Stories
Whose Kanshi Ram? Rahul, Akhilesh, Chandrashekhar, Mayawati in a Race
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News18•02-10-2026, 12:52
Whose Kanshi Ram? Rahul, Akhilesh, Chandrashekhar, Mayawati in a Race
- •Rahul Gandhi is reiterating the slogan 'Jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni bhagidari' and demanding Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram.
- •Akhilesh Yadav adopted the PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) formula in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and fielded Dalit candidates, eight of whom won.
- •Chandrashekhar Azad has added Kanshi Ram's name to his party, 'Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)', and is trying to become a leader of Dalits.
- •Under Mayawati's leadership, BSP is continuously weakening, entangled in party and family disputes, and not publicly active.
- •Out of 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, 84 are reserved for Scheduled Castes, and in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP and SP each won eight of the 17 SC-reserved seats.
Key Questions Answered
In the 1980s, the rise of Kanshi Ram and his founding of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1984 directly targeted and absorbed Congress's core Dalit vote bank.
Ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi is invoking Kanshi Ram's slogans and demanding a Bharat Ratna for him, while Akhilesh Yadav has introduced the PDA formula and fielded Dalit candidates on reserved and general seats.
Mayawati expressed displeasure over the demand, calling it absurd given that Congress did nothing to honor him while in power, and labeled it a calculated strategy by rival parties to capture Dalit votes for the approaching assembly elections.
