Today, the birth anniversary of Kanshi Ram, a popular leader of Dalits and founder of BSP, is being celebrated. Born on March 15, 1934 in Ropar district of Punjab, Kanshi Ram started Dalit politics under the name BAMCEF. People also remember that period of 90, when after the demolition of Babri in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, the slogan ‘Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram, Hawa Uda Gaye Jayshree Ram, Baaki Ram Jheel Ram Asli Ram Kanshi Ram’ had turned the equations of politics upside down.
The slogan was coined by Khadim Abbas, a former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader in Etawah, at the height of the Ram Mandir movement. This slogan, born in the unknown, had made a big change in the politics of the country and the state at that time. Khadim is not in the main stream of BSP today, but he has been very much influenced by Kanshi Ram, that is why he has not been a part of any party till date after being expelled from BSP. Khadim has contested many elections from assembly to municipal corporation but he did not get success. Khadim has formed the Quami Tahafuzz Committee, of which he is also the convener. Despite this, he is seen participating in every social program.
Mulayam had helped Kanshi Ram
The people of Etawah, the home district of socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, made Kanshi Ram achieve a position that Kanshi Ram was looking for for a long time. It is said that in the 1991 elections, after the tremendous violence in Etawah, the election was re-conducted, then BSP supremo Kanshi Ram entered the fray. Understanding the pulse of time, Mulayam helped Kanshi Ram. A total of 48 candidates, including BSP candidate Kanshi Ram, were in the fray in the 1991 Lok Sabha by-elections. In the election, Kanshi Ram got one lakh 44 thousand 290 votes and BJP candidate Lal Singh Verma got one lakh 21 thousand 824 votes. Ram Singh Shakya, who fought from Mulayam Singh’s Janata Party, got only 82624 votes.
Slogan created political atmosphere
Khadim tells that when he came on stage to speak in a meeting held in Mainpuri in 1992, suddenly he raised this slogan which later resonated in the whole country. Khadim has such pictures related to Kanshi Ram which reveals his love for the BSP founder. He told that under the agreement reached between Kanshi Ram Mulayam Singh, Kanshi Ram had asked his people to give the upper vote in front of the elephant and the lower vote in front of the Haldhar farmer symbol. The disputed structure was broken, so this slogan created a lot of political atmosphere. According to Khadim, Kanshi Ram got Mulayam Singh Yadav to form his own party i.e. Samajwadi Party according to his conditions and coordinated.
Mulayam formed the party on the advice of Kanshi Ram
Kanshi Ram had said in an interview that if he joins hands with Mulayam Singh, then all the parties will be wiped out from Uttar Pradesh. He chose Mulayam only because he was part of the mission of Bahujan Samaj. After reading this interview, Mulayam Singh Yadav went to meet Kanshi Ram at his residence in Delhi. In that meeting, Kanshi Ram advised Mulayam Singh to first form his own party for the new equation and in 1992 Mulayam Singh formed the Samajwadi Party.