‘Bahujan hitai, bahujan sukhai’ is BSP’s new motto
Lucknow, April 11: Indicating a shift in the party’s stand ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BSP has changed its motto of “sarvjan hitai, sarvjan sukhai” to “bahujan hitai, bahujan sukhai”, with a clear indication of returning to its roots.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which had come to power in Uttar Pradesh through Mayawati’s “social engineering” formula, bringing the upper castes along with Dalits in the 2007 Assembly polls, appears to be shifting to its core voter with the new motto.
The slogan was formed to represent “bahujans” (literally meaning ‘community in majority’), referring to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward classes (OBCs), along with religious minorities.
The “bahujan hitai, bahujan sukhai” motto was used in the press note issued by the BSP informing about the party chief Mayawati’s election meetings in Nagpur on Thursday. Till the last polls, the BSP’s posters had “sarvjan hitai, sarvajan sukhai” motto.
The press note issued by the BSP office has a separate paragraph stating, “In view of the broader interest and welfare of ‘bahujan hitai, bahujan sukhai’, the BSP is contesting the general election alone with full preparation and with the strength of its own people’s ‘tan, man and dhan’ without the support or alliance of any party.”
According to the party insiders, after the high of 2007 when the BSP had gained an absolute majority by winning 206 seats in the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly, its electoral graph has been on the slide continuously.
In the 2012 Assembly polls, the BSP lost to the SP but it remained the main Opposition party with 80 seats and 25 per cent vote share.