Bahujan Samaj Party

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with religious minorities.[5] According to Kanshi Ram, when he founded the party in 1984, the Bahujans comprised 85 percent of India's population, but were divided into 6,000 different castes.[6][7] The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of Gautama Buddha, B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj.

For the Nepalese party, see Bahujan Samaj Party, Nepal.

Bahujan Samaj Party
AbbreviationBSP
PresidentMayawati[1]
General Secretary
Lok Sabha LeaderKunwar Danish Ali
Rajya Sabha LeaderRamji Gautam
FounderKanshi Ram
Founded14 April 1984 (1984-04-14)
Preceded byDSSSS or DS4
Headquarters12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi, India-110001
IdeologySocial equality[3]
Social justice[4]
Colours  Blue
ECI StatusNational Party
AllianceBSP+
Seats in Lok Sabha
9 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
1 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assembly
7 / 4,036
List
2 / 70
(Uttarakhand)
2 / 90
(Chhattisgarh)
1 / 117
(Punjab)
1 / 230
(Madhya Pradesh)
1 / 403
(Uttar Pradesh )
Seats in State Legislative Council
1 / 426
List
1 / 100
(Uttar Pradesh)
Number of states and union territories in government
0 / 31
Election symbol
Website
www.bspindia.co.in

Kanshi Ram named his protégée, Mayawati, as his successor in 2001. The BSP has its main base in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where it was the second-largest party in the 2019 Indian general election with 19.3% of votes[8] and third-largest in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election with 12.88% of votes.[9] Its election symbol is an elephant which is the same symbol historically used by Dr. Ambedkar's Scheduled Castes Federation.[10]

Etymology
BSP Cadre Camp, Faizabad

"Bahujan" is a Sanskritic term found in Hindu and Buddhist texts, and literally refers to "many people", or "the majority". It connotes the combined population of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled tribes, Other Backward Classes, Muslims, and minorities who together constitute the demographic majority of India.[11][12] The word "Bahujan" appears in the dictum "Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya", or "The benefit and prosperity of the many", articulated by Gautama Buddha.[13][14][15]

In his writing, Dr.B. R. Ambedkar used the term to refer to the majority of people in society that experienced discrimination and oppression on the basis of caste. Jyotirao Phule used the term in a similar context, and compared the Bahujans of India to Slavery in the United States.Schedule Caste and Bahujan writers have suggested this proportion was 70 percent of the population.[15][16]

History
Kanshi Ram, founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party

Bahujan Samaj Party was founded on the birth anniversary of B. R. Ambedkar (14 April 1984) by Kanshi Ram,[17] who named former school teacher, Mayawati, as his successor of BSP in 2001.[18] The party's power grew quickly with seats in the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh and the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. In 1993, following the assembly elections, Mayawati formed a coalition with Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav as Chief Minister. On 2 June 1995, she withdrew support from his government, which led to a major incident where Yadav was accused of sending his zealots to keep her party legislators hostage at a Lucknow guest house and shout casteist abuses at her.[19] Since this incident, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals.[20] Mayawati then obtained support from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to become Chief Minister on 3 June 1995. In October 1995, the BJP withdrew their support and fresh elections were called after a period of President's Rule. In 2003, Mayawati resigned from her own government to prove that she was not "hungry for power"[21] and asked the BJP-run Government of India to remove Union Tourism and Culture Minister, Jagmohan.[22] In 2007, she began leading a BSP-formed government with an absolute majority for a full five-year term.[23]

Silver jubilee

The Bahujan Samaj Party on 14 April 2009 celebrated its silver jubilee.[24] The Manywar Shri Kanshi Ramji Shahri Garib Awas Yojna housing scheme for poor was launched by Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).[25] The role of Mayawati was discussed in BSP's success.[26] A mass rally was organised in Lucknow with 10000 police personnel on duty.[27] It was the 305th and largest rally of BSP since 1984.[28] As per Observer Research Foundation, within 25 years BSP became third largest political party of India.[29]

Views

BSP believes in "Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation" of the "Bahujan Samaj". The Bahujan Samaj signifies the Bahujans as the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), and the Other Backward Castes (OBC). B. R. Ambedkar, a proponent of Bahujan rights, is their important ideological inspiration. The BSP also speaks in favor of religious minorities. The party claims not to be prejudiced against upper-caste Hindus. In 2008, while addressing the audience, Mayawati said: "Our policies and ideology are not against any particular caste or religion. If we were anti-upper caste, we would not have given tickets to candidates from upper castes to contest elections".[30]

List of chief ministers

Chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh
No Image Name Constituency Term of office Tenure length Assembly
1 Mayawati None 3 June 1995 18 October 1995 137 days 12th Assembly
(1993 election)
Harora 21 March 1997 21 September 1997 184 days 13th Assembly
(1996 election)
3 May 2002 29 August 2003 1 year, 118 days 14th Assembly
(2002 election)
MLC 13 May 2007 15 March 2012 4 years, 307 days 15th Assembly
(2007 election)

Electoral performances

Success in 2007

The results of the May 2007 Uttar Pradesh state assembly election saw the BSP emerge as a sole majority party, the first to do so since 1991. Mayawati began her fourth term as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and took her oath of office along with 50 ministers of cabinet and state rank on 13 May 2007, at Rajbhawan in the state capital of Lucknow.[31] Most importantly, the majority achieved in large part was due to the party's ability to take away majority of upper castes votes from their traditional party, the BJP.[32]

Flags of "Bahujan Samaj Party" at Shivaji Park, Mumbai.

The party could manage only 80 seats in 2012, as opposed to 206 in 2007 assembly elections. BSP government was the first in the history of Uttar Pradesh to complete its full five-year term.[33] On 26 May 2018, Ram Achal Rajbhar was replaced by R S Kushwaha as the president of UP unit.[34]

2014 Lok Sabha Elections

The 2014 national Lok Sabha elections saw the BSP become the third-largest national party of India in terms of vote percentage, having 4.2% of the vote across the country but gaining no seats.[35]

2019 Lok Sabha Elections Mahagathbandhan

Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BSP formed a Mahagathbandhan. The Mahagathbandhan (or Grand Alliance), or simply the Gathbandhan (Alliance),[36][37] is an anti-Congress,[38] anti-BJP[39] Indian political alliance formed in the run-up to the 2019 general election under the leadership of two former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party, along with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal and several other political parties, contesting in different states of India.[40][41][42][43][44][45]

The Mahagathbandhan won 15 seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Indian General Election.[46]

Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha Term Year Seats
contested		 Seats won +/- Seats vote% +/- vote% State (seats)
9th 1989 245
4 / 543
 Increase 4 2.07% Punjab(1)
UP(3)[47]
10th 1991 231
3 / 543
 Decrease 1 1.61% MP (1)
Punjab (1)
UP (1)[48]
11th 1996 210
11 / 543
 Increase 8 4.02% MP (2)
Punjab (3)
UP(6)
12th 1998 251
5 / 543
 Decrease 6 4.67% Haryana(1)
UP(4)
13th 1999 225
14 / 543
 Increase 9 4.16% UP(14)
14th 2004 435
19 / 543
 Increase 5 5.33% UP(19)
15th 2009 500
21 / 543
 Increase 2 6.17% MP(1)
UP(20)
16th 2014 503
0 / 543
 Decrease 21 4.19% —
17th 2019 383
10 / 543
 Increase 10 3.67% UP(10)

Legislative Assembly Elections
Year Seats contested Seats won +/- Voteshare (%) +/-(%)
Bihar Legislative Assembly
1990 164
0 / 324
 Steady 0.73
1995 161
2 / 324
 Increase2 1.34
2000 249
5 / 324
 Increase3 1.89
Feb 2005 238
2 / 243
 Decrease3 4.41
Oct 2005 212
4 / 243
 Increase2 4.17
2010 243
0 / 243
 Decrease4 3.21
2015 228
0 / 243
 Steady 2.1
2020 80
1 / 243
 Increase1 1.5
Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly
2003 54
2 / 90
 Increase2 4.45
2008 90
2 / 90
 Steady 6.11
2013 90
1 / 90
 Decrease1 4.27
2018 33
2 / 90
 Increase1 3.9
2023
0 / 90
Delhi Legislative Assembly
1993 55
1 / 70
 Increase1 3.90
1998 58
0 / 70
 Decrease1 3.15
2003 40
0 / 70
 Steady 5.76
2008 70
2 / 70
 Increase2 14.05
2013 69
0 / 70
 Decrease2 5.33
2015 70
0 / 70
 Steady 1.31
2020 68
0 / 70
 Steady 0.71
Haryana Legislative Assembly
2000 83
1 / 90
 Increase1 5.74
2005 84
1 / 90
 Steady 3.22
2009 86
1 / 90
 Steady 6.73
2014 87
1 / 90
 Steady
2019 87
0 / 90
 Decrease1
Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly
1990 35
0 / 68
 Steady 0.94
1993 49
0 / 68
 Steady 2.25
1998 28
0 / 68
 Steady 1.41
2003 23
0 / 68
 Steady 0.7
2007 67
1 / 68
 Increase1 7.40
2012 67
0 / 68
 Decrease1 1.7
2017 42
0 / 68
 Steady 0.49
2022 53
0 / 68
 Steady 0.35
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
1996 29
4 / 87
 Increase4 6.43
2002 33
1 / 87
 Decrease3 4.50
2008 83
0 / 87
 Decrease1 3.73
2014 50
0 / 87
 Steady 1.41
Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
2009 78
0 / 81
 Steady 2.44
2014 61
0 / 81
 Steady 1.8
2019 67
0 / 81
 Steady 2.5
Karnataka Legislative Assembly
2018 18
1 / 234
 0.30%
2023 133
0 / 234
 Decrease1
Kerala Legislative Assembly
2011 122
0 / 140
 0.60
2016 74
0 / 140
 0.24
2021 72
0 / 140
 0.23
Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly
1990 183
2 / 320
 Increase2 3.54% Increase3.54%
1993 286
11 / 320
 Increase9 7.05% Increase3.51%
1998 170
11 / 320
 Steady 6.15% Decrease0.9%
2003 157
2 / 230
 7.26%
2008 228
7 / 230
 Increase5 8.97% Increase1.71%
2013 227
4 / 230
 Decrease3 6.29% Decrease2.68%
2018 227
2 / 230
 Decrease2 5.01% Decrease1.28%
2018
0 / 230
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
1990 122 0 0.42
1995 145 0 1.49
1999 83 0 0.39
2004 272 0 4.0
2009 287 0 2.35
2014 280 2.33
2019 262 0 0.92
Punjab Legislative Assembly
1992 105 9 16.32
1997 67 1 7.48
2002 100 0 5.69
2007 115 0 4.13
2012 117 0 4.29
2017 111 0 1.52
2022 20 1
Rajasthan Legislative Assembly
1990 57
0 / 200
 Steady 0.79
1993 50
0 / 200
 Steady 0.56
1998 108
2 / 200
 Increase2 2.17
2003 124
2 / 200
 Steady 3.97
2008 199
6 / 200
 Increase4 7.60
2013 199
3 / 200
 Decrease3 3.37
2018 199
6 / 200
 Increase3
2023 TBD
0 / 200
Telangana Legislative Assembly
2018
0 / 117
 Decrease2 2.10
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
2002
7 / 70
  – 10.93
2007
8 / 70
 Increase1 11.76
2012
3 / 70
 Decrease5 12.19
2017
0 / 70
 Decrease3 6.98
2022
2 / 70
 Increase2 4.82
Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
1989 372
13 / 425
 Increase13 9.41% Increase9.41

%

1991 386
12 / 425
 Decrease1 9.44% Increase0.03%
1993 164
67 / 425
 Increase67 11.12% Increase1.68%
1996 299
67 / 425
 Steady 19.64% Increase8.52%
2002 401
98 / 403
 Increase31 23.06% Increase3.42%
2007 403
206 / 403
 Increase108 30.43% Increase7.37%
2012 403
80 / 403
 Decrease126 25.91% Decrease4.48%
2017 403
19 / 403
 Decrease61 22.23% Decrease3.71%
2022 403
1 / 403
 Decrease18 12.88% Decrease9.43%
  • BSP Leaders at Bahujan Samaj Prerna Kendra
    BSP Leaders at Bahujan Samaj Prerna Kendra
  • BSP Leaders at Bahujan Samaj Prerna Kendra
    BSP Leaders at Bahujan Samaj Prerna Kendra
  • BSP cadre camp
    BSP cadre camp
  • BSP cadre camp
    BSP cadre camp
  • BSP cadre camp
    BSP cadre camp
  • BSP cadre camp
    BSP cadre camp
  • BSP cadre camp
    BSP cadre camp


See also

Further reading

References
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