Mayawati demands Bharat Ratna for Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said party founder Kanshi Ram was a "messiah of the Dalits" and should be conferred the Bharat Ratna.
BSP chief Mayawati with late Kanshi Ram, who founded the party. (Photo: India Today archive)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday said party founder Kanshi Ram should be conferred the Bharat Ratna as he was a "messiah of the Dalits".
Reacting to the central government conferring Bharat Ratna on former Prime Ministers Chaudhary Charan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao and agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, Mayawati said she welcomes it but added that "it is not appropriate to disrespect and ignore" Dalit personalities.
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"The government must pay attention to this also," she added.
The BSP chief said Dr BR Ambedkar was also honoured with the Bharat Ratna "after a long wait" by the government under former Prime Minister VP Singh.
Kanshi Ram founded the All India Backward And Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) which aimed to bring together scheduled caste employees across the country. He also created the activist group Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS4) to reach out to lower castes and other marginalised groups.
A supporter of BR Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram died in 2006 at the age of 72.