Shoshit Dal

Shoshit Dal
Shoshit Dal
President	B. P. Mandal
Founder	Jagdeo Prasad; B. P. Mandal
Founded	1967
Dissolved	1972
Split from	Samyukta Socialist Party
Merged into	Shoshit Samaj Dal
Ideology	Socialism
Political position	Centre to Centre-left
	Politics of India; Political parties; Elections;

The Shoshit Dal (lit. 'Party of the Exploited') was a regional political party in Bihar, India, founded by Jagdeo Prasad and B. P. Mandal in March 1967. The party emerged after Mandal split from the Samyukta Socialist Party over disagreements with Ram Manohar Lohia's leadership. In early 1968, the Shoshit Dal, with the support of the Congress party, formed the first ever OBC-led government in Northern India with B. P. Mandal as the Chief Minister of Bihar.

Rise and fall of Shoshit Dal

Within a year of the party's formation, Shoshit Dal founder B. P. Mandal successfully drew 40 lower-caste MLA dissidents from the Samyukta Socialist Party and other parties and engineered a coalition to topple the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) government. With the external support of the Indian National Congress, the party prepared to form a new ministry. However, because Mandal was a sitting Member of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha rather than a member of the state legislature, Shoshit Dal MLA Satish Prasad Singh was chosen as a stopgap leader and sworn in as Chief Minister on 28 January 1968. Singh served for a brief tenure of four days. Once Mandal was successfully sworn in as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), he took the oath as the seventh Chief Minister on 1 February 1968, and became the first OBC chief minister of Bihar. Despite making history by forming a cabinet dominated by Other Backward Classes (OBC) ministers, the Shoshit Dal led government lasted for about one month. The government fell when a group of 17 Congress defectors led by Binodanand Jha withdrew their support and favoured the no-confidence motion moved by Karpoori Thakur, a leader of Samyukta Socialist Party.

The Shoshit Dal won six seats in the next 1969 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. In 1972, the party officially merged with Ramswaroop Verma's Samaj Dal to form the Shoshit Samaj Dal, spearheaded by Jagdeo Prasad.

List of chief ministers

No.	Name	Constituency	Term of office		Tenure length	Assembly	Notes
1	Satish Prasad Singh	Parbatta	28 January 1968	1 February 1968	4 days	4th Assembly (1967 election)
2	B. P. Mandal	MLC	1 February 1968	2 March 1968	30 days	4th Assembly (1967 election)

References

1 2 Ranjan, Pramod (2023). Jal, Murzban (ed.). Rethinking Caste and Resistance in India. Taylor & Francis. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-000-90592-2.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kumar, Arvind (2021). "Mandal, Mandal Commission and making of an OBC identity". In Somanaboina, Simhadri; Ramagoud, Akhileshwari (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India: Thought, Movements and Development. Taylor & Francis. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-000-46280-7.
1 2 3 Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. Primus Books. p. 463–464. ISBN 978-93-80607-04-7.
↑ Robin, Cyril (2012). "Bihar: The New Stronghold of OBC Politics". In Jaffrelot, Christophe; Kumar, Sanjay (eds.). Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-136-51661-0.
1 2 Mohan, R. (2025). India's Federal Setup: A Journey Through Seven Decades. Taylor & Francis. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-04-034657-0.
↑ Singh, Santosh (2015). Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-93-85436-42-0.
↑ Ankit, Rakesh (2018). "Caste Politics in Bihar: In Historical Continuum". History and Sociology of South Asia. 12 (2): 9. doi:10.1177/2230807518767968. ISSN 2230-8075. [..] B.P. Mandal–'the first person from the Backward Classes to become chief minister (CM)'–
↑ "From the Archives (June 21, 1969): Bihar's Ministry falls". The Hindu. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
↑ Kumar, Madan (2 November 2020). "Bihar's shortest-serving CM Satish Prasad Singh dies of Covid-19 in Delhi". The Times of India. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
↑ "Bihar Politics 2025: Bihar's Longest and Shortest Serving CMs Nitish Kumar's 18-Year Dominance". Deccan Herald. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2026.

[Ranjan-1] 1 2 Ranjan, Pramod (2023). Jal, Murzban (ed.). Rethinking Caste and Resistance in India. Taylor & Francis. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-000-90592-2.

[Kumar-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kumar, Arvind (2021). "Mandal, Mandal Commission and making of an OBC identity". In Somanaboina, Simhadri; Ramagoud, Akhileshwari (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India: Thought, Movements and Development. Taylor & Francis. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-000-46280-7.

[Jaffrelot-3] 1 2 3 Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. Primus Books. p. 463–464. ISBN 978-93-80607-04-7.

[4] Robin, Cyril (2012). "Bihar: The New Stronghold of OBC Politics". In Jaffrelot, Christophe; Kumar, Sanjay (eds.). Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-136-51661-0.

[Mohan-5] 1 2 Mohan, R. (2025). India's Federal Setup: A Journey Through Seven Decades. Taylor & Francis. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-04-034657-0.

[6] Singh, Santosh (2015). Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-93-85436-42-0.

[7] Ankit, Rakesh (2018). "Caste Politics in Bihar: In Historical Continuum". History and Sociology of South Asia. 12 (2): 9. doi:10.1177/2230807518767968. ISSN 2230-8075. [..] B.P. Mandal–'the first person from the Backward Classes to become chief minister (CM)'–

[8] "From the Archives (June 21, 1969): Bihar's Ministry falls". The Hindu. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2026.

[9] Kumar, Madan (2 November 2020). "Bihar's shortest-serving CM Satish Prasad Singh dies of Covid-19 in Delhi". The Times of India. Retrieved 31 May 2026.

[10] "Bihar Politics 2025: Bihar's Longest and Shortest Serving CMs Nitish Kumar's 18-Year Dominance". Deccan Herald. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2026.