Date:11/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/11/stories/2006101104301000.htm

Opinion - Editorials

Force Bahujan

Kanshi Ram lived the life of a recluse in his final years — confined to his room in protégé Mayawati's home. On a rare public appearance on his 72nd birthday in March 2006, there was little of the astute political strategist who founded the Bahujan Samaj Party 22 years ago. Earlier, the helpless elder in a wheelchair was diagnosed with "severe cognitive impairment." It was a great pity because in that disoriented state he could not fully comprehend the scale and extent of the BSP's recent growth. In just over two decades, his political baby has been transformed from a marginal, sectarian outfit vulnerable to poaching to a mainstream force attractive to all communities and the bookmaker's favourite in the coming champion's trophy. The BSP elephant was always a doughty fighter, emerging stronger from each split forced by its opponents. Today it has reached the top in a State as large, complex, and diverse as Uttar Pradesh. The rise of the BSP is a fascinating story and for several years its superstar has been Ms. Mayawati. But it must not be forgotten that the superstructure of the party's electoral success rests on a foundation laid by a visionary who long ago recognised the power and potential of a united bahujan samaj.

Mr. Kanshi Ram was neither an intellectual giant like Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar nor even a gifted orator. Ms. Mayawati is clearly the movement's charismatic figure. Mr. Kanshi Ram's real forte was his brilliance as a strategist. His capacity to organise and his intuitive understanding of India's iniquitous social order won him a large following, which in time grew into a powerful bahujan movement. A Punjabi Dalit from a literate family, Mr. Kanshi Ram himself never experienced untouchability. A lesser man would have been happy to continue in the coveted post of scientific assistant in the Department of Defence Production. Dr. Ambedkar's seminal work, The Annihilation of Caste, made a huge impact on Mr. Kanshi Ram who read it three times in the space of a single night. Over the following decades, he established various fora for the welfare of employees belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Castes, and minorities. The conclusion he drew from this experience was that social equality could not be won without political power. The slogan, `vote hamara, raj tumhara, nahi chalega, nahi chalega' (our vote, your rule will not do, will not do) encapsulated the essence of his belief — that it was imperative to overturn an order that permitted a 15 per cent forward caste elite to rule over 85 per cent of the population comprising the bahujan samaj.