2008 Fri Oct 07 2016 LESSONS
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INSIGHT-NET-
Online A1 (Awakened One) Tipiṭaka Research & Practice University
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INSIGHT-NET- Online A1 (Awakened One) Tipiṭaka Research & Practice University
http://www.bhaskar.com/news/
Please watch The
‘Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhay’ rally
would be held at Lucknow on October 9, on the death anniversary
of Party’s founder Kanshi Ram with a `maha-rally’. More than 30 lakhs people will participate. Kindly Participate at Karnataka BSP Head Office along with your OBC/Religious Minoroties and all societies friends on 9-10-2016 at 10:00 AM to make the vent a grand success.
Please watch The
‘Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhay’ rally
would be held at Lucknow on October 9, on the death anniversary
of Party’s founder Kanshi Ram with a `maha-rally’. More than 30 lakhs people will participate. Kindly Participate at Karnataka BSP Head Office along with your OBC/Religious Minoroties and all societies friends on 9-10-2016 at 10:00 AM to make the vent a grand success.
http://www.bspindia.org/images/announced-kashsiramji.jpg
Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhaya
Welfare and Happiness for all Societies
Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhaya
Welfare and Happiness for all Societies
To
day at the meeting of Karnataka BSP Head Office Coordinator and
Incharge Marasandra Muniappa asked all leaders bring into fold
OBCs/Religious Minorities in large numbers on 9-10-2016 to observe
Nibbana day.He said on 9-10-2016 30 lakh people will gather in Lucknow to observe Kanshiram’s Nibbana day.
Vice President talked about the Kanshiram and his movement which is very important at today’s context.
day at the meeting of Karnataka BSP Head Office Coordinator and
Incharge Marasandra Muniappa asked all leaders bring into fold
OBCs/Religious Minorities in large numbers on 9-10-2016 to observe
Nibbana day.He said on 9-10-2016 30 lakh people will gather in Lucknow to observe Kanshiram’s Nibbana day.
Sahib
Kanshi Ram was born on March 15, 1934, in Khawas Pur village of Ropar
District of Punjab. He belonged to the Ramdassia community of the
Scheduled Caste group, which is the largest group in Punjab. He was
named Kanshi because after his birth the midwife placed him in a tray
made of kansa metal. His father owned some land and his uncles were in
the arm…
Continue reading
Sahib
Kanshi Ram was born on March 15, 1934, in Khawas Pur village of Ropar
District of Punjab. He belonged to the Ramdassia community of the
Scheduled Caste group, which is the largest group in Punjab. He was
named Kanshi because after his birth the midwife placed him in a tray
made of kansa metal. His father owned some land and his uncles were in
the arm…
Sahib
Kanshi Ram was born on March 15, 1934, in Khawas
Pur village of Ropar District of Punjab. He belonged
to the Ramdassia community of the Scheduled Caste
group, which is the largest group in Punjab. He
was named Kanshi because after his birth the midwife
placed him in a tray made of kansa metal. His father
owned some land and his uncles were in the armed
forces. In Sahib Kanshi Ram’s own words, “I
was born and brought up amongst those who sacrificed
themselves but never betrayed the country…
Despite his low caste background, he earned a bachelor’s
degree in science from the Government College at
Ropar ( Punjab). Soon after, he joined the research
staff of Kirki’s Explosive Research and Development
Laboratory (ERDL) in Pune 1957. While working in
Pune, he quit his job after becoming involved in
the famous Deena Bhan case. Deena Bhan, a Rajasthani
Scheduled Caste employee and senior colleague of
Kanshi Ram was suspended. His fault was that he
protested against the decision of ERDL management
for the cancellation of holidays for Ambedkar and
Buddha Jayantis and their replacement by the Tilak
Jayanti and one additional holiday for Diwali. Sahib
Kanshi Ram decided to fight against such a caste
ridden and dictatorial behaviour of the management.
The fighter in Kanshi Ram got the suspension orders
of Deena Bhan revoked and Ambedkar and Buddha Jayantis
holidays were restored.
This was the beginning of the long battle for the
emancipation of the Dalits in the country that Sahib
Kanshi Ram had to lead till his last breath. He
resigned from his job and totally dedicated his
entire life for the cause of the community. He never
married nor visited his home since then. His struggle
was not for the home and family. He devised a new
strategy to regain the lost glory of the original
(Adi) inhabitants of Bharat. He gave utmost importance
to the culture of work and democratic method of
struggle. He also expanded the circle of the Dalits
by incorporating other Backward Classes and Minorities
into it.
He
criticised the post-Ambedkar leadership of Dalits
in India. For that he declared Poona Pact as the
main reason. He said that “Poona Pact made
dalits helpless. By rejecting separate electorate,
dalits were deprived of their genuine representation
in legislatures. Several and various kind of chamchas
were born in the last fifty years. As and when India’s
high caste Hindu rulers felt the need of chamchas
and when the authority of the upper castes got endangered
by real and genuine Dalit leaders, chamchas were
brought to the fore in all other fields”.
In his “The Chamcha Age”, a well argued
and polemical tirade against the pseudo Dalit leaders,
Sahib Kanshi Ram sharpen the contradiction for the
legitimate acquisition of political power by the
downtrodden in electoral democracy in India. In,
the Chamcha Age, “he focused very much on the
Poona Pact which was a point of a rather decisive
Gandhian victory over Dr. Ambedkar after a long
duel between the two at the Round Table Conference”.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Manyawar_Shri_Kanshi_Ram_ji.jpg/220px-Manyawar_Shri_Kanshi_Ram_ji.jpg
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=Gifs+of+kanshi+ram+with+his+quotes&sa=X&biw=1440&bih=694&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwiU8e3Gm8bPAhXBso8KHapLDfQQ7AkIPA#imgrc=pePAlsXbrXcM2M%3A
http://www.bspindia.org/images/KanshiramJI.jpg
Manyawar Shir Kanshi Ram Ji: 
Founder of Bahujan Samaj Party
“I will never get married, I will never acquire any property, I
will never visit my home, I will devote and dedicate the rest of my life
to achieve the goals of Phule -Ambedkar movement”
These pledges remind the work of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Sahib who is
remembered in the history of India as a True leader of Bahujan Samaj .
The journey of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Saheb and his movement of
socio-cultural revolution and economic emancipation of Bahujan Samaj
started way back in 1964. Kanshi Ram, the eldest son of Mr. Hari Singh,
resident of Khawas Pur village of Punjab ’s Roper district, was born on
15 th March, 1934 , in a Sikh family belonging to the Ramdassia
Community. He completed B.Sc. and joined as an assistant Scientist in
DRDO in Kirki Pune Maharashtra in 1957 where he was exposed to the bad
breath of Hindu social order i.e. atrocious caste system. In the
ordinance factory, where Kanshi Ram was working, the management
cancelled the holidays of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and Buddha
Jayanti and instead granted Tilak Jayanti holiday and an additional
holiday during Diwali festival. As a reaction to this, not the
Ambedkarites from Maharashtra but a Scheduled Caste Mr. Dina Bhana, from
Rajasthan, protested against the cancellation of these two holidays.
Dina Bhana’s protest resulted in his suspension. By this atrocious act,
agitated Kanshi Ram fought the legal battle for Dina Bhana.
As a result, not only was Dina Bhana reinstated but the holidays were
also restored. The unjust and casteist act on the part of management
resulted in a new awakening in Kanshi Ram, as he did not properly
realize the casteist divisions in his youth in Punjab . Thereafter
Kanshi Ram studied the literature of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the biggest
destroyer of Brahmanism after Buddha, Jyotiba Phule and Periyar. Kanshi
Ram Ji read “Annihilation of Castes” three times in one night which
created not only an impact on Kanshi Ram, but shaped his thinking and
future course of actions. Beside Dr. Ambedkar’s writings, Mr. Kanshi Ram
found the path of further movement in Dr. Ambedkar’s plan for political
action. Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji quit the job in 1964 and decided that he
will never marry and devote his life for social transformation.
On 24 th September 1944 , at Madras , Dr. Babasaheb declared the
political goal of his struggle. Dr Ambedkar said, “Understand our
ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to become the rulers of this
country. Write this goal on the walls of your houses so that you will
never forget. Our struggle is not for the few jobs and concessions but
we have a larger goal to achieve. That goal is to become the rulers of
the land.” On 4 th October, 1945 , in the Working Committee meeting of
All India Scheduled Castes Federation again he elaborately stressed on
the political power and said , “Politics should be the life-blood of the
Scheduled Castes.” Since politics of Congress party, the mouthpiece of
the dominant castes was detrimental to the very existence and interests
of backward class people, Babasaheb tried to form a broad - base
movement of all the victims of Brahmanism.
On 18 th March, 1956 in a public meeting at Ram Leela ground, Agra ,
he said that the highly qualified people belonging to SCs have betrayed
us. They are occupying the key posts in government and doing nothing for
their poor, oppressed brothers and sisters.
It was a great loss for the movement when Dr. Babasaheb unexpectedly died on 6 th December, 1956 .
After the death of DR Ambedkar, the Republican Party of India (R P I)
as visualized by Dr. Ambedkar was formed on 3 rd October, 1957 . But
from 1958 the party began to split up under various leaders. The biggest
set-back to the party was that, it became a party of Maharashtra and
the Mahars (later converted to Buddhism after 1956) and the other
sub-castes remained the supporters of Congress and others. The clash of
personalities and personal political ambitions took the caravan in a
reverse direction rather taking ahead.
Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji noticed the dynamism of Dr Ambedkar’s
movement. He started working with Republican Party of India. After near
about eight years of working with Republican Party of India, he became
disillusioned with its functioning. His dream of Ambedkarite movement
was completely shattered when Dadasaheb Gaikwad joined the hands with
Mohan Dhariya from Congress for a petty one Lok-Sabha reserved seat and
few lakh rupees. He observed that supporters of RPI were celebrating the
pact of RPI and Congress where RPI got just one seat and rest of seats
were given to Congress. This event was the beginning of his dissociation
from Republican Party.
Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji decided that he will develop a society which
will work to spread the thoughts of Dr Ambedkar and other social
reformers and will never sell themselves for a small gain. He
independently started organizing the employees of Scheduled castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes mainly from Pune, Bombay , Nasik ,
Nagpur and Delhi .
He traveled all over the India along with his few activists to know
why Caravan of Dr Ambedkar was brought back rather than taking ahead.
During these days he never bothered about his health, food, transport
and worked tirelessly to awaken the educated employees. Organization of
employees of Backward Class and Religious Minorities, after doing a
necessary preparatory work within a period of five years decided to
float an organisation in 1973. As a result of it, and as per the vision
of Dr. Ambedkar, Kanshi Ramji’s started his first organization on 6 th
December 1978 in Delhi , called as BAMCEF. Subsequently, he formed
Buddhist Research Center (BRC), DS-4 and BSP.
Kanshi Ramji decided to take the Caravan of Dr Ambedkar ahead and he
considers it as his responsibility to fulfill the same. Then he started
working among educated employees and awakens them to work for the
upliftment of the downtrodden. In this process he was successful to a
large extent in awakening, realizing and transforming the expectations
of Dr Ambedkar from educated class. After the necessary ground work and
positive response from some employees in Poona , Nagpur , Delhi and
other places Kanshi Ramji decided to launch an organization for pay-back
to society. Thus, the idea of BAMCEF was conceived on 6 th December,
1973 . After ceaseless field work throughout the country for near about
five years the birth of BAMCEF took place on the lawn of Boat Club in
New Delhi , on 6 th December 1978 . During this time, he conducted
several cadre camps, meetings, seminars in different parts of the
country to awaken the employees. The basic aim of BAMCEF was to develop
genuine and capable leadership among the oppressed. Basically it has
been the organization aimed to build up the non-political roots for the
success of Dr. Ambedkar’s political vision and action. BAMCEF’s typical
feature was that it was an organization of the employees, by the
employees but not for the welfare of the employees. The first concept
given by Kanshi Ram Ji was “people who should succeed politically must
have strong non-political roots”
He witnessed the failure of Ambedkarite movement in Maharashtra ,
Kanshi Ramji had realized that the people whose non-political roots
were not strong were bound to fail politically. They can have their
political party, but they cannot succeed politically. Therefore, in
order to strengthen the non-political roots of backward class people, he
began BAMCEF experiment and spent 10-11 years in organizing the
educated employees of SC/ST/OBCs and Minorities, who were benefited by
the policy of reservation. BAMCEF created a new missionary political
conscience among the backward caste educated employees and also
established a national network for further Kanshi Ram’s movement.
Kanshi Ram Ji did not project himself a leader but worked silently as
organizer and hence he did not mind to invite Ram Vilas Paswan,
Karpoori Thakur to address 3 rd National Convention of BAMCEF which was
held at Chandigarh on 14 th -18 th October 1983 .
After spending 20 yrs of his young age Kanshi Ramji realized that
merely organizing employees would not be enough to fulfill the dreams of
Dr Ambedkar. Unless they get power and cannot become rulers. Therefore
he created another concept, i.e . ‘Power will be the product of
struggle’. He realized that Employees cannot do struggle hence he stared
DS-4 Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti. According to him, “not that
our people were not struggling. They were struggling, but not for
themselves. They were not struggling for their own cause. They were and
are struggling for somebody else as stooges. Because we are passing
through the Chamcha Age, the era of stooges, and as stooges we are
struggling.”
Books
Kanshi Ram in his historical book, “THE CHAMCHA AGE”, (an Era of the
Stooges) published on 24 th September, 1982 , on the occasion of 50 th
anniversary of the Poona -Pact, has vividly exclusively dealt with the
disadvantages of the Chamcha Age.
A) Caste and Community-wise Chamchas.
1 ) The scheduled Castes - Reluctant Chamchas.
2) The Scheduled Tribes - Initiated Chamchas
3) The Other Backward Castes - aspiring Chamchas
4) The Minorities - Helpless Chamchas.
B) Party - Wise Chamchas.
C) Ignorant Chamchas.
D) Enlightened Chamchas or Ambedkarite Chamchas
E) Chamchas of the Chamchas.
F) Chamchas Abroad.
It will be apt to say that, Kanshi Ram has been the only leader who
has understood the damage caused by the Poona Pact and applied the
necessary measures as it was expected by Dr. Babasaheb. His only book
deals with the Chamcha Age phenomenon in detail.
Kanshi Ram has been very crystal clear in understanding the Poona
Pact and therefore he said, “Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to take the
downtrodden people from Dark Age to bright age. But Gandhi intervened in
this process of change. Hence we entered into a different age then
onwards, which I have named as the age of Chamchas-the Chamcha Age-the
era of stooges”.
Thus, from the day of launching D -S4, an agitational and awakening
wing of BAMCEF, till the formation of Bahujan Samaj Party, on 14 th
April, 1984 , Kanshi Ram conducted several experiments of social action
countrywide successfully. The programmes created sufficient awareness in
the Bahujan Samaj about their socio - political, economic and cultural
status. Hence, D-S4 proved as a milestone preparation for the long
battle of political action, social transformation and economic
emancipation.
Up to 1976, Kanshi Ram, being in Pune - the center of Maharashtra
witnessed the down-fall of Ambedkarite movement. In his scientific
analysis of the Chamcha Age, he has focused on the fall of Ambedkarism
from the first general election i.e. 1951 till 1980. By 1971 alliance
between R P I and Congress, his all hopes of Ambedkarite movement dashed
into dustbin. Therefore, following the advice of Dr. Ambedkar i.e.
‘political power is the key to all social progress,’ he felt absolutely
essential for the members of all oppressed and exploited communities to
prepare themselves for agitational and political action.
Most of the politicians, Researchers failed to understand the vision
of Kanshi Ram Ji and hence could not understand the Role of BSP in
Indian Democracy. Today in India there are 7 national political parties
which are lead by so called upper caste Hindus. They control all the
affairs of their parties to establish the rule of Hindu upper castes and
exploit the 85% Bahujan Samaj.
Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji refined the rules of Indian politics. He
developed a concept that the unstable government at center is beneficial
for Bahujan Samaj as you can derive maximum advantages to deprived
sections. Therefore he used say frequently,” I want Mazboor (weak)
government at centre and not Majboot (strong) till we reach to the
Centre”. Kanshi Ram Ji articulated positively the Bahujan ideology from
Buddha to Ambedkar. Kanshi Ram Ji always acknowledged the contribution
of Ex-Mahars now Buddhists for supporting Dr Ambedkar in his war against
Manuvadi system. He said,” I have learnt two things from them one how
to learn the movement I leant from Dr Ambedkar and second how not to run
the movement from his followers in Maharashtra .”
Manyawar consistently led his movement for almost 38 yrs from
1965-2003 till his illness. Bahan Mayawati has taken up the unfulfilled
dream of Manyawar Kanshi Ram Ji and proved to be the successor of Kanshi
Ram ji’s sociopolitical struggle when she became CM of UP 4 th time
with an absolute majority in may 2007.
BUDDHIST &
SARVAJAN (SC/ST/OBC/MINORITIES/POOR UPPER CASTES) and Alternative
Media: a Study on SARVAJANs’ Engagement in the Articulation of Their
Voices in Internatinal Blogs and Web Sites.
Nation is Elephant
of BSP! People are just fed with Congress, other regional parties and BJP!
Politics
is the most difficult of life skills, and those who remain reluctant to
master this art are condemned to remain as obedient slaves while the
masters of politics enjoy undiminished supremacy in all human relations.
History bears testimony that civilization developments have been made
possible by the leadership of the political genius and by the labor of
the politically ignorant. Indian history stands out as a glaring example
of the dominance politically conscious groups’ exercise over
non-political masses. The perfect political consciousness would never
allow its victims to realize their subjugation lest they attempt
upheavals and transformation. Whatever hardships and misery one has to
go through, as a result of being non-political, is projected as the
outcome and consequences of some supernatural, natural incidence in the
past, as misdeeds in past births or due to low levels of competency,
caliber and capabilities in the present and is translated as duty of the
enslaved.
A glance
at the pathetic perpetuation of the untouchables’ slavery and its
institutional manifestations for centuries together in the form of
poverty, denial of human rights, unemployment, illiteracy, self
abnegation etc. demonstrate total hegemony of the caste beneficiaries
and lack of political consciousness amongst the caste victims. The
consciousness of maintaining domination over others remains the basic
instinct of a political group and the efficient use of this
consciousness to meet certain purposes shall measure its correctness.
A group
bereft of political correctness or moral righteousness uses power in a
selfish and imperious manner and puts humanity to shame as demonstrated
by the brahmanical propensities in India. In the process, the
hegemonized masses of untouchables and touchable Bahujan have to
perpetually fight to retain/regain self-esteem, dignity and self-respect
as they are forced to languish in the most dehumanized abject
conditions. With no dreams of liberation in their sight, the caste
victims stay resigned to their ‘divine destiny’ as destitute, degraded
and disparaged, from time immemorial subjected to the choicest of
insults, ignominy and humiliations accompanied by physical hardships and
discomfitures of bonded slavery.
The
struggle against the ‘cold blooded and calculated poverty’ of political
consciousness remains inconclusive historically. Most of the attempts to
politicize the oppression in the Indian subcontinent could never be
brought to its logical culmination of emancipation, empowerment and
enlightenment. The annihilation of obscurantist primordial liabilities
and superimposed disabilities remains distant. As a result, casteism
thrived on the shoulders of its very opponents and those who initiated
the process of dismantling the caste structures ended up upholding the
caste hierarchies more diligently with greater aggression and vigor.
Caste shamelessly accommodated its erstwhile opponents to the ever
bourgeoning ‘Shudras turned practical others’ through the process of
Brahminisation or Sanskritization. But this process of settling down at
the lowest rung of caste stratification had never been accepted by the
untouchables unlike the Shudras and therefore the Dalits remained the
agents of principal contradiction with the powers that be. Besides,
being outside the cultural contours and control of the brahamanics, the
untouchables or Dalits, possess the inherent quality and hunger to be
the harbingers of transformation of social relations, to infuse an
egalitarian and saner ethos into society, if they choose an appropriate
strategic trajectory.
For
being most oppressed, and therefore most needful and hence most desirous
of smashing the caste hierarchies, the untouchables are the natural
leaders of this struggle of social transformation. The very use of the
phrase ‘annihilation of caste’ by Dr. Ambedkar speaks volumes of this
revolutionary appetite; the untouchables have and assumed enormous
ideological and political significance in contrast to the mild
terminology used by so-called caste reformers.
In such
an undemocratic and oppressive soil, the sowing of seeds of democratic
institutions was the most challenging task performed by the makers of
the constitution. To the satisfaction of non-political masses it was
difficult to realize the enormous potential of this seed by the
short-sighted myopic living conditions they were subjected to at that
point of time. Being socially oppressed, economically exploited,
culturally excluded and politically subjugated they had no idea of what a
mighty tree this seed would transform itself into in the future.
As
Ambedkar once observed: “Men are mortal, so are ideas. An idea needs
propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise both will
wither and die.” The idea of democracy or politicization of masses does
not suit the ruling castes and they do their best to stop the trickling
down of political consciousness right to the grassroots. With all the
socio-economic and culture-religious power at their disposal, the
tyrannical brahmanical minority did their best to successfully obstruct
democracy for the masses for four decades at least. How procedural has
been the democracy, to use the Schumpeterian term can be gauged by the
fact that in 2012 government had to accept the necessity of right to
food for 2/3rd population after conceding that 77% of Indian population
is starving at below Rs. 20 a day. With less than 50% population denied
safe drinking water and ¾ deprived of hygienic sanitation facilities,
rampant illiteracy and unemployment, the historical responsibility of
extricating the masses from the yoke of political ignorance remains
largely with the politically conscious Bahujan communities.
The dawn
of Bahujan Samaj Party on the horizon of the political arena in 1984,
with Kanshi Ram at the helm of affairs, changed the canvas of the body
politic of the country, bringing in hitherto unconventional and somewhat
unbelievable grammar of politics with fresh idioms and terminology.
‘Our ultimate aim is to rule India’ thundered Kanshi Ram, who became a
phenomenon within no time. Coming from a community of politically
indifferent people, Kanshi Ram set afire the imagination of the
untouchables who could suddenly visualize an objective alternative to
their purposeless wanderings over which Gandhian, Marxian and
brahamanics claimed perpetual ownership. The Chamars, supposedly one of
the most recalcitrant of the untouchables, were the first to own the
historical responsibility of bringing justice to the masses and
legitimacy to democracy that was highly content deficit.
Soon a
secret was unearthed by the educated elites and the intelligentsia that
the call given by Kanshi Ram to capture the political power was nothing
new and Ambedkar had already advised Dalits to write on the walls of
their homes that they have to be the ruling community of this country
one day. But Ambedkarite literature remained inaccessible even to the
educated ones not to mention the uneducated ones. But the uneducated
ones proved themselves to be great learners and captured the zest of the
matter unmistakably. The rural masses of Dalits, with no food in their
bellies began to queue up behind the elephant, the election symbol of
BSP, which was used by Dr. Ambedkar also for political mobilisation and
consolidation. These supporters had great hunger and unquenchable
appetite in their eyes for self-respect, dignity and empowerment. With
pristine emphasis on ‘own ideology, own leadership and own organisation’
Kanshi Ram instilled self confidence in the enthusiastic new political
recruits taking great moral postures on contemporary political issues
and confronting the most powerful personalities like VP Singh and Rajiv
Gandhi. These symbolic fights were great moral boosters with unique
mobilisation strategies. The much needed initiation was performed and
the neediest started learning and using the political means for their
liberation with the agenda of social transformation and economic
emancipation.
As a
master strategist Kanshi Ram used mammoth rallies as a ‘confidence
building mechanism’ for a community that was scattered, resource-less
and heavily dependent on dominant castes for its every day survival at
micro level in the village setting. Being part of these rallies attended
by millions or more provided him a great feeling of belongingness and
superior strength, convincing him that there were so many like him and
he was not alone. It was a great empowering strategy executed with
meticulous perfection and alacrity. Also Kanshi Ram dissuaded local
cadres not to contest PRI elections lest they may have to confront the
dominant power at the village level with no weapons i.e. education,
wealth, arms and local organisations, running the risk of
demoralisation. Also these elections are used as a ploy to demoralise
the most powerful untouchable community by propping up political stooges
from numerically insignificant untouchable groups completing the evil
design of Poona Pact at the village level.
In the
initial years of the BSP, Kanshi Ram at the beginning of his address,
used to advise ‘political others, the opponent Manuwadis’ to leave the
rally ground for they might not like some of his observations and more
since he was interested in a self respect movement, in building a
Bahujan Samaj with its own strength and support, and therefore there was
no need for their support. It was plain thinking and even plainer
talking. Some of the people did leave the meetings and he used to
address them for hours together, the audience mesmerised, listening in
pin drop silence with total concentration. What an impact it had on an
historically excluded community which was used to everyday abuse and
humiliation, scolded and booted out from every possible position and
premises of prominence!
They
were witnessing nothing short of a miracle happening in front of their
eyes: at least one of them was so powerful and mighty that he could
command the commanders, he could ask them to leave the hall, so far only
they were asked to leave or not to enter but now the process had
started to reverse, they could expect better things and larger things to
happen. It worked as a great morale booster in the on-going
psychological warfare, as at the ground and material level, conditions
were otherwise utterly hostile. It was another master stroke with which
Kanshi Ram prepared his cadre of highest conviction, unflinching
commitment and stunning courage. The political seed of emancipation and
empowerment started getting the right fertilizer, light and water. The
journey for reclaiming the fullest humane personality began in right
earnest discarding the politics of dependency and demoralisation. Kanshi
Ram emerged as the symbol of articulation, assertion and emancipation
for the historically despised humanity. The politics of North India was
never to remain the same again. The Dalits declared their arrival as
conscious, capable catalysts of change and transformation of Indian
politics and consequently socio-cultural structures, with democratic
élan. The next two decades witnessed intense politicisation of eager
masses that were determined to change: ‘Vote Hamara, Raj Tumahra, Nahi Chalega‘ to ‘Vote Se Lenge CM PM, Aarakshan Se SP DM‘.
By the
process of awakening the masses and inducing them into meaningful
involvement in the democratic process, Kanshi Ram was able to convince
the Dalits, Backwards and converted religious Minorities, whom he
collectively called as Bahujans, that political power has great
transformative potential and was a great facilitator for destroying
socio economic inequalities. The right to vote is the most precious
possession of the Bahujan Samaj and they must exercise it with utmost
efficiency to bring the desired political change. As all other resources
i.e. education, wealth and power are not in their favour they must
realise the significance of vote as their numerical preponderance was
decisive in the majority driven democratic system. The very name
‘Bahujan Samaj Party’ of the organisation was a marvel of socio-cultural
philosophy and political stewardship. The idea of Bahujan explains the
origin, status and objectives of the party. Not only does Bahujan
signify the philosophy, perspective and programme but positively sets
the agenda for the mission as it is widely called, in the form of ‘Jati Todo Samaj Jodo‘.
Graded
inequality with hierarchic and hostile castes as warring factions have
remained the backbone of brahamanical supremacy as the Bahujan Samaj was
divided into more than 6700 subgroups. Kanshi Ram called them as caste
victims and on the basis of collective victimhood started mobilising
them, providing alternative notions of identity, history and culture of
India, extensively using Buddha, Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar and many more
social revolutionaries who fought for change and self-respect of the
Bahujan Samaj. In contrast to the brahamanical traditions of keeping the
masses in the dark and utter ignorance, this mobilisation was enabling,
empowering and enlightening the Bahujans and specially the neediest
ones desirous of change and transformation in its initial years.
Kanshi
Ram made a feverish pitch to be an honest claimant to represent the
constituency of both Chaudhry Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram and up to
some extent Abdulla Bukhari. It was nothing less than a political coup
in the Indian subcontinent and brought caste and its related debate to
the fore and changed the agenda for Indian politics. The Bahujans were
unleashed from their great political slumber and hibernation and having
been being there for centuries together had developed an enormous
appetite for reclaiming their lost glory and positions. The great
democratic principle of power to the people starting taking its toll on
the hegemonic caste status quo and the participation and representation
of Bahujan started assuming substantial proportions.
The Lok
Sabha accounting for less than ten Other Backward Classes members in
early 80’s was made substantively representative to the tune of 200
members coming from this huge group constituting half of the India’s
population. As a hard core democrat, having complete faith in the
efficacy of constitutional means for the salvation of the innocuous
masses, Kanshi Ram infused great enthusiasm and versatility into
otherwise pale and procedural democracy in the hands of brahamanical
tyrant minority. The faith poised by the caste victims in the Indian
constitution and political democracy paved way for the widening and
enrichment of democratic élan of the system suffering from the caste
disease. One of the political novelties introduced by Kanshi Ram was the
declaration of ‘Indian constitution as election manifesto’. Till date
the BSP does not bring out an election manifesto and swears by the
constitution alone. Kanshi Ram by bringing in masses as real actors
provided grassroots support system dismantling the core, mantle and
crust of the essentially undemocratic society. Rightly, Kanshi Ram
earned the reputation of ‘greatest social democrat’ of modern times.
Handling
caste in politics largely remained the exclusive preserve of the caste
Hindus in the post-47 era, paying great political dividends to the
hegemonic control of the Brahmanics. Kanshi Ram successfully used caste
to the benefit of the caste victims, as an effective and powerful tool
of consolidation and mobilisation of the Bahujan majority. Those
enjoying the fruits of casteism for centuries started feeling the heat
of their own creation and started crying ill about caste in politics.
Caste victims having realised the importance of democratic polity and
their numerical advantage, initiated the process of correcting the
historical imbalance putting the wheel of democracy on the tracks and in
this way bringing power back to the people. This was a great move
towards extricating the caste victims from socio-political dependence,
realising their humane potential for empowering enlightenment. This
process of Bahujan empowerment restores the dignity and self-respect of
the great masses kept politically enslaved by the brahamanical
conspiracy. The actualization of their democratic propensities with
critical faculties set in motion the questioning of their ‘divine
dependence’– the Bahujan declared their resolution for restoring the
great Buddhist philosophy of rational egalitarianism as ‘Atto-deep-Bhave‘, self-enlightenment as the basic principle of human relations and social reorganisation.
The
movement started by Kanshi Ram gave enormous grassroots fillip to the
Buddhist socio-cultural proliferation in the country. Each Bahujan cadre
is the embodiment of liberating consciousness and exemplary courageous
convictions determined to mend vicious minds and constructing
compassionate humane relations. Liberating Bahujan Samaj from the
self-abnegatory mental bondage and by creating perennial training
channels of innumerable insurmountable ’self-motivated-activated’ human
resources, Kanshi Ram unleashed the great humanity into meaningful
action, fast leading the path to emancipation, empowerment and
enlightenment. It is appropriate, for his unprecedented contribution to
the cause of humanity and civilizational development, for him to be
acknowledged as greatest contemporary Buddhist or modern Buddha.
As an
epitome of sacrifice, struggle and success, Kanshi Ram established
unparalleled standards for the liberative Bahujan movement in modern
India. His is a simple example of how a single individual can make his
mark on his times and be instrumental in changing the course of history.
Indian democracy suffering from the brahmanical virus lacked legitimacy
and credibility for almost four decades. Kanshi Ram brought the masters
of democracy, the masses into action and made them the real,
substantial actors doing away with the democratic deficit. With highest
conviction, unflinching commitment, ruthless dedication and meticulous
executions with absolute focused approach, Kanshi Ram created phenomenal
results in transforming Dalits into dynamic and diligent future rulers
of the country abandoning their docile, diffident, dependency, by
declaring that ‘our ultimate aim is to rule India‘.
~~~