Award Bharat Ratna to Kanshi Ram or stop misleading Dalits: Mayawati to BJP

Mayawati on Friday hit out at the BJP over a party MP seeking the Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram, saying the saffron party, which is in power at the Centre, should either award the highest civilian honour to the BSP founder or stop "misleading" Dalits.

BJP MP from Shahjahanpur, Arun Kumar Sagar, on Thursday demanded in the Lok Sabha that Kanshi Ram be conferred with the Bharat Ratna.

Hailing Kanshi Ram as a 'Bahujan Nayak', Sagar said the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder was an ace politician and a social reformer who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of the downtrodden.

BSP chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, in a post in Hindi on X, said if the BJP-led central government confers the Bharat Ratna on Kanshi Ram, the party would welcome it wholeheartedly.

"Instead of a Dalit MP of BJP from UP demanding Bharat Ratna for BSP founder Shri Kanshi Ram ji, (the BJP) should immediately get it done as its government is in power at the centre and the BSP will welcome it wholeheartedly. Else (the BJP) should stop misleading Dalits," she said.

Mayawati also alleged that the Union Budget failed to give proper attention to a poor and backward state like Uttar Pradesh which has a huge population.

In the budget presented by the NDA government in Parliament, the allocation was done in a biased manner for political gains instead of national and public interests, she said.

Although such step-motherly treatment by the Centre towards some states is not new as the BSP government had faced it too when it was in power in Uttar Pradesh, she said.

"The non-BJP ruled states are unhappy with the budget and have decided not to participate in the meeting of the NITI Aayog regarding this. How fair is it not to pay proper attention to a poor and backward state with a huge population like UP? It is very important for the Centre to keep the country and public interests paramount," she added in another post.