Kanshi Ram (English: Kanshi Ram, born: 15 March 1934 – death: 9 October 2006) was the founder of Bahujan Samaj Party and the biggest leader of Dalit politics. Kanshi Ram, who yearned for the upliftment of Dalits and dreamed of having power in their hands, recognized Mayawati’s potential and inspired her to enter politics.
Kanshi Ram was born on 15 March 1934 in Ropar district of Punjab. Kanshi Ram’s father’s name is S. It was Hari Singh. Simple by nature and determined, Kanshi Ram’s work journey started in the 60s and in the early 70s, he left his job in the Defense Department in Pune. He did this due to the controversy regarding organizing the birthday celebration of Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, after which he started taking interest in the politics of Dalits in Maharashtra.
In the year 1978, Kanshi Ram formed ‘BAMCEF’ (All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees’ Federation). Dalits doing government jobs through BAMCEF kept fighting for the interests of the society by taking a certain amount of money from the people of the exploited society. In the year 1981, he established ‘Dalit Shoshit Sangharsh Samaj Samiti’. Through ‘DSFOR’ he organized the Dalits and formed BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) in 1984. He accepted Baba Saheb’s principle that ‘Power is the key of all keys.'[1]
Kanshi Ram never backed down from contesting elections. He believed that contesting elections strengthens the party, improves its condition and increases its support base. He contested the elections from Allahabad parliamentary seat in 1981 against the then Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. In this election, he was accused of contesting against V.P. Singh by taking money from him. Kanshi Ram was not deterred by any accusation. Out of all the money that came to him through his organization, he never gave a single rupee to his family nor did he spend it on any personal work. Kanshi Ram secured 80 thousand votes in Allahabad elections. He reached the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1993 by winning the elections from Etawah parliamentary seat, at that time Samajwadi Party had supported BSP. BSP from here[2] and sp[3] Friendship started. In 1993, a coalition government of both the parties was formed in Uttar Pradesh and Mulayam Singh Yadav became the Chief Minister, but in 1995, BSP withdrew support and the government fell. To bring Mayawati to power, Kanshi Ram formed the government for the first time in the state with the help of Bharatiya Janata Party, Mayawati became the Chief Minister.[1]
Kanshi Ram supported and became an ally of Samajwadi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress for the benefit of the party and the Dalits, he always took advantage of everyone. He said that all this is justified to move ahead in politics. Kanshi Ram did not hesitate to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995, giving a blow to the Samajwadi Party and voted against the BJP government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee when it was falling at the Centre. Kanshi Ram’s political philosophy was that if one has to serve the common people, one has to remain close to power at all costs. Participation has to be made in every upheaval that occurs in power. BSP is still with his political philosophy. He kept making Chief Ministers and supporting political parties. He kept supporting the Central Government but never showed any ambition to get the post himself.[1]
Kanshi Ram died on 9 October 2006 in Delhi. He was 72 years old. Kanshi Ram will always be remembered for establishing BSP and giving a special place to Dalits in the country’s politics.
