The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), founded on 14 April 1984, by the Kanshi Ram popularly known as Manyavar or Bahujan Nayak, was conceived to champion the cause of the Bahujans—Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, and religious minorities. The BSP's raison d'être was to dismantle the entrenched socio-political hegemony marginalising these communities.
Mayawati, Kanshi Ram's acolyte, quickly ascended within the party’s echelons. Her political acumen saw her helm the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government four times. The BSP’s meteoric rise began in the late 1980s. In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the party secured 3 seats, marking its electoral advent. By 1993, the BSP had forged a coalition with the Samajwadi Party (SP), catapulting Mayawati to her first, albeit ephemeral, Chief Ministerial tenure in 1995.
The zenith of the BSP’s political journey was the 2007 UP Assembly elections, where it clinched an absolute majority with 206 out of 403 seats, garnering 30.43 percent of the vote share. This triumph was attributed to Mayawati’s deft strategy of uniting Dalits, Brahmins, and other communities—a political tapestry that resonated profoundly.