Lucknow, 14

March (HS): Mayawati, the president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, questioned

Congress on Saturday over its promise to bestow the Bharat Ratna on BSP founder

Kanshi Ram if it wins power at the Centre. Mayawati asked party workers across

the country to remain watchful against what she saw as attempts by other

political parties, mainly Congress, to undermine the BSP. She said that despite

being in power at the Centre for several decades, the Congress never paid

proper tribute to B R Ambedkar, and she questioned how the party could suddenly

propose to commemorate Kanshi Ram, whose birth anniversary is on Sunday.

Congress

never honored Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the messiah of Dalits and the

major architect of the Constitution.He was never given the title of Bharat

Ratna... How the same party can suddenly praise Kanshi Ram, she said in her

post.

Her

statements came a day after a resolution was presented at the Congress'

Samvidhan Sammelan in Lucknow, declaring that if elected, the party will bestow

the Bharat Ratna to Kanshiram. When Kanshi Ram died, the Congress failed to

designate a single day of national mourning while in power at the centre.

Similarly, she stated that the then-ruling Samajwadi Party administration in

Uttar Pradesh did not declare state mourning. She went on to say that groups

and political parties purporting to represent the Dalit community, sometimes

serving as pawns in the hands of larger political parties, were continuously

utilizing Kanshi Ram's name for political benefit while attempting to damage

the BSP.

Currently,

all of these parties are using a variety of strategies to undermine and weaken

the BSP. As a result, his (Kanshi Ram) followers and allies must be vigilant,

particularly against Congress, whose anti-Dalit philosophy and attitude

necessitated the formation of the BSP, she stated. The BSP supremo also urged

party members to guarantee the success of activities organized across the

country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, on March 15 to commemorate Kanshi Ram's

birth anniversary. On Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stated that if

Jawaharlal Nehru were still alive, Kanshi Ram would have been appointed chief

minister by the Congress. Nehru, India's first prime minister, died in 1964,

while Kanshi Ram rose to prominence with the founding of the

backwards-championing BAMCEF in 1978, which was later strengthened by the

formation of the BSP in 1984.

Speaking

at the Samvidhan Sammelan, the Congress leader stated that Mahatma Gandhi,

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Kanshi Ram never compromised on their ideals.

We should

have traveled more quickly down the path we were on. The Leader of the

Opposition in the Lok Sabha admitted that the Congress party has made mistakes.

He stated that if the Congress had done its job, Kanshi Ram would not have

succeeded. He stated that if Jawaharlal Nehru were still alive, Kanshi Ram

would have been a Congress chief minister. Later,

Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesman Anshu Awasthi stated that following Gandhi's

speech, a resolution was made that the Congress will award Kanshi Ram the

Bharat Ratna if elected to power.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi