Today
March
15
is
the
birth
anniversary
of
Babu
Kanshi
Ram
(March
1934
–
October
2006),
a
visionary
leader
of
the
dalits
in
the
contemporary
times
after
Baba
Sahib
Bhim
Rao
Ambedkar.
Babu
Kanshi
Ram
was
a
legendary
personality,
in
the
socio-political
firmament
of
India
during
his
life
time
and
will
remain
so
in
the
years
to
come.
The
dalits,
rightly
and
sincerely,
address
him
out
of
reverence,
as
Manyawar,
Sahib,
Babuji,
etc.
If
the
social
media
organs
like
the
Face
Book
are
any
indication
of
the
standing
of
the
person,
I
think
Babu
Kanshi
Ram
has
a
definite
space
and
place
in
the
emerging
dalit
consciousness.
It
is a
biggest
and
befitting
tribute
to
the
memory
of
Babu
Kanshi
Ram.Babu Kanshi Ram belonged to an ordinary and simple family of district Ropar in Punjab. After graduating in science he joined one of the established governmental scientific laboratories to earn his bread and butter. He had no political inclination in the early formative years of his life but it seems that he must be fully alive to the socio-political ground realities. These ground realities did not allow him to continue with his job. Babu Kanshi Ram revolted, studied and analyzed Mahatma Phule and Dr. Ambedkar and also Lord Buddha and jumped into the public life to cajole the fellow dalits to stand up and ask for their due share n the power structures of India. His commitment and involvement was total. He sacrificed the comforts of life to inculcate the sense of self esteem and shed the feeling of inferiority complex among the dalits. He voluntarily undertook and said “I will never get married, I will never acquire any property, I will never visit my home, and I will devote and dedicate the rest of my life to achieve the goals of Phule-Ambedkar movement “. From 1965 onwards to 1978, he worked tirelessly to gear the dalit community for the bigger things to capture political power. In 1978 he launched his first organization: Backward and Minority Communities' Employees' Federation, popularly known as BAMCEF. Three years later, he founded another organization: DS-4 (Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti). And finally on 14 April 1984 ( birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar) , Babu Kanshi announced the formation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to realize and achieve the goal set out by Dr. Ambedkar , "Understand our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to become the rulers of this country. Write this goal on the walls of your houses so that you will never forget. Our struggle is not for the few jobs and concessions but we have a larger goal to achieve. That goal is to become the rulers of the land." Babu Kanshi Ram left no stone unturned and within a few years made the BSP a force to reckon with. Babu Kanshi Ram reiterated this goal at the International Dalit Conference and said “We must become the rulers instead of being ruled”.
All said, it is matter of regret that Babu Kanshi Ram arrived but could not reach. The caravan was to be carried forwarded by the followers and dalit masses. It appears that the forces of ‘ divide and rule’ are gaining upper hand. The leaders made and supported by Kanshi Ram himself have gone berserk. The time and the tribulations may correct the course in due time. But the legacy of Babu Kanshi Ram will remain. His mission and vision is as good as today as it was before and it will remain so till the dalits don’t get their due space and share in the social, economic and political structures of India. In a poetic parlance, Babu Kanshi Ram’s message to dalits is: