The Bahujan Samaj Party is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans, referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with religious minorities. According to Kanshi Ram, when he founded the party in 1984, the Bahujans comprised 85 percent of India's population, but were divided into 6,000 different castes. The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, and Gautama Buddha.
The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh was an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 4 July 1994. The party was a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and had its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The president of the party was Prakash Ambedkar. The complete name of the party is Bharatiya Republican Paksha - Bahujan Mahasangh. BBM was primarily based in Maharashtra. In 2019, BBM merged into the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, new political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar.
Kanshi Ram, also known as Bahujan Nayak or Manyavar, Sahab Kanshiram was an Indian politician and social reformer who worked for the upliftment and political mobilisation of the Bahujans, the backward or lower caste people including untouchable groups at the bottom of the caste system in India. Towards this end, Kanshi Ram founded Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS-4), the All India Backwards (SC/ST/OBC) and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1984. He ceded leadership of the BSP to his protégé Mayawati who has served four terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The Republican Party of India was a political party in India. It had its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The 'Training School for Entrance to Politics' was established by Ambedkar in 1956 which was to serve as an entry point to the Republican Party of India (RPI). The first batch of the school consisted of 15 students. Its first batch turned out to be last batch as the school was closed after Ambedkar's death in 1956.
Rakhi Sawant is an Indian dancer, model, actress and television talk show host, who has appeared in many Hindi and a few Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Telugu and Tamil films. She was a contestant on the first season of the Indian reality television series Bigg Boss 1 (2006) and a challenger and finalist in Bigg Boss 14 (2020). She was the prospective bride in Season 1 of the Swayamvar TV series. Sawant has established herself as a sex symbol in Bollywood.
Ramdas Bandu Athawale is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar since 1999. Currently, he is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India since 2016 and represents Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament since 2014. Previously, he was Lok Sabha MP from Pandharpur from 1999 to 2009 and from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999. He was also Cabinet minister of Maharashtra from 1990 to 1995 and a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996.
The Republican Party of India (Kamble) is a political party in India, a splinter group of the old Ambedkarite Republican Party of India. The leader of the party is B. C. Kamble. Its presence is limited to Maharashtra among Dalits.
The Republican Party of India (Khobragade) is a political party in India, a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and named for its leader, B. D. Khobragade. The National President is now Sunil Harishchand Ramteke.
The Peoples Republican Party, also known as Republican Party of India (Kawade), is a political party in India. PRP is a splinter group of the old B. R. Ambedkar's Republican Party of India. The leader of the party is Jogendra Kawade. Its presence is limited to Maharashtra among Dalits. His party had supported Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari in Maharashtra Legislative Council election. In 2022 it supported the Congress Party but discontinued this alliance in the first week of October 2022.
The Republican Left Democratic Front (RiDaLoS) was a coalition of political parties in the Indian state of Maharashtra formed before the 2009 Maharashtra state assembly elections, in Maharashtra. The alliance was forged between 14 political parties and many other NGOs and non political groups as well as students organisations in Maharashtra Republican Left Democratic Front Popularly known as RIDALOS as an alternative to the existing coalitions in the state.
The Dalit Panthers is a social organisation that seeks to combat caste discrimination. It was led by a group of Mahar writers and poets, including Raja Dhale, Namdeo Dhasal, and J. V. Pawar in some time between the second and the third semester of 1972. It was founded as a response to the growing discontent among the Dalit youth during the 25th Independence Day celebrations. Inspired by the Black Panther movement in the United States, poet-writers J V Pawar and Namdeo Dhasal founded the Dalit Panthers, urging a boycott of the Independence Day revelry, terming it a 'Black Independence Day'. The movement's heyday lasted from the 1970s through the 1980s, and it was later joined by many Dalit-Buddhist activists.
The Republican Party of India (United), or RPI(U) is a coalition of many factions of the Republican Party of India (RPI). It was formed in preparation for the 2009 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. The party was initially led by Rajendra Gavai, Jogendra Kawade, T.M. Kamble, and others but Gavai's faction later split from the united party. The group has since suffered internal strife similar to the disputes prior to the coalition's creation. Several parties still claim to be RPI.
Rajaram Piraji Dhale, commonly referred to as Raja Dhale, was an Indian writer, artist and activist for Dalit rights. In April 1972, he, along with Namdeo Dhasal and J. V. Pawar, founded the Dalit Panthers, an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of the Dalit community. Dhale was a veteran Ambedkarite and Buddhist.
Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the president of political party called Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi. He is a three-time Member of Parliament (MP). He was a member of the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha of India and twice represented the Lok Sabha constituency of Akola, Maharashtra. He has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament.
Although a parliamentary democracy, Indian politics has increasingly become dynastic, possibly due to the absence of a party organization, independent civil society associations that mobilize support for the party, and centralized financing of elections. Family members have also led the Congress party for most of the period since 1978 when Indira Gandhi floated the then Congress(I) faction of the party. It also is fairly common in many political parties in Maharashtra. The dynastic phenomenon is seen from national level down to district level and even village level.The three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj established in the 1960s also helped to create and consolidate the dynastic phenomenon in rural areas. Apart from government,political families also control cooperative institutions, mainly cooperative sugar factories,district cooperative banks in the state, and since the 1980s private for profit colleges. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party also features several senior leaders who are dynasts. In Maharashtra, the NCP has particularly high level of dynasticism.
Anandraj Yashwant Ambedkar is an Indian social activist, engineer and politician from Maharashtra. He is head of the Republican Sena. He is the grandson of B. R. Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution. His supporters occupied the Indu Mill land at Dadar in 2011 to highlight the long-pending demand for the Statue of Equality memorial of B. R. Ambedkar. Anandraj Ambedkar also works in the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, headed by his elder brother Prakash Ambedkar.
Imtiyaz Jaleel Syed, also known as Syed Imtiyaz Jaleel, is an Indian politician and member of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. In 2019 General Elections, Jaleel was elected as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency. He was elected as member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Aurangabad Central constituency in 2014. He is also the state president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in Maharashtra as well as a member of the Standing Committee of the Urban Development (UD).
The Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi is an Indian political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar on 20 March 2018. The party is primarily based in Maharashtra in India. Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi follows Phule-Ambedkarite ideology.
Legislative Assembly elections are expected to be held in Maharashtra by November 2024 to elect the 288 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
