Former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Thursday launched his new political party, the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party (RSSP) in New Delhi. “To make sure that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is defeated, I am ready to make all the required sacrifices. The BJP dared to end reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) as well as Backward Classes. Ever since the formation of the double engine government, we are finding that in advertisements for government jobs, either the quota for backward castes is reduced to zero, or reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is cut to zero,” said Mr. Maurya.
The RSSP launch came days after Mr. Maurya resigned from his Member of Legislative Council (MLC) seat and the primary membership of the SP. Earlier on February 13, Mr. Maurya resigned as the party’s national general secretary, alleging attempts by certain leaders of the SP to “weaken” his initiative to unite backwards, Dalits and Minorities. In a separate letter addressed to the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, Mr. Maurya wrote, “I was elected as a Samajwadi Party member in the legislative council. As I have resigned from the primary membership of the party, I am also resigning as MLC on the basis of morality,”.
Mr. Maurya, joined the SP before the 2022 Assembly polls after resigning as cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. He alleged injustice to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the saffron camp. He created a controversy in January 2023 when he said that the Ramcharitramanas written by Tulsidas featured objectionable language against backwards, Dalits and Adivasis. This caused an uproar with a Hindu right-wing organisation filing a police complaint. Mr. Maurya was a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member for decades between 1996-2016 holding key ministries under the Chief Ministership of Mayawati and was leader of the opposition from 2012-2016.
