Mayawati wants Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram
Lucknow,
Jan
13:
Uttar
Pradesh
Chief
Minister
and
Bahujan
Samaj
Party
(BSP)
chief,
Mayawati
today
said
that
the
Bharat
Ratna
should
also
be
conferred
on
her
party's
founder
Kanshi
Ram
for
his
contributions
in
the
uplift
of
the
Dalits.
"Kanshi Ram should also be conferred Bharat Ratna for his invaluable contributions in the uplift of Dalits and the oppressed," she said. Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending that the top civilian award be given to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
After that the name of the CPI-M veteran Jyoti Basu had also cropped up.
But, today, the Left has put cold water on its suggestions, saying that the party does not accept state awards.
On Thursday, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi had said that the issue must not be raised in public.
ANI