Mr Kanshi Ram: a Socio-Political Icon and Architect of Bahujan Samaj

Manaywar Kanshi Ram: a Socio-Political Icon and Architect of Bahujan Samaj




Suwa Lal Jang u,Res Scholar, Pol.Sci., BHU ,  VARANASI



Manaywar Kanshi Ram, the bachelor politician, socio-political icon and architect of bahujan samaj was left the millions backward people on 9 October 2006 just before 7 months when his long dream “one day BSP will win absolute majority in UP election”, was actualized on 9 May 2007.

Kanshi Ram spent several decades preparing the backward and other oppressed people of UP in socio-cultural movement which finally led him to capture political power. He studied Dr Ambedkar’s writings, travelled to Maharashtra (during 1970s), met other Dalit leaders and collected data on Dalit communities in other parts of the country. Then, like Gautam Buddha, he renounced all connections with his family and took sanyaas to devote his life to serving Dalits by making them aware of their rights and power potential. He travelled all over the country (during1980s), meeting Dalits and organising them. Thousand upon thousands of Dalit masses traversed several miles on foot and rickety bicycles to listen to their hero Kanshi Ram. He became a household name among the poor and downtrodden people. He was also hot-blooded and prone to raise his hands to battle with those who disagreed with him.

Kanshi Ram had sacrificed his family for the much larger, extended Indian Dalit family. Unmindful of his own comforts and health, he set records in cycling day and night and criss-crossing all over UP. Kanshi Ram, who single-handedly gave millions of India's underprivileged Dalits a voice and a political identity, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said Kanshi Ram played an important role in post-independence India for the rights of the underprivileged and spoke up for them and for their self-respect and honour.

Kanshi Ram joined the offices of ordinance factory of Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), in Kirkee, through a reserved quota for Scheduled Caste. Kanshi Ram was born in cobbler caste, which is included in the SC list. During his tenure in the Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO) in 1965 he joined the agitation started by Mr. Dina Bhana, from Rajasthan, under banner of Scheduled Caste Employees of Government of India after the factory management cancelled the holidays of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and Buddha Jayanti and instead granted Tilak Jayanti holiday and an additional holiday during Diwali festival. Dina Bhana's protest resulted in his suspension. By this atrocious act, agitated Kanshi Ram fought the legal battle for Dina Bhana. As a result, not only was Dina Bhana reinstated but the holidays were also restored.

Beside Dr. Ambedkar's writings, Mr. Kanshi Ram found the path of further movement in Dr. Ambedkar's plan for political action. He quit the job in 1965 and decided that he will never marry and devote his life for social transformation. He decided that he will develop a society which will work to spread the thoughts of Dr Ambedkar and other social reformers and will never sell themselves for a small gain. "I will never get married, I will never acquire any property, I will never visit my home, I will devote and dedicate the rest of my life to achieve the goals of Phule -Ambedkar movement", till the last breath he lived with his words.

Kanshi Ram independently started organizing the employees of Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes mainly from Pune, Bombay, Nasik, Nagpur and Delhi. He traveled all over the India along with his few activists to know why Caravan of Dr Ambedkar was brought back rather than taking ahead. The first concept given by Kanshi Ram was "people who should succeed politically must have strong non-political roots". After the necessary ground work and positive response from some employees in Poona, Nagpur, Delhi and other places he decided to launch an organization for pay-back to society.

In an attempt to promote the interests of government employees belonging to weaker sections Kanshi Ram conceived the idea of the Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation BAMCEF by on 6 the December, 1973. After ceaseless field work throughout the country for near about five years the birth of BAMCEF took place on the lawn of Boat Club in New Delhi, on 6 the December 1978. During this time, he conducted several cadre camps, meetings, seminars in different parts of the country to awaken the employees. 'Power will be the product of struggle'. He realized that Employees cannot do struggle hence he transferred it into a political outfit in DS-4 Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti in December 1982. It was finally transformed into the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1984 with the aim of organizing to Backwards, Muslims and Dalits classes into a political force.

The political and social ideas of Kanshi Ram were took from Shoshit Samaj Dal that was set up by all afford of backward and Dalit along with minorities retired government employees as BAMCEF were mostly administrative officers of that time. The social and political ideals of Shoshit Samaj Dal took from South Indian Dalit leader Pariyar.

Once he was said, "not that backward people were not struggling, they were struggling, but not for themselves. They were not struggling for their own cause. They were and are struggling for somebody else as stooges. Because we are passing through the Chamcha Age, the era of stooges, and as stooges we are struggling."

Kanshi Ram did not project himself a leader but worked silently as organizer and hence he did not mind to invite Ram Vilas Paswan, Karpoori Thakur to address 3rd National Convention of BAMCEF which was held at Chandigarh on 14th -18th October 1983. Following the advice of Dr. Ambedkar i.e. 'political power is the key to all social progress,' he felt absolutely essential for the members of all oppressed and exploited communities to prepare themselves for agitation and political action. He said," I have learnt two things one how to teach the movement that I leant from Dr Ambedkar and second how not to run the movement from his followers in Maharashtra”.

Manyawar Kanshi Ram refined the rules of Indian politics. He developed a concept that the unstable government at center is beneficial for Bahujan Samaj as you can derive maximum advantages to deprived sections. Therefore he used say frequently," I want Mazboor (weak) government at centre and not Majboot (strong) till we reach to the Centre". Nationalism to me is the masses of India. I believe in the two nation theory: those who oppress and those who are oppressed. The upper castes can join the party, but they cannot be its leaders. Leadership will remain in the hands of the backward community.

“My fear is that these upper caste people will come into our party and block the process of change. When this fear goes, they can join our part”, Kanshi Ram said. We will finish rulers because if Indira Gandhi can be finished by a cobbler, are these fellows going to be saved? When we are 90 percent in the Armed Forces, 70 per cent in the BSF, 50 per cent in the CRPF and the Police, who can do injustice to us? A general needs fewer bullets compared to Jawans. They may have Generals but no Jawans. Kanshi Ram usually tells his followers Ek Eet Ka Jawab, Do Pathron Se (you must retaliate for one brick with two stones), otherwise you are not my followers.

“As long as I am alive, the bargained politics will not happen to the BSP. We want change. We don’t want alliances with the forces of status quo. If a government cannot be formed without our co-operation, then we will have our own conditions, for change. We want fundamental and structural changes, not cosmetic ones”, said Kanshi Ram. BSP’s funds come from various sources which will not dry up. These funds come from those people who produce wealth. The Bahujan Samaj produces wealth. The party gets its money from them.

In many times, he told people that Lakhs of you peopl spend crores going to festivals like the Kumbh Mela to improve your next birth. “I tell you that Kanshi Ram does not know anything about the next life. But he is an expert in the present life. Those interested in improving their next life, I tell you, must go to the Brahmins on the banks of the Ganga. Those interested in improving their present life must come to him. So they throng to his meetings”, Kanshi Ram said. When he went to England in 1985, some people told him that there (in London) are seven lakh Chamars they offered him funds. He decided not to take the money, though Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Buta Singh had taken money from the same source - the Guru Ravidass Gurdwara in Birmingham. They had given to Babu Ji also. But Kanshi Ram was the only person who didn’t accept.

The party first time came into political limelight when Kanshi Ram fought the Allahabad Lok Sabha by-poll in 1987; he stood against V.P. Singh, who eventually won the election. Mr. Kanshi Ram was elected twice to the Lok Sabha and remained Rajya Sabha member too. Dalit Leader Mr. Kanshi Ram, the founder of the BSP which became a political force in North India within 10 years of its inception in 1984.

People became surprised listen to this news that first Dalit Lady became CM in India and people’s words were like something, “Oh! How this became possible”? Other political parties, whether Lok Jan Shakti party, the Republican Party of India in Maharashtra or the DPI in T.N., have been crucially dependent on political alliances for survival, Moreover, Bahujan Samaj Party is not like position that it has to alliance with other political party or parties for win the election. But most need to BSP the vote bank of multiple societies’ particularly backward societies for its remains in power for long time in state and for it future at union. Its present caste alliances as social engineering of election is propagated by forward classes especially Brahmans if it is actually existed but only for short time as opportunist Mayawati and Brahmins Leader’s interest remained for power.

Kanshi Ram had heard of Mayawati’s confrontation with Raj Narain who had defeated Indira Gandhi in the election following the lifting of the Emergency. One night, unannounced, he turned up at Mayawati’s home. She was preparing for the IAS examination hoping to become the collector of a district. The family was overwhelmed by the honour. He spent over an hour with her family. He said, “Your courage, dedication to the Dalit cause and many other sterling qualities have come to my notice. I can make you such a big leader one day that not one collector but a whole row of collectors will line up with their files in front of you waiting for orders. You can then truly serve the constituency and get things done.”

Those close to him always remember how he worked hard to build up BAMSEF and DS-4. He would cycle down to streets and town, sleep on the floor and talk with the activists. Kanshi Ram understood very well how Dalit and Backward communities under represented in our Parliamentary system strong desire for representation. If in Uttar-Pradesh, communities like Pal (Shepherds), Nishads (fishermen), Rajbhars, Koiri have developed highly political bases, it is because of the BSP and its strength. Of course, for the Jatavs and Chamars in Uttar-Pradesh, BSP became a 'mission ka kaam'.

No other community or political party in India till date can claim such loyal supporters such as BSP, where the workers would go at their own and bring other people to the polling booths. Dalits in Uttar-Pradesh along with most backward communities are today thoroughly politicized, a matter of envy for the South Indian part where the NGOs are working in large number yet they do not enjoy that political power, social dignity as in Uttar-Pradesh.

In time of Kanshi Ram; Bahujan Samaj Party developed its political base in the Backward classes through a number of middle and cream layer Backward Samaj Leaders like Rameshwar Verma, Jay Ram Choudhary, Bani Prasad Verma, Sonelal Patel ---etc. but today no one of these in the Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. Therefore, Kanshi Ram in true sense was a revolutionary who changed the political equations and gave new dimensions to Dalit politics in India in general and UP in particular. Whatever may be his draw backs, Kanshi Ram revived the strong Ambedkarite sense of dignity, self respect in the masses who had once upon a time became vote bank of the upper caste leadership of different political parties. Kanshi Ram changed the perception. “Jiski jitni Sankhya Bhari, uski utni bhagidari' and with the concept of Bahujan Samaj, Kanshi Ram went beyond Ambedkar in political strategy.

He was not confined to Dalits but spread to most backward communities as well as Muslims in India. For the first time, we saw a rainbow coalition of the Bahujan Samaj emerging in the north that shook the power structure. His was a sharp mind. In the initial phase he knew it well that people would always question him as what was the mass base of the party. Yet, BSP would contest all the seats. He remarked once: ‘we may not win all the seats but we are in a position to change the equations and responsible for some one else's defeat'. That strategy resulted in Congress Party grounded in different elections in Uttar-Pradesh. No talk of developmental drama would take away people from Kanshi Ram.

The parties like BJP would talk of ultra nationalism and Hindutva while Congress talked about secularism but were ultimately decimated in Uttar-Pradesh. Dalit-bahujans of Uttar-Pradesh remained loyal to him. In Kanshi Ram's UP, Dalit representation became the main issue. It was the struggle between the Manuwadi parties and Dalit representative parties. Ultimately people chose BSP. Today, BSP is growing stronger and stronger in the state and all set to stage a come back. Kanshi Ram would have been happy to see return of his party.

It is not utopian to say that the next century would be the century of Dalits, the followers of Ambedkar. This dream will definitely be realized and one person who could rightfully claim to have changed the entire system and brought us close to realizing Baba Sahib’s dream would always be Kanshi Ram. For the Dalits all over the country, it is time to rededicate themselves to the cause of Dalit Bahujan Alliance which was perceived by Kanshi Ram. This Dalit Bahujan Alliance should be led by the Dalits, the follower of Baba Sahib.

Of course, there are many contradictions with some of lathi wielding backward communities who hit the Dalits yet Dalits are in a position to lead the movement and provide a philosophical, cultural leadership to all. India's battle is not just a political battle. It is a fight against the Brahmanical socio-cultural values and the Dalits vision is an answer to that. A vision of Dalit which gives challenges the political sanctity of religion, dogmas, text books and even Gods. No religion has the power to challenge Gods and the books allegedly written by the Gods. It is only the Dalit vision which can rightfully claim to challenge the authority of Gods and Godsons on the ground of political philosophy.

In the first week of the October 2006, the original reformers — including Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram — travelled to Mumbai to celebrate 15 years of the journey that they began in 1991. On 8 October, the original rath yatri Lal Krishna Advani drove up Raisina Hill to give one more memorandum to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, this time demanding death for Mohammed Afzal. A day later on 9 October, the original Dalit politician Kanshi Ram, who died after a long illness, was taken out on his last journey. The three disparate sets of players can be said to constitute the core of the dramatis personae in the struggle over the soul of modern India. But had it not been for Kanshi Ram, the reformers would never have been able to come as far as they have; and, similarly, had it not been for Kanshi Ram, the rath yatri would not have been reduced to a forgettable chapter in our collective saga.

Our middle-class discourse manufacturers tend to judge — and judge harshly — Kanshi Ram by Mayawati, her presumed character flaws and political frailties. Some are even prone to regard Mayawati as the very anti-thesis of the Kanshi Ram legacy and an epitaph for his ultimate failure. Irrespective of whether or not Mayawati is able to sustain the Bahujan Samaj Party as the instrument of the marginalized Dalits, history will judge Kanshi Ram as much a sustainer of the Indian state as was the original constitutionalist, Ambedkar.

If Dr. Ambedkar can be credited with putting in place a constitutional edifice for the Indian state, it was Kanshi Ram whose organizational devices and political stratagems ended up shoring up the democratic legitimacy of the state system, that too at a time when anti-democratic forces had mounted an offensive against the egalitarian order. It needs to be recalled that Kanshi Ram did not register his first substantial electoral victory till 1993 — in the Uttar Pradesh legislative Assembly election when the BSP won 66 of the 162 seats it contested (in alliance with the Samajwadi Party). Since then the party has gone places. This is in sharp contrast with its three earlier electoral innings.

In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP drew a blank; in 1989 it won only two seats; and in 1991 it had to be content with just one seat. Yet within a space of 30 months, Kanshi Ram and his party became consequential players in the political scheme of things. So, what happened in India between 1991 and 1993 that helped Kanshi Ram gain traction?

Two seminal developments forced a re-alignment of forces and ideas. First, in New Delhi, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao gave the go-ahead to Dr. Manmohan Singh to put in place a new economic order. The new regime, for better or for the worse, was anchored on a premise that the Indian state must turn its back on the masses, and that the polity must reverse the 30-year-old experiment in populism, and that the decision-makers must hitch their policy wagon to distant investors, creditors, and chambers of commerce. Suddenly, the very matrix of democratic legitimacy and popular accountability was being redefined — to the disadvantage of vast sections of Indian society.

The second development that helped Kanshi Ram become relevant was the Sangh Parivar's assault on the secular order. The assault began when Mr. Advani set out on his rath yatra from Somnath in 1990 and culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. More than the destruction of a medieval mosque, the Sangh Parivar was out to roll back the Ambedkarite constitutional order, with its promise of a place for everyone under the Indian democratic sun. Assorted Sadhus, Mahants, and Shankaracharyas were sought to be elevated to the status of arbiters of our collective destiny. The Hindutva juggernaut was meant to use the democratic space to hijack the Indian polity away from large segments, especially the vulnerable and the marginalized. The twin agenda — of economic reforms in New Delhi and of the Ram temple in Ayodhya — triggered a crisis of democratic legitimacy for the Indian state.

The Congress, the party of economic reforms, was unable to connect with the masses and was soon rebuffed by the voters in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. But that was in October 1994; before that the Sangh Parivar's challenge had to be met in Uttar Pradesh, the site of the medieval animosities that Advani insisted had to be addressed. This was a dark moment for democratic India. And, it was in this hour of crisis that Kanshi Ram forged as an alliance with the Samajwadi Party to deny the Bharatiya Janata Party power in Uttar Pradesh. Had the BJP been able to come back to power in the State after the vandalism at Ayodhya, its national leadership would have seen it as a license to try to dismantle the secular constitutional order.

It is almost impossible to discern with any degree of confidence Kanshi Ram's calculus, in 1993 or later. May be it was nothing loftier than plain, simple electoral calculations that prompted the BSP leader to join hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav (or subsequently with the Congress or with the BJP, the two parties he regularly denounced as Manuvadi outfits). But the ultimate outcome of his or Mayawati's (much maligned) "opportunism" was that the Dalits stood co-opted as partners in democratic India. It is perhaps no coincidence that the arrival of Mayawati as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at the very young age of 35 paralleled the rise of the Sushmita Sen/Aishwarya Rai like phenomenon.

Beautiful India could not rise and sustain itself without the advent of Dalit India that Kanshi Ram plotted. That he twice allowed Mayawati to team up with the BJP in no way detracts from the judgment that he helped clamp down on extremist Hindutva. True, like its other allies, the BSP too helped the BJP gain power and sustainability at the Centre; but it is equally true that, like the BJP's other allies, the BSP not only diluted the Sangh Parivar's fundamentalist impulses, it also extracted its pound of flesh in terms of respectability and acceptance.

That the Vajpayee-Advani duo was reduced to countenancing all the excesses (political or personal) that Mayawati is accused of having committed only added to the BJP's ordinariness. The strategy of political accommodation the Vajpayee-Advani team put in place to prevent the BSP's defection to the "secular" camp only ended up eroding the BJP's claims to a different political morality. The only time the BSP-BJP alliance took on an unhealthy hue was when Mayawati decided to align with Narendra Modi after the 2002 anti-Muslim riots. Otherwise, on balance, the BSP helped tame the Hindutva crowd.

Whatever exasperation or disdain the middle-class discourse mongers may exhibit towards Mayawati and her penchant for a non-Dalit lifestyle, the fact remains that the BSP's electoral successes and aura of political indispensability have deepened the efficacy of Indian democracy. The net result of all the experimentation and innovation Kanshi Ram has shown is that the Dalits too have a chance of reasonable returns, in terms of prestige, position, patronage, and power. This message of reassurance has facilitated the rise and rise of consumerist India, without inviting any violent backlash from the lowest strata.

In the era of economic reforms — including when India was supposed to be shining — the Indian social order has become more unequal and less tolerant. The state system is finding it increasingly difficult to make the dissatisfied as well as the ambitious believe in its fairness; the political processes are no longer able to connect with the masses, inducing a crisis of governability. This, in the long run, is bound to produce a crisis of legitimacy. The very success that Kanshi Ram's BSP has been able to notch up helps the political system recover some of its popular acceptability.

The Dalit is remained the only "ethnic" group in India that has not experimented with the idiom of violence; nor have they challenged the constitutional arrangement. Violence against the state or against other ethnic groups is an everyday phenomenon in India. Many extremist groups have tried to enlist the Dalits in their "struggles" against the Indian state but rarely do we hear of the Dalits arming themselves. Instead, Kanshi Ram's BSP is a potent advertisement that numbers, not violence, work in democratic India.

No mean achievement, and for this alone modern India needs to be thankful to Kanshi Ram. In an article in the New York Times, Amy Waldman wrote in 2003: "In a state where Dalits are nearly one quarter of the population, Mayawati has used caste as a mobilizing means, building on a social and political revolution 50 years in the making. It is a phenomenon that has reshaped the politics of India”.

That experiment was significant in that Kanshi Ram who was the architect of the SP-BSP tie-up, ensured defeat of an aggressive BJP one year after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The BSP which earlier used to proclaim "tilak, taraju aur talwar, maro unko jhoote char" (beat up Brahmins, Vaishyas and Kshatriyas) changed the tune completely. The new slogan is "Haati nahin Ganesh hai. Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hai" (it is not elephant but Lord Ganesh, symbolising all gods and communities) caught the attention of upper caste, a sizeable section of which seemed to have gone in her favor.

In fact, the gain for the BSP is in a way loss for the BJP, which had emerged as the champion of the upper castes in the post-Mandal, Mandir phase. Incidentally, the BJP has been using the social engineering effectively in the last two decades which had seen its rise from mere two seats in 1984 Lok Sabha polls to power in 1998, leaving aside the '13-day wonder' of 1996.

The BSP also posed problem for the Congress, which once rode the BMW (Brahmin, Muslim and Weaker sections) card in the state successfully for a long period till 1989 Behanji, as she is known amongst her cadres, Mayawati is a one-woman-army leading the BSP. She has this time found a new slogan: Brahmin shankh bajaega, hathi badhta jaega (Brahmin will blow the bugle and the elephant [BSP's symbol] will make progress).

In the 2007 UP elections result BSP won land slight majority in state assembly. Mayawati became success to grab power by its own sole majority and also the largest party in the assembly. Now she has catapulted herself to a unique pedestal -- helping Brahmins ascend the ladders of power while being a Dalit queen. She has indeed bargained hard and profitably. She openly asked upper caste candidates, "Mere paas vote hai, aap mujhe kya doge?" ('I have votes, what can you offer me?') .

Late Mr. Kanshi Ram used to Pen & holder as example for explains to Manuvadi and non-Manuvadi in the addressing to public rallies. The holder of Pen is symbol of Manuwadies, are cover-barrier in the march of the non-Manuvadies for power and without holder the Pen is symbol of non-Manuvadies so that we should throw (out) the holder in attempt of capturing power.

Kanshi Ram has political and social principles and vision for not only socio-political development of Dalits Samaj but also for participation in the power. He has some socio-economic plans and programs of Dalit empowerment. For the First time he talked about development as issue of electoral politics in the time of secular and non-secular politics. He has broad plan of reservation that was showed by statement “jiski jitani Sankhya uski utani hissedari ho”. The vote percentage of BSP out of UP is build by Kanshi Ram from his nationwide Padyatras. He never wants that his part win more seats but get more votes of Dalit from Manuvadies parties. But today Mayawati’s BSP became greedy for more votes of Manuvadies then non-Manuvadi.

If Kanshi Ram was soft spoken, Mayawati could scream. Indeed, in Mayawati’s autobiography she replaces herself in the same league as Jyotiba Phule and Ambedkar, but rarely did she portray to Kanshi Ram in this line. If India's politics has grown through a radical change with Dalit becoming the mainstream political force, the one man who made is possible was Kanshi Ram. He worked generously and religiously to develop a cadre who could bring the party to national mainstream and ultimately to the power in Uttar-Pradesh. In the Indian political scenario, the gap left by Dr Baba Sahib Ambedkar was difficult to fill. Ambedkar was a giant, a man of great character and quintessentially an ideologue. Kanshi Ram was a great mobilize man as stalwart of Bahujan Samaj. He understood the issue of self respect and participation of the Dalit communities.

Mesmerized, millions of Dalits and even Muslims in U.P. deserted the congress, a party they had supported for decades, and drafted to Kanshi Ram and Mayawati. After advised of Kanshi Ram, Mayawati refused to dilute her pro-Dalit stance, when she became CM of U.P. in 1995, the first Dalit to run a state in India. More a pragmatist than an ideologue, Mayawati started in politics lambasting the upper castes, urging her supporters to hit them with their shoes, yet had no qualms about forming an alliance with the high caste Brahmins to secure her most recent electoral victory.

She has not been slow to court other minorities, including Muslims. But it is not her policies that make Mayawati fascinating: it is more the possibility that a Dalit, a caste associated with the most menial occupations, may finally get her hands on the top job. Forget backwards - a few years ago, this would have been unthinkable. In 1995, under Kanshi Ram's patronage, Mayawati became UP's youngest chief minister at the age of 39. The then prime minister, PV Narasimha Rao, described it as "a miracle of democracy”.

In 2007, Mayawati came in power on the support of social engineering but it was not vision of Kanshi Ram and better future of Bahujan Samaj in the National politics. The BSP won absolute majority in the past UP assembly election was result of social engineering but it is result of qualitative changes in the electoral system that was adopted by the Election Commission in the elections. Indeed, Mayawati see its party future in national arena for this she will have to vision of win supports of backward classes then Manuvadi supports.

Nowadays, what Mayawati would do with it is anyone's guess. We can say it is “a miracle of development”. As chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, Mayawati is perhaps better known for spending millions on parks and statues celebrating her Bahujan Samaj party than for doing anything to change the lives of the people through social infrastructural facilities like educational institutions-as University, AIIMS like health institution, media center, she governs.

One hope that in October months, which is already being celebrated all over the country as a mark of Dr Ambedkar's conversion, all the followers of Baba Sahib will rededicate themselves to socio cultural empowerment of Dalits in the country. Kanshi Ram may not be here physically but his life would always remain a source of inspiration for millions of people who saw him build an organization and a movement that ultimately changed destiny of 170 million Dalits in India.

Alas he is no more. He has left vacuum in the Dalit movement. He was icon whom the Dalits of the country looked for guidance. He was down to earth and lived for the society. He kept his words. His life was an example for many other political leaders who amassed huge wealth and are involved in family business and red-tapism. Family for Kanshi Ram was the Dalit Samaj. Though in his last days, the issue of his health and confinement was challenge by his family yet one should know that Kanshi Ram virtually was a man for his society. He rarely talked about his family. Such example is very rare in Indian politics.

Life of Kanshi Ram will always remind the people of India and particularly the Dalits to struggle for their democratic rights by bringing together all the marginalized forces of the country and have their government at the centre. Kanshi Ram dreamt of a Dalit prime minister leading the country. One hopes that his dream would be come true one day, indeed, we all need such thinkers and strategist, honest man who considered the society as their family ‘Parivar’. That Bahujan Samaj has to claim the rightful place in the polity and society of the country and lead it to next century.
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