Buddha Priya Maurya (1 May 1926 – 27 September 2004), better known as B.P. Maurya, was a popular Indian politician and a member of the

3rd Lok Sabha The 3rd Lok Sabha, (2 April 1962 – 3 March 1967) was elected in February–March 1962. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. The election was held for 494 seats out of which Indian national congres ...

and

5th Lok Sabha The 5th Lok Sabha (15 March 1971 — 18 January 1977) was elected during February–March 1971.The term of the House was extended two times by one year at a time. However, the House was dissolved after having been in existence for a period of ...

of western Uttar Pradesh. He was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

, lower house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

from

Hapur Hapur is a city in, as well as the headquarters of, Hapur district, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Located about east of New Delhi, the city is part of the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). National Highway 9 passes through the city, connecting ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

in the

1971 Indian general election General elections were held in India between 1 and 10 March 1971 to elect members of the 5th Lok Sabha, fifth Lok Sabha. They were the fifth general elections since independence in 1947. The 27 Indian states and union territories were represent ...

as a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, defeating senior leader

Prakash Vir Shastri Prakash Vir Shastri (30 December 1923 – 23 November 1977) was a Member of the Parliament of India (Sansad) and was also a leader in the Arya Samaj movement. Career Shastri was born to Dalipsingh Tyagi on 30 December 1923 in the Rehra ...

Bharatiya Kranti Dal Bharatiya Kranti Dal was a political party in India, founded by Chaudhary Charan Singh, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The party was founded at a meeting in Lucknow in October 1967. After the 1977 general election, the successor party of the ...

Early life

Maurya was born on 1 May 1926 in the town of Khair in Uttar Pradesh. His family was of Rajasthani background from the town of Bharatpur. Maurya was born into

Chamar Chamar (or Jatav) is a community classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's Reservation in India, system of affirmative action that originated from the group of trade persons who were involved in leather tanning and shoemaking. They a ...

caste, who were treated as subjected to socio-economic discrimination. Although, He attended school very late at age of 8 years. He used to graze animals in his childhood. His father took him to get admission in primary school at the age of 8, but the headmaster of the school refused to admit the child because of the child’s age. His father gave a silver coin to the headmaster as a bribe. Maurya got admission but was not allowed to sit inside the class with other general caste students with same mat. He had to carry a sitting mat with him. When he needed to drink water, someone from a higher caste had to pour that water from a height as they were not allowed to touch pitcher. His childhood days were spent in extreme poverty. When an animal died in the village, the children used to collect and store the fat of the animal. There was no mustard or kerosene oil to light the lamps in the houses. The lamps were used to burn in the house with the fat of the dead animals. He studies in the light of whose lamps. Maurya was a very brilliant mind and within a few years, he was in the ranks of meritorious students. He started getting merit scholarships from class 4 onwards. Maurya continued his studies with daliy wages and passed High School in 1946 from Vaishya High School (Khair).

References

1926 births 2004 deaths Republican Party of India politicians Lok Dal politicians India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1971–1977 Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Indian Buddhists 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists Scheduled Castes Federation politician Indian National Congress politicians from Madhya Pradesh {{MadhyaPradesh-INC-politician-stub