Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party (abbr. BSP) is a 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. 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 B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, and Gautama Buddha.
Bahujan Samaj Party | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | BSP |
| President | Mayawati |
| General Secretary |
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| Rajya Sabha Leader | Ramji Gautam |
| Founder | Kanshi Ram |
| Founded | 14 April 1984 |
| Preceded by | Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti |
| Headquarters | 12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi, India-110001 |
| Newspaper | Bahujan Samaj Bulletin |
| Ideology | Ambedkarism Self-Respect |
| Colours | Blue |
| ECI Status | National Party |
| Alliance | BSP+SAD (2022–2023) BSP+GGP (2023–) BSP+INLD (2023–) |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 8 / 543 |
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 1 / 245 |
| Seats in State Legislative Assembly | 3 / 4,036
List 1 / 70 (Uttarakhand)
1 / 117 (Punjab)
1 / 403 (Uttar Pradesh)
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| Seats in State Legislative Council | 0 / 426 |
| Number of states and union territories in government | 0 / 31 |
| Election symbol | |
| Website | |
| www | |
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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 and fourth largest in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election with 12.88% of votes. Its election symbol is an elephant which is the same symbol historically used by Dr. Ambedkar's Scheduled Castes Federation.