Bahujan Samaj Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | BSP |
| President | Mayawati[1] |
| General Secretary |
|
| Rajya Sabha Leader | Ramji Gautam |
| Founder | Kanshi Ram |
| Founded | 14 April 1984; 41 years ago (1984-04-14) |
| Preceded by | Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti |
| Headquarters | 12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road,New Delhi,India-110001 |
| Newspaper | Paper Type Books Sometimes |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left[4] |
| Colours | Blue |
| ECI Status | National Party |
| Alliance | Mahagathbandhan (1993–1995; 2018-2019) NDA (1995–2003) SAD+ (2022–2023)[a] GGP (2023–2024)[b] INLD+ (2023–2024)[c] |
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 1 / 245 |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 0 / 543 |
| Seats in State Legislative Council | 0 / 426 |
| Seats in State Legislative Assembly | 4 / 4,036 List |
| Number of states and union territories in government | 0 / 31 |
| Election symbol | |
 | |
| Website | |
| bahujansamajparty | |
TheBahujan Samaj Party (abbr.BSP) is aprogressive political party in India that was formed to representBahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to the country'sScheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes, andOther Backward Classes (OBC), along withminorities.[5] According toKanshi Ram, when he founded the party in 1984, the Bahujans comprised 85 percent of India's population, but were divided into 6,000different castes.[6] The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy ofB. R. Ambedkar,Jyotirao Phule,Narayana Guru,Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, andGautama Buddha.
Kanshi Ram named his protégée,Mayawati, as his successor in 2001. The BSP has its main base in the Indian state ofUttar Pradesh where it was the second-largest party in the2019 Indian general election with 19.3% of votes[7] and fourth largest in the2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election with 12.88% of votes.[8] Itselection symbol is anelephant which is also the symbol historically used by Dr. Ambedkar'sScheduled Castes Federation.[9]
"Bahujan" is aSanskritic 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, Other Backward Classes, Muslims, and minorities who together constitute the demographic majority of India.[10][11] The word "Bahujan" appears in the dictum "Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya", or "The benefit and prosperity of the many", articulated byGautama Buddha.[12][13][14]
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.[14][15]
Bahujan Samaj Party was founded on the birth anniversary ofB. R. Ambedkar (14 April 1984) byKanshi Ram,[16] who named former school teacher, Mayawati, as his successor of BSP in 2001.[17] The party's power grew quickly with seats in theLegislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh and theLok Sabha, thelower house of theParliament of India. In 1993, following the assembly elections, Mayawati formed a coalition withSamajwadi Party presidentMulayam Singh Yadav asChief Minister. On 2 June 1995, she withdrew support from his government, which led to a major incident where Mulayam Singh Yadav was accused of sending his zealots to keep her party legislators hostage at aLucknow guest house and shout casteist abuses at her.[18] Since this incident, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals.[19] Mayawati then obtained support from theBharatiya 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 ofPresident's Rule. In 2003, Mayawati resigned from her own government to prove that she was not "hungry for power"[20] and asked the BJP-runGovernment of India to removeUnion Tourism and Culture Minister,Jagmohan.[21] In 2007, she began leading a BSP-formed government with an absolute majority for a full five-year term.[22]
On 10 December 2023, Mayawati declared her nephewAkash Anand as the party's successor.[23][24][25] However, he was sacked immediately after his comments on the rulingBJP Party.[26]
On 14 April 2009, the Bahujan Samaj Party celebrated its silver jubilee.[27] TheManywar Shri Kanshi Ramji Shahri Garib Awas Yojna housing scheme for poor was launched by Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).[28] The role of Mayawati was discussed in BSP's success.[29] A mass rally was organised inLucknow with 10000 police personnel on duty.[30] It was the 305th and largest rally of BSP since 1984.[31] As perObserver Research Foundation, within 25 years BSP became the third largest political party of India.[32]
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".[33]
| 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) | |||
The results of the May 2007Uttar 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 asChief 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 ofLucknow.[34] 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.[35]
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.[36] On 26 May 2018, Ram Achal Rajbhar was replaced byR S Kushwaha as the president of UP unit.[37]
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.[38]
Prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BSP formed an alliance. TheMahagathbandhan (or Grand Alliance), or simply theGathbandhan (Alliance),[39][40] is an anti-Congress,[41] anti-BJP[42] Indian political alliance formed in the run-up to the2019 general election under the leadership of two former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh,Akhilesh Yadav of theSamajwadi Party andMayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party, along withAjit Singh'sRashtriya Lok Dal and several other political parties, contesting in different states of India.[43][44][45][46][47][48]
InUttar Pradesh, BSP contested 38 seats, SP 37, and RLD 3, and the alliance supported Congress in the final two. Due to this seat sharing agreement, BSP's vote share fell slightly nationally and in the state, but they won 10 seats, up from 0 in 2014. The Samajwadi Party won 5 seats, giving the alliance a total of 15 seats out of 80 in the state.[49]
On 19 July 2023, the BSP had announced that it would neither side with theINDIA nor theNDA and would go alone in the2024 Indian General Election.[50] However, it had its worst performance in a Lok Sabha election. It lost all ten of its seats inUttar Pradesh that it had gained in theprevious election and didn't gain any seats elsewhere. Its national vote share fell to 2.07%, less than half of what it was in2014 when it also won 0 seats.[51]
| Lok Sabha term | Year | Seats contested | Seats won | +/- Seats | vote % | +/- vote % | State (seats) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9th | 1989 | 245 | 4 / 543 |  4 | 2.07% | - | Punjab (1) UP (3) |
| 10th | 1991 | 231 | 3 / 543 |  1 | 1.61% | 0.46% | MP (1) Punjab (1) UP (1) |
| 11th | 1996 | 210 | 11 / 543 | 8 | 4.02% | 2.41% | MP (2) Punjab (3) UP (6) |
| 12th | 1998 | 251 | 5 / 543 | 6 | 4.67% | 0.65% | Haryana (1) UP (4) |
| 13th | 1999 | 225 | 14 / 543 | 9 | 4.16% | 0.49% | UP (14) |
| 14th | 2004 | 435 | 19 / 543 | 5 | 5.33% | 1.17% | UP (19) |
| 15th | 2009 | 500 | 21 / 543 | 2 | 6.17% | 0.84% | MP (1) UP (20) |
| 16th | 2014 | 503 | 0 / 543 | 21 | 4.19% | 1.98% | — |
| 17th | 2019 | 383 | 10 / 543 | 10 | 3.67% | 0.52% | UP (10) |
| 18th | 2024 | 488 | 0 / 543 | 10 | 2.07% | 1.6% | — |
| All time-BSP Lok Sabha seat count |
 |
| Year | Seats contested | Seats won | +/- | Voteshare (%) | +/- (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bihar Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1990 | 164 | 0 / 324 |  | 0.73% | ||
| 1995 | 161 | 2 / 324 | 2 | 1.34% | ||
| 2000 | 249 | 5 / 324 | 3 | 1.89% | ||
| Feb 2005 | 238 | 2 / 243 | 3 | 4.41% | ||
| Oct 2005 | 212 | 4 / 243 | 2 | 4.17% | ||
| 2010 | 243 | 0 / 243 | 4 | 3.21% | ||
| 2015 | 228 | 0 / 243 | | 2.1% | ||
| 2020 | 80 | 1 / 243 | 1 | 1.5% | ||
| 2025 | 130 | 1 / 243 | | 1.62% | ||
| Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2003 | 54 | 2 / 90 | 2 | 4.45% | ||
| 2008 | 90 | 2 / 90 | | 6.11% | ||
| 2013 | 90 | 1 / 90 | 1 | 4.27% | ||
| 2018 | 33 | 2 / 90 | 1 | 3.9% | ||
| 2023 | 58 | 0 / 90 | 2 | 2.05% | ||
| Delhi Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1993 | 55 | 1 / 70 | 1 | 3.90% | ||
| 1998 | 58 | 0 / 70 | 1 | 3.15% | ||
| 2003 | 40 | 0 / 70 | | 5.76% | ||
| 2008 | 70 | 2 / 70 | 2 | 14.05% | ||
| 2013 | 69 | 0 / 70 | 2 | 5.33% | ||
| 2015 | 70 | 0 / 70 | | 1.31% | ||
| 2020 | 68 | 0 / 70 | | 0.71% | ||
| 2025 | 70 | 0 / 70 | | 0.58% | ||
| Haryana Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2000 | 83 | 1 / 90 | 1 | 5.74% | ||
| 2005 | 84 | 1 / 90 | | 3.22% | ||
| 2009 | 86 | 1 / 90 | | 6.73% | ||
| 2014 | 87 | 1 / 90 | | 4.4% | ||
| 2019 | 87 | 0 / 90 | 1 | 4.21% | ||
| 2024 | 35 | 0 / 90 | | 1.81% | ||
| Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1990 | 35 | 0 / 68 | | 0.94% | ||
| 1993 | 49 | 0 / 68 | | 2.25% | ||
| 1998 | 28 | 0 / 68 | | 1.41% | ||
| 2003 | 23 | 0 / 68 | | 0.7% | ||
| 2007 | 67 | 1 / 68 | 1 | 7.40% | ||
| 2012 | 67 | 0 / 68 | 1 | 1.7% | ||
| 2017 | 42 | 0 / 68 | | 0.49% | ||
| 2022 | 53 | 0 / 68 | | 0.35% | ||
| Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1996 | 29 | 4 / 87 | 4 | 6.43% | ||
| 2002 | 33 | 1 / 87 | 3 | 4.50% | ||
| 2008 | 83 | 0 / 87 | 1 | 3.73% | ||
| 2014 | 50 | 0 / 87 | | 1.41% | ||
| 2024 | 27 | 0 / 87 | | 0.96% | ||
| Jharkhand Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2009 | 78 | 0 / 81 | | 2.44% | ||
| 2014 | 61 | 1 / 81 | | 1.8% | ||
| 2019 | 67 | 0 / 81 | 1 | 2.5% | ||
| 2024 | 55 | 0 / 81 | | 0.78% | ||
| Karnataka Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2018 | 18 | 1 / 234 | 1 | 0.30% | ||
| 2023 | 133 | 0 / 234 | 1 | 0.31% | ||
| 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 | 2 | 3.54% | - | |
| 1993 | 286 | 11 / 320 | 9 | 7.05% | 3.51% | |
| 1998 | 170 | 11 / 320 | | 6.15% | 0.9% | |
| 2003 | 157 | 2 / 230 | 9 | 7.26% | 1.11% | |
| 2008 | 228 | 7 / 230 | 5 | 8.97% | 1.71% | |
| 2013 | 227 | 4 / 230 | 3 | 6.29% | 2.68% | |
| 2018 | 227 | 2 / 230 | 2 | 5.01% | 1.28% | |
| 2023 | 181 | 0 / 230 | 2 | 3.40% | 1.61% | |
| 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 | 0 | | 2.33% | ||
| 2019 | 262 | 0 | | 0.92% | ||
| 2024 | 262 | 0 | | 0.48% | ||
| Punjab Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1992 | 105 | 9 / 117 | 9 | 16.32% | ||
| 1997 | 67 | 1 / 117 | 8 | 7.48% | ||
| 2002 | 100 | 0 / 117 | 1 | 5.69% | ||
| 2007 | 115 | 0 / 117 | | 4.13% | ||
| 2012 | 117 | 0 / 117 | | 4.29% | ||
| 2017 | 111 | 0 / 117 | | 1.52% | ||
| 2022 | 20 | 1 / 117 | 1 | 1.77% | ||
| Rajasthan Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1990 | 57 | 0 / 200 | | 0.79% | ||
| 1993 | 50 | 0 / 200 | | 0.56% | ||
| 1998 | 108 | 2 / 200 | 2 | 2.17% | ||
| 2003 | 124 | 2 / 200 | | 3.97% | ||
| 2008 | 199 | 6 / 200 | 4 | 7.60% | ||
| 2013 | 199 | 3 / 200 | 3 | 3.37% | ||
| 2018 | 199 | 6 / 200 | 3 | 4.03% | ||
| 2023[52] | 199 | 2 / 200 | 4 | 1.82% | ||
| Telangana Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2018 | 106 | 0 / 117 | 2 | 2.10% | ||
| 2023 | 106 | 0 / 117 | | 1.37% | ||
| Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 2002 | 68 | 7 / 70 | 7 | 10.93% | - | |
| 2007 | 70 | 8 / 70 | 1 | 11.76% | 0.83% | |
| 2012 | 70 | 3 / 70 | 5 | 12.19% | 0.43% | |
| 2017 | 69 | 0 / 70 | 3 | 6.98% | 5.21% | |
| 2022 | 54 | 2 / 70 | 2 | 4.82% | 1.16% | |
| Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 1989 | 372 | 13 / 425 | 13 | 9.41% | - | |
| 1991 | 386 | 12 / 425 | 1 | 9.44% | 0.03% | |
| 1993 | 164 | 67 / 425 | 55 | 11.12% | 1.68% | |
| 1996 | 299 | 67 / 425 | | 19.64% | 8.52% | |
| 2002 | 401 | 98 / 403 | 31 | 23.06% | 3.42% | |
| 2007 | 403 | 206 / 403 | 108 | 30.43% | 7.37% | |
| 2012 | 403 | 80 / 403 | 126 | 25.91% | 4.48% | |
| 2017 | 403 | 19 / 403 | 61 | 22.23% | 3.71% | |
| 2022 | 403 | 1 / 403 | 18 | 12.88% | 9.43% | |
| International | |
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| Other | |
