Today is the birthday of Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati. Mayawati’s rise in politics was termed as a ‘miracle of democracy’ by former Prime Minister of India PV Narasimha Rao. Born on January 15, 1956 in New Delhi, Mayawati’s father Prabhu Ram was a post office employee. Mayawati, who was born in a simple family, prepared a political ground for herself through hard struggle and then reached its top.
As a child, Mayawati’s brothers were sent to private schools for education while she was sent to a government school. But Mayawati achieved higher education with her hard work. He passed BA in 1975 from Kalindi College, University of Delhi. After this, he obtained a law degree from the University of Delhi to gain knowledge of the Indian constitution and law.
Mayawati worked as a teacher in Delhi while preparing for civil services. During this, Mayawati came in contact with Dalit leader Kanshi Ram, who wanted to make Mayawati a part of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Mayawati was deeply influenced by the ideals of the party, so she contested elections from the BSP and became a member of parliament for the first time in 1989. Mayawati’s entire focus was to improve the condition of the scheduled castes and tribes in India.
Mayawati became the biggest name in BSP after Kanshi Ram. Mayawati became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time in June 1995. However, his tenure as Chief Minister ended after only four months. The BSP won an absolute majority in 2007 and for the first time became the Chief Minister of UP for a full five-year term. Although Mayawati’s activism has reduced in the last few years, due to which the BSP has to bear the brunt, but her supporters are confident that ‘Behanji’ will return with full vigor.