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Bahujan Samajwadi Party

Bahujan Samaj Party
Abbreviation BSP
Leader Mayawati
President Mayawati
Secretary-General
Rajya Sabha leader Satish Chandra Mishra
Founder Kanshi Ram
Founded 14 April 1984 (34 years ago) (1984-04-14)
Preceded by DSSSS
Headquarters 12, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi, India-110001
Volunteer's wing Bahujan Volunteer Force
Ideology Affirmative action
Human rights
Social equality
Secularism
Social justice
Self respect
Political position Centre-left
Colours      Blue
ECI Status National Party
Seats in Lok Sabha
0 / 545
(currently 536 members + 1 Speaker)
Seats in Rajya Sabha
4 / 245
Seats in Uttar Pradesh
19 / 403
(Legislative Assembly)
09 / 100
(Vidhan Parishad)
Election symbol
Elephant
Website
www.bspindia.org

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is the third largest national political party in India. 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.

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. 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. The BSP has its main base in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, BSP was second largest party in terms of vote share with over 22% votes despite winning only 19 seats. It has an elephant as its election symbol.

The Pali word "Bahujana" is popularly found in the literature of Buddhist texts. Gautama Buddha used this word to guide his disciples to work for the Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya (tran. Benefit and prosperity of majority people). The BSP used this slogan extensively to campaign in her political rallies.


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