Kanshi Ram: Architect of Dalits' rise to power

New Delhi, Oct 9 (UNI) Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram's transformation from an organiser of Scheduled Caste and Backward Class government employees to the architect of Dalits' rise to political power would always be the most engaging chapter of the country's post-independence history.

The process started the day when Mr Ram, hailing from a Dalit family in Ropar district of Punjab, read Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's 'Annihilation of Caste' thrice in one night without going to sleep.

The book in fact acted as a catalyst to a process of revolt against high caste prejudice which he had encountered during late 1960s when he was caught up in a struggle launched by Scheduled Caste employees to prevent the abolition of a holiday commemorating Dr Ambedkar's birthday.

Kanshi Ram was born in 1934 as a Raedasi Sikh, a community of Punjabi Scheduled Castes converted to Sikhism. He was the son of a small landed farmer Hari Singh who had managed to educate all his four daughters and three sons.

After graduation, Mr Ram got a reserved position in the Survey of India, and in 1958 he was transferred to the Department of Defence Production as a scientific assistant in a munitions factory in Pune.

He was introduced to the political ideas of Ambedkar through his Mahar Buddhist colleague and friend at the munitions factory, D K Khaparde. Together, the two of them began formulating ideas for an organisation to be built by educated employees from the Scheduled and Backward Castes.

He finally left his job in 1971 and established the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities Employees Welfare Association along with his other collegues.

Within a year of its establishment there were more than 1,000 members, many from the Defence and Post and Telegraph Departments, and it opened an office in Pune.

Their first annual conference was addressed by the then Defence Minister, Jagjivan Ram.

Kanshi Ram's next organisational step was to create the basis of a national association of Scheduled Caste government servants. As early as 1973 he and his colleagues established the All India Backward and Minority Employees Federation (BAMCEF), and a functioning office was established in Delhi in 1976.

By the mid-1970s Kanshi Ram had established a broad network of contacts throughout Maharashtra and adjacent regions.

Once he had moved to Delhi he pushed into Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and further into Madhya Pradesh to recruit activists to his movement.

In 1980 he put together a roadshow called 'Ambedkar Mela on Wheels', to create awareness about Ambedkar's life and views and the oppression of the downtrodden.

Meanwhile, increasingly Kanshi Ram was being led into politics though his agita-tional activities. His first attempt to create a radical political vehicle capable of mobilising the larger body of Dalits was the Dalit SoshitSamaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS4) formed in 1981.

This was conceived as a political organisation parallel to BAMCEF. DS4 was a quasi- rather than fully fledged political party.

It was partly because government servants were forbidden to take part in electoral politics.

Not satisfied with the way things moved in DS4, Ram took the plunge and formed the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. a move that caused major strains in BAMCEF ranks.

Their agitational activities had put them in a delicate situation as they were government servants. Moreover, political loyalty of many of them was to the several strands of the Republican Party.

Finally, as early in as 1986 a major split took place, with Mr Kanshiram announcing that he was no longer willing to work for any organisation other than the Bahujan Samaj Party.

His transition from social worker to politician was complete.

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