On June 2, 1995, Mayawati announced withdrawal of support from the Mulayam government. After this UP saw the incident, which no one expected. Mulayam Singh Yadav talked to many people to garner majority, but did not get any support.
That year of 1985, just five years before the Mandal Commission reached the society and before the discussion of electoral social engineering in the political history of India… A year after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, the political stir in the country intensified . Was. The time for the Lok Sabha by-elections has come. At that time there was a big political struggle in Bijnor, a small district of UP. Meira Kumar, daughter of Dalit leader Babu Jagjivan Ram, was on Congress ticket and then Lok Kranti Dal leader Ram Vilas Paswan was in the fray. Mayawati , the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, which was formed a year ago, i.e. in 1984, was in front of these two veteran leaders of the Depressed Classes., The 27-year-old girl campaigned for the election by sitting on a bicycle carrier. He toured the streets of Bijnor day and night in a salwar suit. He went to the Dalit settlements, had food with the people, inquired about their well being and asked for votes. Then for the first time people came to know that UP’s daughter and BSP leader Mayawati has made a big political ruckus for the first time.
Such a passion to reach the Parliament that after the formation of the party, despite the continuous defeat, did not stop contesting the elections. The girl, who lost from Kairana in 1984, from Bijnor Lok Sabha in 1985 and from Haridwar in 1987, managed to fulfill what she had set for herself. Mayawati reached the Lok Sabha for the first time from Bijnor Lok Sabha in 1989, changing her political fortunes and political structure. Hello, I am…. In the history of Indian politics, Mayawati became the first Dalit woman Chief Minister of UP, who did the charisma of continuously dominating the vote bank of Dalits and backwards without running a huge movement. The Election Commission registered him as an independent in 1984 and 1985, as his party was in its early stages.
In 1984, 27-year-old Mayawati was seen campaigning in a salwar suit in Kairana Lok Sabha constituency. One of his supporters rides a bicycle. She would signal to stop, the cycle would stop, then she would sit and eat food with someone on the side of the road, talk to the youth and the elderly and then ride the cycle and go to another area. This was Mayawati’s first election, which she lost. But, in the very next year 1985, he did something similar, after which the political dynamics regarding Dalits and backwards in the whole country including UP changed completely.
1985 fought in front of Meira Kumar
In 1985, a by-election was held on the seat that fell vacant after the death of senior Congress MP from Bijnor, Girdhar Lal. In this seat reserved for Dalits, the political power that Mayawati showed in front of Meira Kumar, daughter of Congress’s then Dalit poster boy Babu Jagjivan Ram and Ram Vilas Paswan, was a charismatic beginning in Dalit politics. In the Bijnor Lok Sabha by-election in December 1985, the Congress felt that it would win easily due to the sympathy factor, but its strategy started crumbling in front of a girl’s political passion. Maya’s sharp speeches started making headlines. Seeing the by-election of Bijnor became high profile. Veer Bahadur Singh, the then Chief Minister of UP, came down in support of Meira Kumar.
So for Paswan many big leaders including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav camped in Bijnor. Meira Kumar got 1,28,101 votes in the contest, but she could win by a small margin of only 5,346 votes. At the same time, Ram Vilas Paswan got 1,22,755 votes. Now consider it the reason for Paswan’s close defeat or the reason for Meira Kumar’s modest victory. In this election, Mayawati got 61,506 votes in front of these veterans. Even though she remained at number three, but, 18 percent of the votes of the Dalit and Muslim community brought her into the limelight in the politics of the country including UP. In 1989, when Mayawati won from Bijnor for the second time, BSP won 3 Lok Sabha seats for the first time. This was the first auspicious sign of the rise of both Bahujan Samaj Party and Mayawati.
Changed politics in the name of dalits
After the arrival of Mayawati, not only the society of that class was changing regarding Dalits and backwards, but the politics in the name of Dalits was also changing very fast. In an instant, the Dalits felt that they had found their brightest mentor. Because, Mayawati’s tone was very sharp about the opponents. Mayawati was born on 15 January 1956 in Indrapuri area of Delhi. In 1975, he did BA in Political Science and Economics from Delhi University. After that B.Ed. Studied, worked as a teacher and then got LLB degree from DU. According to Mayawati, she wanted to become an IAS officer after passing the UPSC exam and was preparing for the same. But, before she could give the IAS officer’s exam, life took a big turn. He suddenly met Kanshi Ram, the founder of BSP. One cold night in 1977, Kanshi Ram reached his house in Indrapuri area of Delhi. Mayawati was studying at that time. Kanshi Ram asked… what do you want to be? Mayawati replied- ‘I want to become an IAS officer so that I can do something for my society’.
Kanshi Ram said ‘I will take you to the point where dozens of IAS officers will be standing behind you. You decide, what do you want to be?’ In fact, a day before this meeting, Mayawati was giving a speech at the Constitution Club of Delhi. She was furious when Congress leader Rajnarayan was repeatedly called Harijans from the stage to Dalits. Kanshi Ram had decided a lot on seeing such attitude of a 21-year-old girl regarding Dalit interests.
Mayawati did not think much. Leaving both the father’s dream of becoming an IAS and the father’s house, she went with Kanshi Ram. This was the journey, where both society and politics had to give many ordeal. But, Mayawati was ready for every test. Mayawati’s sharp speech and Kanshi Ram’s organizational skills formed a party in 1984. Named Bahujan Samaj Party. Kanshi Ram and Mayawati shouted at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to change the fate of Bahujans. Together they expanded the organization very quickly. From the very first year of forming the party, Mayawati became active in electoral politics. In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, when Mayawati reached Parliament after winning from Bijnor.
Now from here in the politics of the country, suddenly the vote bank of Dalits and backwards started flowing like a stream towards Bahujan Samaj Party. Seeing Mayawati’s bold speech and her impeccable political style, a message went to the Dalits and backwards that they had found a leader who raised their voice. Mayawati was an expert in gauging the pulse of the public and speaking the words of the people of the deprived society in a powerful way. Because of this, his popularity in Bahujan society started increasing very fast. With the help of Kanshi Ram, he understood the nuances of political maneuvering and political alliances and during this period a huge political development took place in UP. The disputed structure had collapsed in the 1992 Ram Mandir movement. Assembly elections were announced in 1993 after communal violence erupted and incidents challenging the law and order situation came to a halt.
SP-BSP contested elections in alliance
In the 1993 assembly elections, Samajwadi Party and BSP contested together. Samajwadi Party won 109 seats. At the same time, Bahujan Samaj Party got 67 seats. In the 1993 elections, the BSP got 11.2% of the vote. Mayawati and Mulayam Singh formed the government together. Mayawati entered the politics of power only 9 years after the formation of BSP. In 1993, BJP gave the slogan, will eat half roti, will build the temple there. In response, Kanshi Ram and Mulayam put their first political social engineering to the test. A slogan was given, “Milayam Kanshi Ram met, Jai Shri Ram flew in the air”. Due to this slogan, Mulayam’s government was formed in UP with the support of BSP.
According to media reports, it was the era of Mulayam Yadav’s government. BSP only gave support, it did not join the government. This alliance lasted for almost a year and later there were reports of Mayawati’s rapprochement with the BJP, which was revealed later. Political analysts say that after coming to the government in UP, the then chief of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav wanted to establish his supremacy in the state through panchayat elections. Kanshi Ram was also approaching the Panchayat elections to increase the political power of his party. However, he was very ill, so he gave this responsibility to Mayawati.
Rift with SP
When the Panchayat elections came in May 1993, the Samajwadi Party members were adamant to block the nomination of a Dalit woman. Even though this thing was small, but this spark of mutual confrontation turned the friendship of Mayawati and Samajwadi Party into the biggest enmity. It is said that BJP and Congress were making some untold efforts from behind the scenes to break the social engineering of SP and BSP in UP. Then Mayawati and Mulayam came face to face on the issue of stopping the nomination of a Dalit woman in the Panchayat elections. Political analysts believe that if BJP had offered Mayawati from behind the scenes to withdraw support to the Mulayam government, then BJP is ready to make her the chief minister.
On June 2, 1995, Mayawati announced withdrawal of support from the Mulayam government. After this UP saw the incident, which no one expected. Mulayam Singh Yadav talked to many people to garner majority, but did not get any support. On the other hand, Mayawati was discussing with some of her MLAs at the Mirabai Government Guest House in Lucknow. Within no time, a crowd of Samajwadi Party leaders reached the guest house. BSP leaders started fighting. It is said that some BJP leaders were also involved in the crowd gathered in the guest house, who were intervening for the people of BSP. An attempt was made to enter the guest house room where Mayawati was holding a meeting.
BSP workers locked the room from inside, even then the people of Samajwadi Party kept trying to break the door from outside. There was a lot of misbehavior with Mayawati. Regarding this incident, Mayawati had said that SP supporters wanted to kill her. BJP leader Brahmdutt Dwivedi, who was present there at that time, saved Mayawati by reaching the guest house. Mayawati has faith in BJP. The next day on June 3, 1995, Mayawati formed the government with the support of BJP and took oath as the Chief Minister of UP for the first time.
Became the first Dalit CM
Mayawati was the first Dalit woman in the country to get the chief minister’s chair. Then the country’s Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao had said, this is a ‘miracle of democracy’. But the BJP withdrew support to the Mayawati government, which was formed by miracle, in just 4 months. His government fell on 17 October 1995. It is said about Mayawati that she proved herself to be such an expert player in politics, who has the ability to understand and change the direction of the wind. In political multiplicity, he created such a vote bank, which before him was seen in different parties like Abdullah Deewana in Begani Shaadi. Mayawati, who became the first Dalit Chief Minister by doing politics of Dalits and Backward, once again contested the elections with full force in 1996. This time instead of Samajwadi Party, alliance with Congress. But got only 67 seats. Instead of wasting time sitting in the opposition, Mayawati once again made a deal with the BJP. On 21 March 1997, Mayawati took oath as the Chief Minister of UP for the second time. The manner in which she used to take decisions regarding administrative reshuffle is an example in itself.
The biggest achievement of Mayawati’s chief minister’s time is that during her reign, collective suspension was common for any negligence in the administration. However, Mayawati’s second term also did not last long. That was the condition of BJP that after 6 months they would become CM. But after completing 6 months, Mayawati withdrew support from BJP. Later BJP somehow ran the government with the help of other parties. However, Mayawati had introduced the image of a strict administrator during her 6-month rule. When BJP’s time came, Mayawati withdrew support after about a month and a half due to some political conflict. She parted ways with the BJP in September 1997. Now both Mayawati and BJP took a political oath that they will not even look at each other. While BJP remained in the government through manipulation, Mayawati set out in search of a new social engineering.
Became the successor of Kanshi Ram
The most important political event of Mayawati’s life happened in 2001. Kanshi Ram, who had been ill for a long time, declared Mayawati as his successor. After this, Mayawati’s first election test took place as the biggest face of BSP. In the 2002 assembly elections, Mayawati won 98 seats. Once again the BJP and BSP, forgetting their grievances, formed an alliance to form the government. Mayawati got the crown of the Chief Minister of UP for the third time. Then the slogan was given by BJP, Ganesh is not elephant, Brahma Vishnu is Mahesh. Because, just before the election, Mayawati had given a slogan against the BJP’s forward voters, tilak scales and sword, kill them, shoes chaar. However, both Mayawati and BJP had to come together to form the government. However, this was the period when Mayawati, after assuming the chair of CM, gave fuel to the politics of monuments and stones in the name of some big schemes and places.
The political beginning of 2003 was quite a stir. Mayawati slapped a case against independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). It is said that Raja Bhaiya and Dhananjay Singh were among the 20 MLAs who met Governor Vishnukant Shastri and demanded the dismissal of the Mayawati government. That’s why he was jailed in November itself. The then state president of BJP Vinay Katiyar also demanded removal of pota from Raja Bhaiya, but Mayawati turned down this demand. Things got worse. A few days after this tussle, the tussle between the Mayawati government of UP and the Center increased further over the construction of the Taj Heritage Corridor.
Union Tourism Minister Jagmohan recommended an inquiry into the financial irregularities in the construction of the Taj Corridor without following the rules. Mayawati demanded the removal of Jagmohan from the Union Cabinet. BSP MPs also created a ruckus in the Lok Sabha demanding Jagmohan’s resignation. Now the relationship between BJP and Mayawati deteriorated so much that on 26 August 2003, Mayawati called a cabinet meeting and submitted her resignation to the governor, recommending the dissolution of the assembly. Mayawati was not the chief minister, but the assembly was not dissolved. BJP has played a big game. 13 BSP MLAs rebelled. The then Speaker of the Assembly Keshari Nath Tripathi rejected the appeal of the BSP. The membership of the rebel BSP MLAs was not canceled under defection, due to which Mulayam Singh handed over the list of 210 MLAs to Governor Vishnukant Shastri as soon as they got the support of those 13 rebel MLAs.
On 29 August 2003, Mulayam Singh took oath as the Chief Minister. The BJP which did not allow Mulayam Singh to become the Chief Minister in February 2002, helped him to form the government. Chaudhary Ajit Singh, who has been doing politics against Mulayam Singh for 14 years, supported him. Kalyan Singh, who used to call Mulayam as Ravana, who killed Ramsevaks, helped Mulayam to garner majority and Sonia Gandhi was stopped by Mulayam Singh from becoming the Prime Minister in 1999, but his party forced Mulayam Singh to form the government. gave support to. This has been the most dramatic development in UP politics so far.
In 2006, Mayawati suffered the biggest setback of her political career. BSP’s founder Kanshi Ram succumbed to brain stroke after a long period of treatment. Now in BSP, Mayawati had to work like a one man army. Mayawati used to decide everything from every policy to strategy and from suggestion to decision. After this, that period came in the politics of UP, when Mayawati carried out such social engineering on her own, which is an example in itself. Till now, Mayawati, who had attacked the frontiers for Dalit interests, was strengthening her vote bank, but in the 2007 assembly elections, she played a new card.
Government formed with absolute majority
To bring Dalit and Brahmin voters together, Mayawati distributed a lot of tickets to the upper castes. When the result came, the political pundits were surprised. By winning 206 seats, Mayawati formed a government of absolute majority. After coming to the government of absolute majority for the first time, Mayawati started the mission, which established her as a universal leader of Dalits. From Lucknow to Noida and from Dalit Prerna Sthal to large parks and monuments in the name of Kanshi Ram, a long procession went on. During that period, Mayawati was also accused of scams through such projects, but she left an indelible mark of Dalit politics from Ambedkar Park in the capital of UP to Noida near the outskirts of Delhi.
Not only this, he claimed about social justice that even in the private sector in UP, he implemented 30 percent reservation for Dalits. In politics, the story of Mayawati paying income tax was also very popular. She was at number 20 among the highest income tax payers in 2007-08. He had filled 26 crores only as income tax. However, his declared income of one crore in 2001 had increased to 50 crore in 2007. Then Mayawati had said that the party workers had given her as a donation.
The CBI also investigated him in the disproportionate assets case and in anger he withdrew support to the UPA government. Mayawati alleged that ‘Congress has tried its best to create political pressure on me by misusing a high investigative agency like CBI to save its government’. From trying to bring a Metro in Noida to the Taj Expressway, all Mayawati’s actions are recorded in the opening stones in the form of political history. Along with the achievements in Mayawati’s political life, some controversies were also associated. These included the alleged demand for expensive birthday gifts. Although she could not provide any proof of this, but whenever the question was asked, Mayawati herself said that there is a party of Dalits and poor, people who happily donate, they accept it.
Nevertheless, it was always in the headlines that after becoming a political figure, Mayawati’s birthday always turned into a big political event. However, Mayawati always claimed that she used public money for public interest. In 2012 India’s first Formula One racing track opened at Buddha International Circuit Noida. Mayawati distributed trophies to the winners with her own hands. Along with opening Mahamaya Girls and Boys Inter College in Gautam Buddha Nagar, he gave a gift like Gautam Buddha University. Whatever the political opponents may say, Gautam Budh Nagar took a new shape under Mayawati’s rule. Big parks, government schools, hospitals and main squares saw the brilliance of development for the first time during Mayawati’s rule.
People remember Mayawati’s rule the most for one thing. Crime was curbed in UP. There were no communal riots. Mayawati is known as an experimentalist leader in the politics of UP. After forging an alliance with the BJP thrice, they parted ways. So at the same time, after an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and then after suffering the biggest injury, in 2019, again aligned for the Lok Sabha by-election. After winning the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seat by-elections with the support of BSP, the discussion of the pair of bua and babua started. But, the 2019 Lok Sabha election results once again forced Mayawati to seek a different path from the Samajwadi Party. Because, the politics and political legacy of both the parties does not allow for a durable alliance.
Resigned from Rajya Sabha
One special thing related to Mayawati is that she is punctual. To save time, he had cut his long hair. Mayawati had long hair in the initial phase of her political career. But, after a few years the hairstyle changed. In an interview, he had told that he had to tie it again and again when he had long hair. Every day, due to political tours, I had to go to many places, so I had to tie my hair again and again. Time is very bad in this. So to save time, he got his hair cut. Mayawati’s political attitude always remained in the headlines.
When she went to the Rajya Sabha in 2012, when she was not allowed to speak in the House on the violence against Dalits in Saharanpur, she resigned from the membership of the Rajya Sabha. BSP considers its right over about 21 percent Dalit vote bank in UP. However, it is also true that despite being 21 percent, the power towards which Dalit voters turn unilaterally is considered fixed. It is equally true that Mayawati or BSP have this Dalit vote bank in their traditional heritage, in which they have to save their political existence by multiplying and show political supremacy. From UP to Parliament, Mayawati is known as a leader who often takes shocking decisions. In every electoral equation and political maths, everyone’s eyes are on Mayawati’s Dalit vote bank. Mayawati made this vote bank of BSP so strong that it is not less than impossible for anyone to make a big dent in it.
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