The 1980s also saw the rise of political organisation of the Dalits. In 1978 the BAMCEF was formed. This organisation was not an ordinary trade union of government employees. It took a strong position in favour of political power to the bahujan. It was out of this that the subsequent Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti and later the Bahujan Samaj Party. The BSP began as a small party supported largely by Dalit voters. But in 1989 and the 1991 elections, it achieved a breakthrough in Uttar Pradesh. This was the first time in independent India that a political party supported mainly by Dalit voters had achieved this kind of political success. It derived confidence from the fact that the Bahujans constituted the majority of the population, and were a formidable political force on the strength of their numbers. In many parts of India, Dalit politics and OBC politics have developed independently and often in competition with each other.

According to the 1990's Indian politics, which of the groups was called Bahujan by the Bahujan Samaj Party?

SC, ST, OBC and Religious Minorities

In fact, the BSP, under Kanshi Ram’s leadership was envisaged as an organisation based on pragmatic politics. It derived confidence from the fact that the Bahujans (SC, ST, OBC and religious minorities) constituted the majority of the population, and were a formidable political force on he strength of their numbers