 "Kanshi Ram")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is divided over awarding Bharat Ratna to Dalit icon Kanshi Ram, given his strident criticism of the Sangh Parivar during his lifetime. However, there is consensus in the party that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as well as Subhas Chandra Bose should be given the award.
Some within the BJP argue that awarding Bharat Ratna to Kanshi Ram will consolidate the party’s recent outreach to the Dalits. They say honouring both Kanshi Ram and Vajpayee will send a strong message among both Dalits and Brahmins — two traditional vote banks of the Congress. A source said it would be a political masterstroke, consistent with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Congress-free India.
In recent years, the Brahmins have gravitated towards the BJP in north India. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections saw many Dalit communities voting for the BJP, particularly in Bihar where Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan was an ally of the BJP. Dalits are electorally significant in nearly all states, but particularly across the Hindi heartland, as also in Punjab and Haryana.
The Dalit leadership within the BJP says Kanshi Ram wasn’t just the founder of Bahujan Samaj Party and that his legacy cannot be appropriated by a single party. They say Kanshi Ram was a Dalit icon who did pioneering work in bringing Dalit government employees under the umbrella of BAMCEF or All India Backward (SC, ST, OBC) and Minority Employees Federation in the early 1970s.
Honouring Kanshi Ram, it has been argued, would help the BJP make inroads into BSP chief Mayawati’s support base among Jatavs. The BSP may not have won a single seat in Uttar Pradesh but received 20 per cent vote share and remains a threat to the BJP, which aims to repeat its Lok Sabha performance in the state in the Assembly elections slated for 2017; and before that, in by-elections to 12 Assembly seats by the end of this year.
Party sources said that Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have been awake to the political possibilities of awarding Bharat Ratna to Kanshi Ram. They point to the political resolution adopted at the National Council meeting of the BJP on Saturday, which noted: “BJP got huge support on seats reserved for SC/STs in these elections as a result of which maximum number of SC/ST MPs got elected on BJP ticket. Three SC candidates of BJP won on general seats.” Shah said at the meeting the party had “expanded its base among the youth, women, SCs, STs and backward communities. Our historic victory marks the beginning of the end of the Congress era.”
There is, however, an equally strong lobby within the BJP that has opposed any move to give Bharat Ratna to Kanshi Ram, pointing out how virulently anti-BJP the leader was. Those arguing the award be given to Kanshi Ram now think they might be fighting a losing battle.
“But we are hopeful for 2015. At least Kanshi Ramji’s name has been discussed this year,” said a senior Dalit leader in the BJP.
Rules specify that only three Bharat Ratnas can be awarded in a year. Sources said the government could announce the award for three recipients for year 2014, given that cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and scientist C N R Rao were given the award by the previous United Progressive Alliance government for the year 2013, though the award ceremony took place in February 2014.
Apart from Vajpayee, the government is also keen to award Bose, his family’s protests notwithstanding. The party is of the view that this would send a positive message in West Bengal where the freedom fighter is revered. The BJP won an unprecedented 17 per cent vote share in West Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections. Shah counted West Bengal as a state where the party aimed to expand its base and form a government in the 2016 Assembly elections. Journalist Swapan Dasgupta tweeted on Monday: "Does the memory of Netaji Subhas belong only to his family? Nirad Chaudhuri used to say Netaji Trading Company".
