Bahujan Samaj Party

Bahujan Samaj Party बहुजन समाज पार्टी
Abbreviation	BSP
Leader	Mayawati
President	Mayawati[1]
Founder	Kanshi Ram
Preceded by	DSSSS
Headquarters	12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi, India-110001
Ideology	Human rights Social equality[2] Secularism Social justice[3] Self respect[4]
Political position	Centre-left
Colours	Blue
ECI Status	National Party
Seats in Lok Sabha	0 / 545
Seats in Rajya Sabha	6 / 245
Election symbol
Website
www.bspindia.org
Politics of India Political parties Elections

Influential figures

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer from Maharashtra. He fought for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system, women's emancipation and the reform of Hindu family life. He also formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) to attain equal rights for peasants and people from lower castes.

B. R. Ambedkar, chief architect of Indian Constitution and first law minister of India who campaigned against untouchability, caste system and also campaigned for the rights of women and labourers.

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, an Indian social activist, freedom fighter and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is the third largest national political party in India.^[5] It was formed mainly to represent Bahujans (literally meaning "People in majority"), referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes (OBC), as well as religious minorities that together consist of 85 percent of India's population but still divided into 6000 different castes.^[6][7]

The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj.^[8] It was founded by Kanshi Ram in 1984, who named his protégée Mayawati as his successor in 2001.

The BSP was the third most voted-for party in the 2014 general election but still failed to win any seats in the 16th Lok Sabha.^[9] The BSP has its main base in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It has an elephant as its election symbol.

Origin of the word Bahujan

The Pali word "Bahujan" is popularly found in the literature of Buddhist texts. Gautama Buddha used this word to guide his disciples to work for the Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay (tran. Benefit and prosperity of majority people).^[10][11][12] The BSP used this slogan extensively to campaign in her political rallies.^[13]

History

Strategy

The Bahujan Samaj Party was founded on the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar (i.e. 14 April 1984) by Kanshi Ram,^[14] who named former schoolteacher Mayawati as his successor in 2001.^[15]

Speaking of lesser-known figures from the Indian Rebellion of 1857 who have been used as Dalit icons by the BSP, such as Chetram Jatav, the social scientist Badri Narayan Tiwari has noted that

Dalit intellectuals supported by BSP, which is trying to mobilise grassroot Dalits using local heroes, histories, myths and legends found a wealth of resources in the oral history of the regions of [Uttar Pradesh] centering around the 1857 rebellion. The political strategy of the party is to tell and retell the stories of these heroes, build memorials and organize celebrations around their stories repeatedly to build a collective memory in the psyche of the people. The stories are narrated in such a manner that the Dalits imagine the story of the making of this nation in which they played a significant role.^[16]

Development

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.^[17] Since this event, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals.^[18]

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"^[19] and asked the BJP-run Government of India to remove Union Tourism and Culture Minister, Jagmohan.^[20] In 2007, she began leading a BSP-formed government with an absolute majority for a full five-year term.^[21]

Bahujan Samaj Party claims to represent the low and lowly. A man carrying the BSP flag.

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.^[22] 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.^[23]

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

The party could manage only 80 seats in 2012 as against 206 in 2007 assembly elections. BSP government was the first in the history of Uttar Pradesh to complete its full five-year term.^[24] On 11 July 2012, the party in a major revamp, replaced Swami Prasad Maurya by Ram Achal Rajbhar as President of UP Unit.^[25]

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.^[26]

Secret successor of Mayawati

On 9 August 2009; Mayawati declared that she had chosen a successor from the Dalit community who is 18–20 years her junior. She has penned down his name in a sealed packet left in the safe custody of two of her close confidantes. The name of the successor will be disclosed on her death.^[27]

Election results

Lok Sabha (Lower House)

Lok Sabha Term	Indian General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested	State (seats)
9th Lok Sabha	1989	245	4	2.07	4.53	Punjab (1) Uttar Pradesh (3)[28]
10th Lok Sabha	1991	231	3	1.61	3.64	Madhya_Pradesh(1) Punjab (1) Uttar Pradesh (1)[29]
11th Lok Sabha	1996	210	11	4.02	11.21	Madhya Pradesh(2) Punjab (3) Uttar Pradesh (6)
12th Lok Sabha	1998	251	5	4.67	9.84	Haryana (1) Uttar Pradesh (4)
13th Lok Sabha	1999	225	14	4.16	9.97	Uttar Pradesh (14)
14th Lok Sabha	2004	435	19	5.33	6.66	Uttar Pradesh (19)
15th Lok Sabha	2009	500	21	6.17	6.56	Madhya Pradesh(1) Uttar Pradesh (20)
16th Lok Sabha	2014	503	0	4.3		NA

Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (Lower House)

Vidhan Sabha Term	UP elections	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
12th Vidhan Sabha	1993	164	67	11.12	28.52
13th Vidhan Sabha	1996	296	67	19.64	27.73
14th Vidhan Sabha	2002	401	98	23.06	23.19
15th Vidhan Sabha	2007	403	206	30.43	30.43
16th Vidhan Sabha	2012	403	80	25.95	25.95

Other states where BSP has a presence

As of June 2016, states with BSP presence are shown in blue shades as in accordance to which seats in assemblies varies.

Bihar Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Bihar General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
10th Vidhan Sabha	1990	164	0	0.73	1.41
11th Vidhan Sabha	1995	161	2	1.34	2.66
12th Vidhan Sabha	2000	249	5	1.89	2.47
13th Vidhan Sabha	Feb. 2005	238	2	4.41	4.50
14th Vidhan Sabha	Oct. 2005	212	4	4.17	4.75
15th Vidhan Sabha	2010	243	0	3.21	3.27
16th Vidhan Sabha	2015	243	0	2.1	2.1[30]

Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Chhattisgarh General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
2nd Vidhan Sabha	2003	54	2	4.45	9.4
3rd Vidhan Sabha	2008	90	2	6.11	6.11
4th Vidhan Sabha	2013	90	1	4.27	4.29

Delhi Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Delhi General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
1st Vidhan Sabha	1993	55	0	1.88	2.42
2nd Vidhan Sabha	1998	58	0	3.09	3.63
3rd Vidhan Sabha	2003	40	0	5.76	8.96
4th Vidhan Sabha	2008	69	2	14.05	14.05
5th Vidhan Sabha	2013	69	0	5.33	5.44
6th Vidhan Sabha	2015	70	0	1.3	1.3

Haryana Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Haryana General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
8th Vidhan Sabha	1991	26	1	2.32	7.67
9th Vidhan Sabha	1996	67	0	5.44	7.2
10th Vidhan Sabha	2000	83	1	5.74	6.22
11th Vidhan Sabha	2005	84	1	3.22	3.44
12th Vidhan Sabha	2009	86	1	6.73	7.05
13th Vidhan Sabha	2014	87	1[31]	4.37[32]	4.52

Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Himachal Pradesh General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
7th Vidhan Sabha	1990	35	0	0.94	1.76
8th Vidhan Sabha	1993	49	0	2.25	3.0
9th Vidhan Sabha	1998	28	0	1.41	3.28
10th Vidhan Sabha	2003	23	0	0.7	2.02
11th Vidhan Sabha	2007	67	1	7.40	7.37
12th Vidhan Sabha	2012	67	0	1.7	2.02

Jammu and Kashmir Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Jammu and Kashmir General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
9th Vidhan Sabha	1996	29	4	6.43	15.07[33]
10th Vidhan Sabha	2002	33	1	4.50	7.86[34]
11th Vidhan Sabha	2008	83	0	3.73	3.73[35]
12th Vidhan Sabha	2014	50	0	1.41	2.07[36]

Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Jharkhand General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
3rd Vidhan Sabha	2009	78	0	2.44	2.55[37]
4th Vidhan Sabha	2014	41[38]	1[39]	1.4	1.8

Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Madhya Pradesh General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
9th Vidhan Sabha	1990	183	2	3.54	5.89
10th Vidhan Sabha	1993	286	2	7.05	7.86
11th Vidhan Sabha	1998	170	11	6.15	11.39
12th Vidhan Sabha	2003	157	2	7.26	10.62
13th Vidhan Sabha	2008	230	7	8.97	9.29
14th Vidhan sabha	2013	227	4	6.29	6.42

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Maharashtra General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
8th Vidhan Sabha	1990	122	0	0.42	0.98
9th Vidhan Sabha	1995	145	0	1.49	2.82
10th Vidhan Sabha	1999	83	0	0.39	1.24
11th Vidhan Sabha	2004	272	0	4.0	4.18
12th Vidhan Sabha	2009	287	0	2.35	2.42
13th Vidhan Sabha	2014	260[40]	0	2.3[41]

Punjab Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Punjab General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
10th Vidhan Sabha	1992	105	9	16.32	17.59
11th Vidhan Sabha	1997	67	1	7.48	13.28
12th Vidhan Sabha	2002	100	0	5.69	6.61
13th Vidhan Sabha	2007	115	0	4.13	4.17
14th Vidhan Sabha	2012	117	0	4.28	4.28

Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Rajasthan General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
9th Vidhan Sabha	1990	205	0	0.79	2.54
10th Vidhan Sabha	1993	50	0	0.56	2.01
11th Vidhan Sabha	1998	108	2	2.17	3.81
12th Vidhan Sabha	2003	124	2	3.97	6.40
13th Vidhan Sabha	2008	199	6	7.60	7.66
14th Vidhan Sabha	2013	199	3	3.37	3.48

Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Uttarakhand General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	% of votes	% of votes in seats contested
1st Vidhan Sabha	2002	68	7	10.93	11.20
2nd Vidhan Sabha	2007	69	8	11.76	11.76
3rd Vidhan Sabha	2012	70	3	12.19	12.19

Kerala Vidhan Sabha

Vidhan Sabha Term	Kerala General Election	Seats contested	Seats won	Total of votes	% of votes
13th Vidhan Sabha	2011	122	0	104977	0.60
14th Vidhan Sabha	2016

See also

• Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2017
• Dalit Buddhist movement
• Dalit Nationalism

References

1. PTI (30 August 2014). "Mayawati elected BSP president for another term". livemint.com. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
2. "'BSP stands for social equality'". Deccan Herald. 11 February 2008. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
3. "Cong damaged cause of social justice: Mayawati". Hindustan Times. 10 April 2009. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
4. "Ms. Mayawati said she would devote her life for the self-respect movement.". The Hindu.
5. "Vote share: BJP gets 31 pc; 3rd largest BSP gets no seat". Rediff. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
6. "We need to become ruling class if we want to form a casteless society – Saheb Kanshi Ram". drambedkarbooks.com. Bahujan Sanghatak.
7. "The party figured out that if it really wants to ensure that 15 percent would not rule over the remaining 85 percent".
8. "The ground flanked by giant sized cut-outs of BSP's icons -- Babasaheb Ambedkar , Shahuji Maharaj, Jyotiba Phule, Narain Guru, Periyar and Mayawati herself.".
9. "Lok Sabha polls: Parties corner vote share, but fail to win seats". ZeeNews.
10. "Bahujanahitasuttaṃ". Access to Insight. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
11. "For the Welfare of Many". Access to Insight. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
12. Madan 1999, p. 47.
13. "Mayawati has announced rallies named "Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay" across the state.". The Indian Express. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
14. Singh, Pitam (2003). Women legislators in Indian politics. New Delhi: Concept Pub. Co. p. 101. ISBN 8180690199.
15. Pradhan, Sharat (15 December 2001). "Kanshi Ram declares Mayawati as his successor". Rediff News.
16. Tiwari, Badri Narayan (2007). "Identity and Narratives: Dalits and memories of 1857" (PDF). University of Edinburgh: Mutiny at the Margins Conference: 13, 27, 33.
17. "Report indicting Mulayam Singh Yadav comes handy for BJP". India Today. 15 August 1996. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
18. Ghildiyal, Subodh. "Why Mayawati cannot stand Mulayam".
19. "Uttar Pradesh chief quits". BBC News. 26 August 2003. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
20. "Mayawati offers to resign". The Times of India. 25 August 2003. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
21. "Mayawati rules Uttar Pradesh". India Today. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
22. "Mayawati takes oath as UP CM". NDTV.
23. "Upper castes played crucial role in bsp victory in up assembly elections".
24. http://eciresults.nic.in/PartyWiseResult.htm
25. "BSP replaces U.P. chief". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 12 July 2012.
26. "BSP gets third-largest vote share, but no seat". Business Standard.
27. "Mayawati talks of the secret successor : India". Nerve.in. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
28. "Members : Lok Sabha". IIS Windows Server. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
29. "Members : Lok Sabha". IIS Windows Server (in Javanese). 2 May 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
30. "Bihar polls: In NDA vs Grand Alliance fight, BSP fails to make mark".
31. "Tek Chand Sharma won the lone seat for the party from the Prithla seat in Faridabad by a margin of 1,179 votes". Hindustan Times.
32. "ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA GENERAL\BYE ELECTION TO LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES TRENDS & RESULT 2014".
33. "1996 - Election Commission of India" (PDF).
34. "STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 2002" (PDF).
35. "BSP have failed to make a mark". Hindustan Times.
36. "STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL LECTION,2014 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF Jammu & Kashmir" (PDF).
37. "2009 - Election Commission of India" (PDF).
38. "41 in Jharkhand". Archived from the original on 28 December 2014.
39. "Bahujan Samaj Party makes debut with 1/81 score". Indian Express.
40. "BSP had contested on 260 seats in Maharashtra.". Daily Bhaskar.
41. "ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA GENERAL\BYE ELECTION TO LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES TRENDS & RESULT 2014". Archived from the original on 3 November 2014.

External links

• Official website