Bahujan Samaj Party

| Feb 9, 2017, 19:05 IST

Formed mainly to represent 'Bahujan', the Bahujan Samaj Party was founded on the birth anniversary of
BR Ambedkar
, on 14 April 1984, by Kanshi Ram, who named former schoolteacher Mayawati as his successor in 2001. 'Bahujan' refer to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes (OBC), as well as religious minorities that together consist of 85 per cent of India's population but still divided into 6,000 different castes.

The party's power started growing in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha from 1993. In the 1993 Assembly polls, BSP formed government in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with Samajwadi Party with Maulayam Singh Yadav as the chief minister. The party, however, withdrew support from the coalition on 2 June, 1995 and formed government in the state with the support of BJP. It was in 2007 when the party had a decisive victory with BSP getting the mandate with an absolute majority for a full term. 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.

Mayawati, who celebrated her birthday on January 15, held a press conference while laying out the strategy for the party in the Assembly polls. Amid talks of a possible tie up between SP and Congress, the BSP president made it clear that her party will go it alone in the polls. "We will fight the elections on our own, there will be no alliances," she said. The BSP chief who celebrated her birthday this time without usual fanfare in view of the model code of conduct being in force in the state, also lashed out at the alleged goonda raj under the Akhilesh Yadav government.

She said neither
SP-Congress
alliance nor a united SP will be able to check BJP and voting for them will directly benefit BJP. Mayawati warned people against the fake promises made by political opponents like the Congress, the SP and the BJP. She also said that unlike other parties who offer allurements in manifesto which they do not keep, the BSP does not believe in having a poll manifesto as it wants to work instead of making tall promises. She said on coming to power, her government will no longer construct museums and memorials and concentrate on development.

For the 2017 Assembly polls, BSP has also emerged as the strongest contender for the Muslim votes. Thus, the party has critiqued the Hindutva brand of politics without raising the issues related to Muslims in an assertive manner, as the party does not want to counter polarise the Hindus against them.

Infighting has broken out in the party, even though Mayawati continues to enjoy some traction among Dalits. The party has also been reeling under the loss of several of its heavyweights. Its founder-member and former minister, Deena Nath Bhaskar had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, followed by another heavyweight, Brajesh Pathak, who joined the BJP expressing faith in its developmental agenda for poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. BSP strongman, Swami Prasad Maurya's exit from the party will definitely add to the dipping size of the party support base.

At the same time, the party witnessed the entry of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, along with his son Abbas and brothers - Afzal Ansari and Sibghatullah Ansari. Ansari, who heads the Qaumi Ekta Dal, defected to the BSP after the Samajwadi Party denied ticket to him and his brothers.

Popular from Business

end of article