Kanshi Ram

Kanshi Ram (15 March 1934 – 9 October 2006), also known as Bahujan Nayak

Early life

Kanshi Ram was born to a

After studies at various local schools,[9] Ram graduated in 1956 with a BSc degree from Government College Ropar.^[10]

Career

Kanshi Ram joined the offices of the Explosive Research and Development Laboratory in Pune.^[11] It was at this time that he first experienced caste discrimination^[10][how?] and in 1964 he became an activist. Those who admire him point out that he was spurred to this after reading B. R. Ambedkar's book Annihilation of Caste and witnessing the discrimination against a Dalit employee who wished to observe a holiday celebrating Ambedkar's birth. Kanshi Ram strongly inspired by B. R. Ambedkar and his philosophy.^[12]

Ram initially supported the Republican Party of India (RPI) but became disillusioned with its co-operation with the Indian National Congress. In 1971, he founded the All India SC, ST, OBC and Minority Employees Association and in 1978 this became BAMCEF, an organisation that aimed to persuade educated members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backwards Classes and Minorities to support Ambedkarite principles.^[13] BAMCEF was neither a political nor a religious body and it also had no aims to agitate for its purpose. Suryakant Waghmore says it appealed to "the class among the Dalits that was comparatively well-off, mostly based in urban areas and small towns working as government servants and partially alienated from their untouchable identities".^[14]

Later, in 1981, Ram formed another social organisation known as

In 1982, he published his only book The Chamcha Age, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Poona Pact. He dedicated the book to Jyotirao Phule, B. R. Ambedkar, Periyar, and ‘many other rebellious spirits’ who worked for Dalit emancipation. In the Poona Pact, Ambedkar who had worked hard to earn separate electorates from the British, had to surrender the possibility due to Mahatma Gandhi's fast unto death. Ambedkar feared the possible consequences to the nascent Dalit movement if he had not. Ram believed that the separate electorates would have provided the Dalits autonomy and authority; it would have undermined the power of the upper castes who constituted a relatively smaller population. Ram argued that Gandhi manipulated Ambedkar into signing the pact, and implied a defeat for the Dalits. This directly led to The Chamcha (stooge) Age, where Dalit leaders were made stooges of the upper caste. Dalit electorates had little say in getting their representatives elected even in sears reserved for them.^[18] Ram used the term to describe Dalit leaders such as Jagjivan Ram and Ram Vilas Paswan.^[11] He argued that Dalits should work politically for their own ends rather than compromise by working with other parties.^[19] Opportunist mobilization of a section of Dalits in the chamcha age thus produces, what Kanshi Ram calls, an ‘alienation of the elite’. The Dalit elite could overcome this alienation by ‘payback to the oppressed and exploited society’.^[18]

After forming BSP, Ram said the party would fight first election to lose, next to get noticed and the third election to win.^[20] In 1988, he contested in Allahabad against a future Prime Minister V. P. Singh and performed impressively but lost polling close to 70,000 votes.^[21]

He unsuccessfully contested from

Kanshi Ram was a diabetic. He suffered a heart attack in 1994, an arterial clot in his brain in 1995, and a paralytic stroke in 2003.^[28] He died in New Delhi on 9 October 2006 of a severe heart attack at the age of 72.^[29] He had been virtually bed-ridden for more than two years.^[30] According to his wishes,^[31] his funeral rites were performed according to Buddhist tradition, with Mayawati lighting the pyre.^[28] His ashes were placed in an urn and kept at Prerna Sthal, where many people paid their respects.^[32]

In his condolence message, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Ram as "one of the greatest social reformers of our time.. his political ideas and movements had a significant impact on our political evolution... He had a larger understanding of social change and was able to unite various underprivileged sections of our society and provide a political platform where their voices would be heard." Under Ram's leadership, the BSP won 14 parliamentary seats in the 1999 parliamentary elections.^[33]

Books

In 1982, Kanshi Ram wrote The Chamcha Age (The Era of the Stooges), a book in which he used the term chamcha (stooge) for Dalit leaders who he alleged had selfish reasons to work for parties such as the Indian National Congress (INC)^[11] and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).^[19] His book Birth of BAMCEF was also published.^[34] His biography, Kanshiram: Leader of the Dalits was written by Badri Narayan Tiwari.^[35][36] His speeches are compiled in books like Bahujan Nayak Kanshiram Ke Avismarniya Bhashan by Anuj Kumar, Writings & Speeches of Kanshiram compiled by S. S. Gautam & A.R. Akela and The Editorials of Kanshi Ram by Bahujan Samaj Publications in 1997.

Legacy

There are many government programmes and schemes^[37][38] and public institutions named after Kanshi Ram in Uttar Pradesh.^{[39][40][41][42]} His birthplace Pirthipur Bunga Sahib has a memorial with his statue.^[43] Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji Green Eco Garden in Lucknow has been named in his memory.^[44]

Biopic

In 2017, a