to being abused.” When former SP national spokesperson Dr Roli Tiwari Mishra spoke out in support of Sanatan Dharma and the Shri Ramcharitmanas, she faced harassment within the party. An X account featuring Akhilesh Yadav’s photo as the profile picture sent her a message, subjecting her to extremely abusive language. Posting a screenshot of the message, Roli questioned Akhilesh Yadav, “Mr Akhilesh Yadav, please carefully read this message sent by this thug using your DP and imagine that this message was sent to your daughters, Tina and Aditi. Then, let me know how you feel. If you feel bad, then rein in the thugs thriving within your party. If these thugs in your party don’t reform, one day, Hon. Yogi Adityanath will eliminate them. Has organising the Shri Ramcharitmanas Samman Yatra become such a serious crime that threats and abuse are warranted?” श्री @yadavakhilesh जी आपकी DP लगाकर किये गए इस गुंडे के मैसेज को ध्यान से पढ़ियेगा और सोंचियेगा ये मैसेज़ आपकी बेटियों टीना और अदिति को किया गया है फिर बताइयेगा कि आपको कैसा लग रहा है ??अगर बुरा लगे तो अपनी पार्टी में पल रहे गुंडों पर अंकुश लगाइयेअगर आप की पार्टी के ये गुंडे… pic.twitter.com/Y3OaEFWE8r— Roli Tiwari Mishra सनातनी डॉ रोली तिवारी मिश्रा (@RoliTiwariMish1) April 30, 2023 Furthermore, in a tweet dated June 17, 2026, Roli Tiwari Mishra, while cleaning up the internal mess within the SP, wrote that an advisor of Akhilesh Yadav (who is a Thakur by caste) was the mastermind behind the party’s internal conflict in 2016. Roli said that when she was the national spokesperson and was abused by SP history-sheeter Manurojan Yadav, she talked about filing an FIR. To this, she received a blunt and mean reply: “If you want to do politics in the SP, then get the Ahirs used to calling you ‘r@#$, Panditain.” This reveals the mental torture that women within the SP have to endure. अखिलेश यादव जी का एक सलाहकार हैवही 2016-2016 की लड़ाई का सूत्रधार हैजाति से ठाकुर है जब मैं सपा की राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता थी और मुझे सपाई हिस्ट्रीशीटर मनुरोजन यादव ने गालियाँ दीं तो मैंने उसे बोला कि ये सब बर्दाश्त नहीं है मैं FIR करूँगी तो उसने कहा सपा में राजनीति करनी है तो… pic.twitter.com/PNnjyE8Hd7— Roli Tiwari Mishra सनातनी डॉ रोली तिवारी मिश्रा (@RoliTiwariMish1) June 17, 2026 SP’s official handle’s obscenity against Richa Rajput: Indecent language used It was the height of misogyny and crassness when the Samajwadi Party’s official Twitter handle openly insulted Dr Richa Rajput (Lodhi). The party’s handle posted extremely shameful tweets against Richa Rajput, in defence of SP leader Manish Jagan Agarwal, whom Akhilesh Yadav tried hard to protect. जिस मनीष जगन को बचाने अखिलेश डीजीपी मुख्यालय से जेल के चक्कर लगा रहे है वो इन ट्वीट का समर्थन भी कर रहे है ? pic.twitter.com/QZI5Ray3K6— Dr. Richa Rajpoot (Lodhi) (@doctorrichabjp) January 8, 2023 Samajwadi Party’s official handle wrote about Richa Rajput, “Putanas and Shurpanakha should not give knowledge, they should do their demonic work as they do, now run away, you were given respect and honour but you could not digest it, you go and serve Chinmayanand, Ram Rahim, Sengar, you will get the real laddu there, the same prasad laddu which Baba Nikala feeds in the Ashram series.” Another tweet from the Samajwadi Party handle read, “Didi, just tell me about the stolen tap, nozzle, tap handle, whatever it is. After proper fitting, you will get satisfactory service. By the way, it seems you have a lot of complaints about the skill and service of BJP leaders Chinmayanand and Kuldeep Sengar?” The use of disgusting words like ‘fitting’, ‘satisfactory service’ and ‘special services’ with vulgar undertones, regarding a female doctor and leader from the Samajwadi Party, clearly shows the extent of distorted thinking about women in the party. Akhilesh Yadav and his digital gangsterism carry the legacy of misogyny Everyone witnessed the era of Mulayam Singh Yadav, when he defended rapists by saying, “They’re boys, boys make mistakes.” Today, under his son, Akhilesh Yadav’s leadership, the misogynist thinking has found a digital expression. When Roli Tiwari is advised to tolerate abusive words like “R@#$,” when Richa Rajput is subjected to taunts like “Surpanakha,” and when a strong backward-caste woman leader like Pooja Pal is insulted, Akhilesh Yadav’s “mysterious silence” pats these thugs on the back. No matter how much Akhilesh Yadav pretends to be modern and progressive on social media platforms, the reality is that his party still relies on criminals, mafias (Atiq and Mukhtar), and unruly elements. When the national president himself runs from one police station to another to protect a misogynistic troll (Manish Jagan Agarwal), it’s natural for such misogynistic trolls in the to feel emboldened. (This article is a translation of the original article published on OpIndia Hindi.)