Kanshi Ram returns – The Hindu
Standing outside Gate No. 2 of the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, a sprawling convention center in Lucknow, Vinay Gautam, 66, urged a small group of young people to step inside and listen to speakers at a political meeting on March 13.
“How many more times will you get the opportunity to hear the name of the great Kanshi Ram? These people are not only celebrating his birth anniversary but also discussing his agenda and political ideas,” he said to the men.
“You’re only here because of him [Kanshi Ram] And [B.R.] Ambedkar,” added Gautam, berating them for what he described as lack of awareness, adding, “You guys don’t understand these important things these days.”
Gautam, a Dalit activist who worked with Kanshi Ram in the 1990s, was among thousands of people who attended the meeting. Samvidhan Sammelan (Constitution conference) A venue organized by the Congress party at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow, where events such as political meetings, art exhibitions and weddings are held.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram would have turned 92 on March 15 this year. While not a landmark birthday, his legacy has dominated the political discourse in Uttar Pradesh for the last two weeks. Leaders across the political spectrum invoked his name, describing him as “the symbol of oppressed social and caste groups”.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for the posthumous grant of Bharat Ratna to Kanshi Ram.
The Samajwadi Party (SP), once the bane of the BSP in UP, celebrated Kanshi Ram’s birth anniversary at its district offices and headquarters as well.
“Kanshi Ram is a true symbol of marginalized social groups. We will take forward the mission started by him,” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said on March 4, adding the proposal to celebrate March 15 as PDA Diwas, dedicated to the larger cause of unity. Pichhda (backward), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities) people.
But Gautam is happy regardless of the agendas of political parties. “This shows the influence and relevance of the person. Even 20 years after his death, more than 4,000 people came to hear his words,” he said.
in that Samvidhan SammelanGandhi described the late leader as a warrior who fought for social justice all his life. Gandhi said that if India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had been alive during the time of Kanshi Ram, the Congress would have made him the Prime Minister.
“HE [Rahul Gandhi] “Gautam is using Kanshi Ram’s name to reach out to Dalits,” he said, adding, “But at least Rahul Gandhi is trying to build a bridge with society by admitting his party’s shortcomings,” he added in the same breath.
The congress where Nehru served as Prime Minister saw four UP CMs, all from upper castes.
By the time of his death in 2006, Kanshi Ram’s name became associated with mobilizing Bahujan (marginalized majority), including Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and minorities.
In Uttar Pradesh, SCs constitute about 21% of the population, minorities about 20%, and OBCs are estimated by political parties to be up to 40%. “Kanshi Ramji‘s idea was to transform Bahujan Samaj from a voter to a power gatherer,” said Gautam.
identity mobilization
Born into a Ramdasia Sikh family in Punjab’s Rupnagar district, Kanshi Ram joined a government job in Pune in the late 1950s and later claimed to have witnessed discrimination against Dalit employees. During this time, he started reading lawyer, activist and social reformer BR Ambedkar in his book: destruction of caste, It leaves a certain impression. Deeply influenced by Ambedkar’s writings, he embraced his call to “educate, agitate and organise”.
In the mid-1960s, he became disillusioned with the leadership of the Republican Party of India, which represented marginalized castes, and founded the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) in 1978. It is an organization that aims to create a solidarity network among hundreds of oppressed castes spanning religions, representing government employees from marginalized castes.
In 1981, he founded another social organization known as Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti or DS4, aiming to consolidate Dalit votes. When he formed the BSP, he said that it would be possible to form a government if 50 percent of the Bahujans united and formed an alliance.
BSP founder Kanshi Ram and Mayawati, now national president, at a rally in Lucknow in 2002 | Photo Credit: The Hindu
Chandra Shekhar Azad, MP and founder of the Bhim Army social group, whose political party is called Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), echoes the slogan of Kanshi Ram: “Jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni bhagidari”, A statement in favor of proportional representation, which is perhaps the most popular slogan of political leaders of all parties even today.
“This has become a sine qua non of representative politics, reflecting modern demands for caste census and proportional representation in elections,” said Ajit Kumar Jha, an Oxford University researcher who followed Kanshi Ram’s politics closely in the 1990s.
However, BSP failed to gain traction in other states. In 1989, the party won 13 out of 425 seats in the UP Assembly and four out of 543 seats (three in UP and one in Punjab) in the Lok Sabha poll that year. In the 1992 Punjab Assembly poll, the party won nine out of 117 seats with over 16% of the votes, but could win only one seat in the next election. BSP’s appeal to Dalits in UP
“The true legacy of Kanshi Ramji He is building a new India on constitutional ideology and social justice. Activist Laxman Yadav said he lives by the ideas of Buddha, Kabir, Ravidas, Phule and Ambedkar.
It is this legacy that other parties are now trying to claim. “Our party’s PDA is the same Bahujan Samaj that Kanshi Ram talked about. We speak for the oppressed and the marginalized,” said Umesh Choudhary, a Lucknow-based SP worker.
Another SP leader Ameeque Jamei said: “At a time when atrocities against Dalits, OBCs and minorities are at their peak under the BJP rule, Kanshi Ram’s ideas and struggle become more meaningful.”
BSP and SP formed an alliance in the 1993 Assembly elections, creating harmony in UP post-Babri Masjid. “Mile Mulayam-Kanshi Ram, hawa mein ud gaye Jai Shree Ram” symbolized the coming together of Bahujan.
Under the guidance of Kanshi Ram, BSP formed governments three times with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP, where Mayawati was the Prime Minister. BSP was able to form the government only in 2007 without the support of the BJP, after which it suffered a rapid decline. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, BSP won 20 seats with 27.42% votes, but in 2024, its vote share decreased to 9.39%.
Symbolism and pushback
BSP government made symbolic moves. He built parks, monuments and universities dedicated to icons like BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram. “These statues created a feeling that people from our social group had contributed equally to the formation of the Indian republic,” says Mohan Ram, a 62-year-old BSP voter who attended most of Kanshi Ram’s rallies in Lucknow.
Many of these statues have been destroyed in the last few years; Activists say the breaking of the statues symbolizes the discomfort and fear of feudal powers. The BJP has been in power since 2017.
“Baba Saheb and Kanshi Ramji They are not just historical figures. These are symbols of equality, justice and self-respect. These incidents cannot be dismissed as mere acts of anti-social elements, but should be seen as an incident where social justice has taken a hit,” says Laxman.
“The challenge for every party is whether it can expand its social base. BSP failed in this. I traveled with Kanshi Ram in Madhya Pradesh during the 1993 Assembly elections. He used to dine at party workers’ homes like a family member,” says Manindra Nath Thakur, political scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
He adds that in the second half of his life, Kanshi Ram moved from “identity-based politics of the 1990s” to “culture-centered politics of the early 2000s.”
On October 9, 2025, Congress began a 45-day session. Dalit Gaurav Samvad (Dalit pride talk), On the death anniversary of Kanshi Ram, meetings and conferences are organized in areas with high SC population. Over 500 such meetings were held across UP
On March 15, the Congress also organized events across the State to celebrate the birth anniversary of the Dalit icon. “From the very beginning, our party was very clear that we want an egalitarian, democratic society. To achieve this, Kanshi Ram’s ideas fit, so we celebrate and follow him,” says Congress leader Anil Yadav.
Lucknow-based journalist Asad Rizvi says all these moves are to bring Dalits under the Congress umbrella.
At a public rally on November 4, 2025, Gandhi described how “10%” of the population controlled major institutions and that tribals, SCs, OBCs, and minorities were very underrepresented in private corporations, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, and the armed forces. “This is what Kanshi Ram said throughout his life, aiming to unite the marginalized,” says Rizvi.
Meanwhile, Mayawati said that she was the “only successor” in X and that SP and Congress were anti-Dalit.
According to the INDIA alliance in the 2024 Parliament polls, a section of Bahujan voters supported the coalition, winning 43 out of 80 seats.
Mayak.kumar@thehindu.co.in
