Lucknow, March 15 BSP supremo Mayawati on Sunday urged the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna on party founder Kanshi Ram, and not make the same mistake the Congress did with B R Ambedkar when it came to the award.
In a statement on Sunday on the birth anniversary of Kanshi Ram, Mayawati attacked the Samajwadi Party, Congress, and the BJP, saying they only talk about the Bahujan, but rarely work for their uplift.
"The Muslim community has significantly dissociated itself from these parties, and with the Brahmin community associating with the BSP, it seems that SP's political and caste-animosity have intensified," Mayawati said.
She hailed Kanshi Ram for his work for an egalitarian society and urged the BJP-led Centre to bestow the highest civilian award on him.
"Like the Congress party, which did not honour the architect of India's Constitution, Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, with Bharat Ratna, the current BJP-NDA government at the Centre should not make any further delay in honouring 'Bahujan' leader Kanshi Ram ji with the Bharat Ratna.
"His contribution in creating an egalitarian society in the country, as enshrined in the Constitution, is historic, and for this reason, he too resides in the hearts of the people," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
"He not only created a political force, but also formed a government in a large and important state like Uttar Pradesh, and made me its chief minister," she said about the Dalit icon.
Mayawati's statement came a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that had Jawaharlal Nehru been alive, then Kanshi Ram would have been made a chief minister from the Congress.
Nehru, India's first prime minister, died in 1964, while Kanshi Ram broke out onto the political scene with his founding of backwards-championing BAMCEF in 1978, and later bolstered his position with the formation of the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984.
In his tribute to the Dalit icon, Gandhi said Mahatma Gandhi, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Kanshi Ram never compromised on their principles.
Gandhi was speaking at the Samvidhan Sammelan held in Lucknow ahead of Kanshi Ram's birth anniversary.
He said, "If Jawaharlal Nehru were alive, then Kanshi Ram would have been a chief minister from the Congress."
After Gandhi's speech, a proposal was passed resolving that when the Congress is voted to power, it would confer Kanshi Ram with a Bharat Ratna.
Born in Punjab's Rupnagar on March 15, 1934, Kanshi Ram worked for the upliftment and political mobilisation of people belonging to backward classes.
He founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) in 1978, the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti in 1981, before forming the BSP in 1984.
Kanshi Ram was elected to the Lok Sabha from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh in 1991 and from Hoshiarpur in Punjab in 1996. He also served as a Rajya Sabha member from 1998 to 2004.
Kanshi Ram died on October 9, 2006, in Delhi at 71.