ABOUT : Kumari Mayawati is an Indian politician heading the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). She has served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh four times. She has been an important member of Bahujan Samaj Party since its inception in 1984 and is now serves as the president of the party. The Bahujan Samaj Party was formed with focus on improvement, development and welfare of the Bahujans or Dalits, along with other religious minorities and backward classes.Mayawati resigned as the party’s leader on 7 March 2012 after facing defeat in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. She was eventually elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Parliament.
Family : Her mother’s name is Ram Rati and father Prabhu Das was a postal employee at Badalpur in Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Study : In 1975, she completed her B.A. degree from Kalindi Women’s College which comes under the Delhi University. In 1976, she earned a B.Ed. from VMLG College, Ghaziabad. Thereafter, she did her LL.B. from Delhi University in 1983.
Career : After completing her B.Ed. course, Mayawati started teaching students in her neighbourhood and was also preparing for the IAS exams at that time. Sometime in 1977, the well-known Dalit politician Kanshi Ram happened to pay a visit to her family in their house. He was impressed by Mayawati’s speaking prowess and ideas and motivated her to join politics. In 1984, Kanshi Ram founded the Bahujan Samaj Party and included her as its member. This marked her first formal step in Indian politics. She was elected for the first time as a Member of Parliament in 1989. In 2006, Mayawati performed the last rites of Kanshi Ram, which was considered as the party’s expression and views against gender bias as the departed person’s last rites are traditionally performed by male heirs of the family in Hindu Indian households. In 1984, the Bahujan Samaj Party was formed by Dalit politician Kanshi Ram and Mayawati was inducted as a member of the party. Mayawati contested in the 9th Lok Sabha General Elections in 1989 successfully.
