The Samajwadi Party (abbr. SP; translation: Socialist Party, founded 4 October 1992) is a socialist political party in India. It was founded by formerly Janata Dal politicians Mulayam Singh Yadav and Beni Prasad Verma and is headquartered in New Delhi. The Samajwadi Party is currently led by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav after he was chosen as the President at the party's national convention held in 2017.[15]
While the party is largely based in Uttar Pradesh,[16] it has minor presence in other states as well. The party has been the ruling power in the state of Uttar Pradesh for four terms – three times under Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the fourth and most recent being Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's full majority government in the 2012-2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The coalition of the party and its alliance partners SP+ has one of the largest vote bases in the state of Uttar Pradesh in terms of the collective voting pattern in the state-based electoral system, with more than 37% vote share in the 2022 elections.[17][18]
The Samajwadi Party was one of several parties that emerged when the Janata Dal (People's League) fragmented into several regional parties.[19] The party was founded by Mulayam Singh Yadav and Beni Prasad Verma in 1992.[20][21] Created just months before the Babri Masjid demolition, the party rose to power by playing religious and caste politics. The support of it's key voters, Yadavs and Muslims helped the party become a major political force in Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam Singh Yadav had ordered the state police to shoot and kill as many Karsevaks as possible to spread fear in the hearts of the Karsevaks and win the support of his Muslim voters[22]. The state government, despite India being a less developed nation back then and having limited resources, shot at karsevaks using helicopters[23]. According to a video journalist who was caught in the firing, the police were shooting unarmed Hindus at point blank range[24]. After this killing of Hindus to prove that the party was a wellwisher of the Muslim community, the party rose to power and became kingmaker in UP politics with Muslim vote consolidated behind it, hurting the political ambitions of the defacto Muslim party in UP till then, the Indian National Congress.
In West Bengal, the West Bengal Socialist Party of Kiranmoy Nanda merged with the SP in 2010. The Samajwadi Party is now led by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav after he was chosen as the President at the party's national convention held on 1 January 2017.
The party have contested Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections around the country, but by far the bulk of its victories have been in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2012 legislative assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh, SP registered a landslide victory with a clear majority in the house, thus enabling it to form a government in the state. This was expected to be the fifth term of Mulayam Singh Yadav as Chief Minister of state, but he selected his son, Akhilesh Yadav instead. This became official on 15 March. It was also the first time that SP was head of the UP government for a full term of five years.[25][26] However, the party suffered a landslide defeat in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Election, slumping to only 47 seats as the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to victory.
In 2014, there was a proposed merger of the Samajwadi Party with some other Janata Parivar parties uniting with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar.[27][28]
In a National Convention held on 1 January 2017, called by Ram Gopal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav was appointed as president of the party.[29]
The Samajwadi Party provided outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government up to the fourteenth general election. After the fourteenth general election, its support became unnecessary when the UPA became the largest alliance. It contested the 2009 general election in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party of Bihar.[30]
In April 2014, the Save Indian Family Foundation encouraged voters to support the Samajwadi Party or vote None of the above because they had said they opposed the alleged misuse of gender bias laws.[31]
In the last general election, the Samajwadi Party was defeated by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh though forming alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party.[32] It is currently the thirteenth largest party in parliament.[33] In the general elections of 2019, it won only 5 seats, while the Indian National Congress gained 52 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party obtained a clear mandate with 303 seats.
Recently, Samajwadi Party joined the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance formed as umbrella alliance of opposition parties in India.[34][35]
The SP has two MLAs each in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and one newly elected MLA in the 2022 Gujarat assembly election.
The Samajwadi Party has front line campaigning groups.[36] Ongoing debate on party policy comes from many of their leaders. Among them are:
| Lok Sabha Term | Lok Sabha | Seats contested | Seats won | % of votes | State (seats) | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th Lok Sabha | 1996 | 111 | 16 | 3.3% | Uttar Pradesh (16) | [37] |
| 12th Lok Sabha | 1998 | 166 | 19 | 4.9% | Uttar Pradesh (19) | [38] |
| 13th Lok Sabha | 1999 | 151 | 26 | 3.8% | Uttar Pradesh (26) | [39] |
| 14th Lok Sabha | 2004 | 237 | 36 | 4.3% | Uttar Pradesh (35) Uttarakhand (1) |
[40] |
| 15th Lok Sabha | 2009 | 193 | 23 | 3.4% | Uttar Pradesh (23) | [41] |
| 16th Lok Sabha | 2014 | 197 | 5 | 3.4% | Uttar Pradesh (5) | [42] |
| 17th Lok Sabha | 2019 | 49 | 5 | 2.6% | Uttar Pradesh (5) | [43] |
| Vidhan Sabha Term | UP elections | Seats contested | Seats won | % of votes | Party Votes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 12th Vidhan Sabha | 1993 | 256 | 109 | 17.94 | 8,963,697 | [44] |
| 13th Vidhan Sabha | 1996 | 281 | 110 | 21.80 | 12,085,226 | [45] |
| 14th Vidhan Sabha | 2002 | 390 | 143 | 25.37 | 13,612,509 | [46] |
| 15th Vidhan Sabha | 2007 | 393 | 97 | 25.43 | 13,267,674 | [47] |
| 16th Vidhan Sabha | 2012 | 401 | 224 | 29.15 | 22,107,241 | [48] |
| 17th Vidhan Sabha | 2017 | 311 | 47 | 21.82 | 18,923,689 | [49] |
| 18th Vidhan Sabha | 2022 | 347 | 111 | 32.06 | 29,543,934 | [50] |
| Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 11th Vidhan Sabha | 1998 | 228 | 4 | 1.58 | 4,19,626 | [51] |
| 12th Vidhan Sabha | 2003 | 161 | 7 | 3.71 | 9,46,891 | [52] |
| 13th Vidhan Sabha | 2008 | 187 | 1 | 1.90 | 5,01,324 | [53] |
| 14th Vidhan Sabha | 2013 | 161 | 0 | 1.2 | 4,04,853 | [54] |
| 15th Vidhan Sabha | 2018 | 52 | 1 | 1.3 | 4,96,025 | [55] |
| Maharashtra Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| 9th Vidhan Sabha | 1995 | 22 | 3 | 0.93 | 3,56,731 | [56] |
| 10th Vidhan Sabha | 1999 | 15 | 2 | 0.7 | 2,27,640 | [57] |
| 11th Vidhan Sabha | 2004 | 95 | 0 | 1.13 | 4,71,425 | [58] |
| 12th Vidhan Sabha | 2009 | 31 | 4 | 1.11 | 3,37,378 | [59] |
| 13th Vidhan Sabha | 2014 | 22 | 1 | 0.17 | 92,304 | [60] |
| 14th Vidhan Sabha | 2019 | 7 | 2 | 0.22 | 1,23,267 | [61] |
| No. | Name Constituency |
Term of office[62][63] | Tenure length | Party[a] | Assembly[64] (Election) |
Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mulayam Singh Yadav Jaswantnagar |
4 December 1993 | 3 June 1995 | 1 year, 181 days | Samajwadi Party | Twelfth Assembly (1993–95) (1993 election) |
[65] |
| (1) | Mulayam Singh Yadav Gunnaur |
29 August 2003 | 13 May 2007 | 3 years, 257 days | Samajwadi Party | Fourteenth Assembly (2002–07) (2002 election) |
[65] |
| 2 | Akhilesh Yadav MLC |
15 March 2012 | 19 March 2017 | 5 years, 4 days | Samajwadi Party | Sixteenth Assembly (2012–17) (2012 election) |
[66] |
| No. | Name | Term of office | Portfolio | Prime Minister | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mulayam Singh Yadav | 1 June 1996 | 19 March 1998 | Minister of Defence | H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral | |
| 2 | Janeshwar Mishra | 10 July 1996 | May 1997 | Minister of Water Resources | H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral | |
| 3 | Beni Prasad Verma | 1 June 1996 | 19 March 1998 | Minister of Communications and Information Technology | H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral | |
| 4 | Saleem Iqbal Shervani[67] | May 1997 | 19 March 1998 | Minister of External Affairs(M.O.S.) | I.K. Gujral | |
The Samajwadi Party has a history of being involved in several socio-political controversies, as well as links to the underworld. The party leadership has also faced flak for making insensitive comments on several matters.
The crime of rape became a capital offence in India following the 2012 Delhi gang rape incident; Mulayam Singh Yadav had opposed changing this law. Following the trial in the Shakti Mills gang rape, on 10 April 2014, in an election rally, Yadav said, "When boys and girls have differences, the girl gives a statement that 'the boy raped me,' and that poor boy gets a death sentence."[80] Referring to the Mumbai gang rape he stated, "... later they had differences, and the girl went and gave a statement that I have been raped. And then the poor fellows, three of them have been sentenced to death. Should rape cases lead to hanging? Boys are boys, they make mistakes. Two or three have been given the death sentence in Mumbai."[81] Following this, complaints were filed against Yadav with the Election Commission and the National Commission for Women (NCW).[81] His comments were denounced by the Indian media,[80] women's groups, women's rights activists,[82][83] On 19 August 2015, Yadav remarked that gang-rapes are impractical and rape-victims in those cases tend to lie.[84] He was summoned by the Judicial Magistrate of Mahoba district court in Uttar Pradesh for that remark.[85]
In the aftermath of the trial in the Shakti Mills gang rape case, SP Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi told Mid-Day, "Any woman if, whether married or unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent, should be hanged. Rape is punishable by hanging in Islam. But here, nothing happens to women, only to men. Even the woman is guilty. Girls complain when someone touches them, and even when someone doesn't touch them. It becomes a problem then ... If rape happens with or without consent, it should be punished as prescribed in Islam." He also said, "See, I don't know what context he said it in. But, at times, the wrong people are awarded the death penalty. Boys do it in josh (Hindi: excitement), but what can I say in this? The death sentence should be given. I won't speak against Islam."[86] Azmi's comments were widely criticized in India.[87]
Following the 2014 Badaun Gangrape, Akhilesh Yadav, who was then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, drew widespread criticism when he replied to a journalist's question about a sharp rise in rape cases when he replied saying: "It's not as if you faced any danger."[88]
Right after the killing of gangster and Samajwadi Party leader Atiq Ahmed, Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for allowing the murder to happen. Ahmed was accused in several cases, and was convicted in the kidnapping-cum-murder of Umesh Pal, a witness in a case.[89]
In January 2019, a case of forgery was lodged against Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma and son with respect to the birth certificate of his son Abdullah at a local police station in Uttar Pradesh.[90] However in March 2019, the Allahabad High Court stayed their arrest until the probe was completed by the police.[91] Khan was supported by party leader Akhilesh Yadav who claimed the cases were politically motivated,[92] however in January 2020, the court declared the three, Abdullah and his parents, to be absconders for failing to appear in the court during case hearings.[93][94] Following this, the Enforcement Directorate will be attaching the properties of Khan from the first week of February onward.[95] On 26 February 2020, Khan was sentenced to imprisonment along with his wife and son for forging a fake birth certificate for his son.[96] The Supreme Court granted interim bail on 19 May 2022 in an alleged cheating case. The interim bail will continue till his regular bail plea is decided, clearing the way for his release.[97] On 27 October 2022, an MP-MLA magistrate court Sentenced three-year jail term to Khan finding him guilty of hate speech in a 2019 case.[98]
In 2006, Amitabh Thakur, the then SP of Firozabad district, refused to obey some of the wrongful dictates of then MLA Ramvir Singh Yadav. Ramveer Singh was a close relative of then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. This finally led to an incidence of alleged assault and manhandling with Amitabh Thakur. Mulayam Singh Yadav clearly told Amitabh not to register any case in this matter. Even then he got a First Information Report (FIR) registered in this matter at Eka police station. This led to Amitabh suffering at the hands of Mulayam Singh Government.[99][100]
Thakur also clashed with Akhilesh Yadav from 2014-2017, who was the Chief Minister at that time. In December 2014, Thakur's wife Dr Nutan Thakur filed a complaint against the state's mining minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, before the Lok Ayukta (anti-corruption ombudsman).[101] She alleged that the minister was involved in illegal mining activities.[102] Thakur approached the Central Government, seeking protection for his family.[103]
On 10 July 2015, Thakur got a phone call from Mulayam Singh Yadav. He alleged that Yadav had threatened him over the phone call. He released the audio of the phone call, in which Yadav is allegedly heard saying certain sentences of threatening nature:[103][104] Thakur alleged that Mulayam Singh was unhappy about the complaint lodged by his wife Nutan against the state minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati.[104]
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