Mayawati accuses Cong, SP of vote bank politics over Bharat Ratna demand for Kanshi Ram

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) National President Mayawati on Tuesday accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress of exploiting the legacy of Kanshi Ram for political gains in view of next year’s elections in Uttar Pradesh.

She alleged that parties which ignored Kanshi Ram during their tenure in power are now, driven by vote-bank considerations, demanding that his birth anniversary be celebrated and that he be conferred with the ‘Bharat Ratna’.

She termed the move “opportunistic” and “politically motivated”.

In a post on social media platform X, Mayawati said that the SP, Congress and other parties were attempting to appropriate the legacy of the BSP founder to serve their electoral interests.

She also targeted the Congress, stating that it had failed to confer the country’s highest civilian award on Kanshi Ram when it was in power at the Centre, but is now demanding the honour from another government.

The BSP chief further accused these parties of consistently working to weaken the BSP, a party founded by Kanshi Ram, and asserted that such efforts would not succeed.

She maintained that as his political successor, she would continue to safeguard the party’s core ideology and organisational strength.

Mayawati also claimed that the opposition’s renewed focus on Kanshi Ram reflects a decline in the relevance of their own leaders, prompting them to invoke the legacy of BSP icons.

She alleged that several initiatives undertaken during the BSP rule in his honour were later diluted or reversed by subsequent governments led by the SP.

Citing Kanshi Ram’s book ‘Chamcha Yug’ (The age of the sycophants), she criticised what she described as “sycophantic politics” within rival parties.

The political debate over the issue further intensified after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded that Kanshi Ram be awarded the Bharat Ratna, describing him as a transformative leader who championed social justice.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had earlier put forth the demand, calling Kanshi Ram a guiding force for Bahujan consciousness and urging the Centre to recognise his contributions with the nation’s highest civilian honour.

IANS