Not many glance at the Kanshi Ram statue in the heart of his native village Khawaspur in Punjab’s Ropar district. Just 500 metres away is his brother Harbans Singh’s house. The blue-coloured elephant water tank on the roof of the house is the only testimony to the fact that this was where the Bahujan Samaj Party founder lived. The bedroom is lined with several pictures of Kanshi Ram with party workers and family. But what stands out is the one with an almost unrecognisable Mayawati, his political heir.
Harbans Singh lives amidst a Dalit colony and one can see several flags of allies Shiromani Akali Dal and BSP fluttering there ahead of the February 20 Punjab assembly polls. Not many even notice it. But Singh does and is upset. He tells News18.com, “I won’t vote for this alliance. It’s an unholy alliance. Mayawati has gone off to Uttar Pradesh. They don’t care about Punjab and both are corrupt now. We don’t need them.”
But he sees the choice of Charanjit Singh Channi by the Congress in the form of a Dalit chief minister as a good one and thinks it would make a difference. Ropar belongs to the Dalit belt, which also includes Chamkaur Sahib (Channi’s native area) and the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat that is now opened up as a general constituency. Once the stronghold of Kanshi Ram’s legacy, the BSP today has dipped in its performance. In the last Lok Sabha election, its vote share in Punjab fell to its lowest, 9.6%. The Akali Dal tied up with the BSP in the hope that the Jat Sikh and Dalit votes would be captured by the alliance and it could return to power. But the Dalits have never voted en masse and the Akali-BSP alliance had not foreseen the Congress’s trump card of a Dalit chief minister.
Daljit Singh Cheema, the Akali-BSP candidate from this area, dismisses any threat from Channi. “He should have been asked to resign. He is no Dalit. Dalits don’t rob and he has no chance to win from here.” On Harbans Singh’s anger, he said, “This is just an emotional outburst. The reason for the anger is other things.”
Harbans Singh breaks down while speaking to News18.com. “Look at our house. It’s so simple. It’s not like the many possessions of Mayawati. She took everything away from my brother and fooled him. No one from the BSP even comes to meet us anymore. They have no respect for their founder Kanshi Ram. She stole our money. Rab (god) will not forgive her.”
Congress candidate Barinder Singh Dhillon echoes Harbans. “When they cannot respect Kanshi Ram’s family, how can they respect Dalits? Channi as CM is a winner for us.”
With the Aam Aadmi Party putting up Dinesh Chadha, the fight has got fierce and interesting. Who captures the maximum seats in this belt could be decisive in the formation of the next government. The Congress hopes the Dalit CM would be a trump card. Kanshi Ram’s family of four wait for justice. They hope the voters “would teach Mayawati a lesson”.
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