By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has come down heavily against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government for discriminating against Dalit icons such as Kanshi Ram while awarding Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madan Mohan Malviya.
Criticising the Modi-government on all fronts, she also attacked it for failing to deliver on the promises it had made prior to the Lok Sabha elections last year.
Mayawati (Courtesy: The Hindu)
The BJP-led government in December has announced to confer Bharat Ratna to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and educationist and politician Madan Mohan Malviya. “Just like the previous Congress-led UPA government, the NDA government is adopting the same discriminatory attitude while honouring two persons of the same caste – Vajpayee and Malviya – with the Bharat Ratna,” Mayawati told a press conference here on Saturday.
“Kanshi Ram should have been honoured keeping in mind his sacrifices and contribution. Similarly, Jyotiba Phule, who belonged to a backward caste, should have been given the award for his work in the field of education and efforts to establish equality in society,” she said adding, “Many other deserving persons have been ignored.”
She alleged that the government has not done anything for the betterment of the poor and the underprivileged ever since coming to power and is yet to bring back the black money stashed in foreign banks. “The government has failed to deliver on the promises it had made during Lok Sabha elections. It’s been around seven and a half months since BJP came to power and they have shown no inclination to do something for the betterment of the poor and the backward people.”
Alleging that the new government is working in the interest of capitalists, she said, “The Modi government is playing in the hands of capitalists and now they are out to help them as BJP won the elections with their monetary help and by adopting all wrong tactics.”
She also alleged that as per a conspiracy, the quota for Dalits and backwards was being neutralised by allocating major works to the private sector.
On the question of ‘ghar wapsi’ campaign under taken by Hindutva outfits affiliated with BJP, the BSP leader said they were hatching a conspiracy to spoil the atmosphere by raising the issue of conversion and promising a ‘Hindu Rashtra.’
The BJP, however, has dismissed Mayawati’s charge of discrimination terming it as politically motivated. “In a democracy, anybody can demand a Bharat Ratna. But to link a tall leader such as Atalji to casteism reveals narrow-minded thinking. He was above politics of caste and religion. He initiated the development agenda in the country and the BJP is committed to ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’,’’ said BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma.
Who was Kanshi Ram?
He was an Indian politician and social reformer who worked for the upliftment and political mobilization of the Dalits, the untouchable groups at the bottom of India’s caste system.
He was born in Sikh family of scheduled caste group. In 2002 he announced his intention to convert to Buddhism on October 14, 2006, the 50th anniversary of Ambedkar’s conversion.
In 1971, he founded All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees’ Federation (BAMCEF) – a non-political, non religious and non-agitational organisation and in 1984 floated the political outfit Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
In 1981, he founded the Dalit Soshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti or DS4 as a parallel association to the BAMCEF. It was created to fight against the attacks on the workers who were spreading awareness on the caste system. It was created to show that workers could stand united and that they too can fight.
He ceded leadership of the BSP in 2001 to his protégé Mayawati.
(Read more about Kanshi Ram on BSP’s official website here )