Lucknow, March 13 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that if Jawaharlal Nehru had been alive, Kanshi Ram would have been appointed as the chief minister by the Congress.
Nehru, India's first prime minister, died in 1964, while Kanshi Ram rose to prominence in the political scene with the founding of BAMCEF, which championed the cause of backward classes, in 1978, and later solidified his position with the formation of the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984.
In his tribute to the Dalit icon, Gandhi said that Mahatma Gandhi, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Kanshi Ram never compromised on their principles.
He was speaking at the Samvidhan Sammelan held in Lucknow ahead of Kanshi Ram's birth anniversary.
"The path we were following should have been pursued more vigorously. The Congress party has made some mistakes," said the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
He stated that if the Congress had acted effectively, Kanshi Ram "would not have been successful." He added, "If Jawaharlal Nehru were alive, Kanshi Ram would have been a chief minister from the Congress."
Later, UP Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi told