Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): History, Vision, Latest News

About Bahujan Samaj Party:


The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "people in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Castes (OBC), along with religious minorities.

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.

The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of Gautama Buddha, B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj. Kanshi Ram named his protégée, Mayawati, as his successor in 2001.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)

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 and in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections with over 22% of votes. Its election symbol is an elephant.

 

 

Key Description of Bahujan Samaj Party:


President: Mayawati

Leader: Mayawati

Headquarters: 12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi - 110001

Founder: Kanshi Ram

Newspaper: Mayayug, Bahujan Samaj Bulletin (Punjabi)

Abbreviation: BSP

Secretary:

  • Satish Chandra Mishra
  • R S Kushwaha
  • Munquad Ali
  • Ram Achal Rajbhar
  • Mewalal Gautam
  • R Sridhar

Lok Sabha Leader: Kunwar Danish Ali

Rajya Sabha Leader: Satish Chandra Mishra

Founded: 14 April 1984 (36 years ago)

Ideology:

  • Social equality
  • Social justice
  • Self respect

Political Position: Centre-left

ECI Status: National Party

Seats in Lok Sabha: 10 / 543

Seats in Rajya Sabha: 2 / 245

Website: www.bspindia.org

Social Network: FacebookYouTubeTwitterLinkedIn

 

 

Organisation And Structure:


The BSP has no separate youth wing; however, youth representation is over 50%.

BSP has no social media accounts or website. Sudhindra Bhadoria, a senior party leader, is the only official spokesperson of the BSP.

 

 

Ideology And Political Positions:


Ideology: Its self-proclaimed ideology is "Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation" of the "Bahujan Samaj".

The "Bahujan Samaj", to them, consists of the lower-caste groups in India like the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

It also includes religious minorities like Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, and Buddhists.

They see these groups as victims of the "Manuwadi" system for millennia, a system which benefited upper-caste Hindus only. B. R. Ambedkar, a champion of lower-caste rights, is an important ideological inspiration.

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".

Satish Chandra Mishra, a BSP senior leader, is upper caste. The party also believe in egalitarianism and hold a strong emphasis on social justice.

 

List of Chief Minister:

No Name Constituency Term of office Tenure length Assembly
1 Mayawati 3 June 1995 18 October 1995 137 days twelfth Assembly (1993–95)
(1993 election)
Mayawati Harora 21 March 1997 21 September 1997 184 days Thirteenth Assembly (1996–2002)
(1996 election)
Mayawati Harora 3 May 2002 29 August 2003 1 year, 118 days Fourteenth Assembly (2002–07)
(2002 election)
Mayawati MLC 13 May 2007 15 March 2012 4 years, 307 days Fifteenth Assembly (2007–12)
(2007 election)

 

History of Bahujan Samaj Party:


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 goons to keep her party legislators hostage at a Lucknow guest house and shout casteist abuses at her. Since this event, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals.

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" and asked the BJP-run Government of India to remove Union Tourism and Culture Minister, Jagmohan. In 2007, she began leading a BSP-formed government with an absolute majority for a full five-year term.

 

Election Results: Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha Term Indian
General Election
Seats
contested
Seats
won
State (seats)
9th Lok Sabha 1989 245 4 Punjab (1)
Uttar Pradesh (3)
10th Lok Sabha 1991 231 3 Madhya_Pradesh(1)
Punjab (1)
Uttar Pradesh (1)
11th Lok Sabha 1996 210 11 Madhya Pradesh(2)
Punjab (3)
Uttar Pradesh (6)
12th Lok Sabha 1998 251 5 Haryana (1)
Uttar Pradesh (4)
13th Lok Sabha 1999 225 14 Uttar Pradesh (14)
14th Lok Sabha 2004 435 19 Uttar Pradesh (19)
15th Lok Sabha 2009 500 21 Madhya Pradesh(1)
Uttar Pradesh (20)
16th Lok Sabha 2014 503 0 NA
17th Lok Sabha 2019 383 10 Uttar Pradesh (10)