The Bahujan Samaj Party will celebrate party chief Mayawati’s 67th birthday on Sunday in all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh as People Welfare Day.
The BSP has described the party president as an “icon of social transformation and economic emancipation movement”.
While the main function on Mayawati’s birthday will be organised at the party’s state unit office in Lucknow, the party workers will assemble in the district offices to cut the cake and wish her on her birthday, a BSP leader said.
“In the BSP government ask for rights, will give rights, ask for respect, will give respect,” tweeted BSP national coordinator Akash Anand, who is also the nephew of the party supremo Mayawati. The BSP chief’s message to party workers and supporters will be released on social media platforms on Sunday.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the BSP celebrated her birthday in a simple manner in 2021. In 2022, the birthday celebrations were curtailed due to enforcement of the model code of conduct for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The party has decided to celebrate her 67th birthday in all the districts to gear up the cadre for the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Mayawati served as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh four times in 1995, 1997, 2002-03 and 2007-12. Her first term in office was less than six months while the second term was only for six months and the third term lasted for 15 months. Her last terms were for a full five years. In 2007 UP assembly elections the BSP got a clear majority by winning 207 seats in the UP assembly of 403 members.
The Bahujan Samaj Party, in the fourth decade of its existence, is passing through a bad phase. In the 2022 UP assembly elections its tally in the state assembly reduced to only one member and its vote share plummeted to 13 per cent. Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP had entered into alliance with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal and it managed to win 10 Lok Sabha seats. The alliance collapsed soon after the Lok Sabha elections. The BSP, which took pride in being the king maker in electoral politics of Uttar Pradesh, is facing an existential crisis.
