| Kanshi Ram | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Punjab |
| Political party | Bahujan Samaj Party |
Kanshi Ram (Hindi: कांशी राम) (March 15, 1934 – October 9, 2006) was an Indian politician. He founded the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a political party with the stated goal of serving the traditionally lower castes of Indian society (that historically also included untouchables). He transferred the BSP's leadership to Mayawati. His leadership brought the party to power in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh in 1995, at that point Mayawati became the state's Chief Minister.
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Kanshi Ram was born to Bishan Kaur and Hari Singh, of Dalit Ravidassia/Ramdassia/Chamar [1] Sikh background, at Khawaspur village in Ropar district of Punjab.
He completed his Bachelor's degree in Science (B.Sc) from the Government College at Ropar affiliated to The Punjab University.
Kanshi Ram joined the offices of the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), then part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in Pune, through a reserved quota for Scheduled Caste.
During his tenure in the DRDO in 1965 he joined the agitation started by Scheduled Caste Employees of Government of India to prevent the abolition of a holiday commemorating B.R. Ambedkar's birthday.
In 1978 he formed the, BAMCEF-Backward(SC/ST & OBC) and Minority Community Employees Federation. The BAMCEF was purely non political,Non Religious & Non Agitional organisation. Later on he formed another Social organisation known as DS4.He started his attempt of unifying the Dalit vote bank in 1981 and by 1984 he founded the Bahujan Samaj Party.
He represented the 11th Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur Constituency, Kanshiram was also elected as member of lok sabha from ETAWAH (UP) . In 2001 he publicly announced Kumari Mayawati as his successor.
He was already a diabetic and he suffered from a heart attack in 1994 followed by the formation of a clot in the brain artery in 1995. He has suffered a brain stroke in 2003.[2] From around 2004 or so, Kanshi Ram stopped appearing publicly as he was suffering from various health problems. He convalesced at the home of Mayawati.
On October 9, 2006, he died of a severe heart attack in New Delhi. Ram, who suffered from multiple ailments such as stroke, diabetes and hypertension, was virtually bed-ridden for more than two years.
According to his wish,[3] last ritual were performed as per buddhist tradition, the pyre of Kanshi Ram was lit by his soul heir Kumari Mayawati.[4] His ashes were placed in Urn and kept at Prerna Sthal, with huge procession accompanied by lakhs of supports.,[5][6]
As an author Kanshiram wrote two books