Dynamics Of Kansi Ram’s Movement
By Vivek Kumar
18 March, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Kanshi Ram (March 15th, 1934 to October 8th, 2006) most lovingly referred and remembered as ‘Saheb’ (in Maharashtra) or ‘Sahab’ (in North India) or as ‘Manyavar’ among his followers remains an unsung hero of Bahujan Samaj as most of the social reformers of the Bahujan samaj do. He remained most enigmatic personality throughout 1980s and 90s who played the most significant role in Indian politics after Independence. It is believed by many that he proved that politics of socially marginalized and poor people can also succeed without the help of literate, intellectuals, business houses and urban gentry. He single-handedly changed the mainstream politics of the most populated state Uttar Pradesh and thereby, the Indian polity itself.
An Organic Leader without Structural Support
A simple man away from show and pomp, Kansi Ram was an organic leader who had developed a direct cord with the excluded and the oppressed. He was not a leader imposed on masses from above just because he was born in a family of politicians or to parents of high caste/class. He was not from twice born caste like Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, Sarvapalli Radaha Kirshnan etc., to name just a few. Neither had he had the support of the Brahmanical social structure. Rather he arose from a humble background- a Ramdasi Sikh family of Punjab (Ropar) and vehemently criticised and condemned the Brahmanical social order. He categorically divided the Indian society in two broader categories - Manuvadies (believers of Manu Dharmashastra) constituting 15 per cent of the India’s population and the Bahujans with a majority 85 per cent who were the victims of Manu Dharmashastra. That is why he gave a slogan “Thakur Brahmin Baniya Chhod: Baki Sab hai DS-4” (Except Kshtriaya, Brahmin and Vaishya all are member of exploited Dalit society Struggle committee). He was neither foreign educated, nor a great intellectual, nor a great orator but of course an organizer par excellence. He knew his audience and hence used very simple language and repeated sentences. His appealed to masses can be judged by the huge crowds at his rallies. People who attended his rallies were not charmed by his money or gifts, but had faith in him and were convinced by the future he dreamt of. Hence it is more important to recognize his achievements as an individual which are more genuine than of so many other so-called upper caste leaders.
Carving out History and Pantheon of Leaders
Manyavar used to tell in his cadre camps that, “The people whose non-political roots are not strong cannot succeed politically”. It is in this context that Manyavar started constructing history of Dalit society. The only available history he found was history of Dalit exploitation and their struggle against it. He had himself written that, “As victims of the Brahminical culture, for centuries, the Shudras and Ati-Shudras, now known as Backward Classes (S.C., S.T., and OBC) were passing through the Dark Age. Around 1848 Jotirao Phule initiated revolt against the Brahminical culture”. He further wrote, “From the beginning of the 20th century the oppressed and exploited communities all over India started revolting against the system of which they were victims for centuries. A look at the map of India from North-west to North-East and then to South will indicate a fair sprinkling of the revolt in every nook and corner of the country…we see the emergence of movements such as the Adi Dharmis, the Jatavas, Kureels, Adi-Hindus, the Namo-Shudras…towards the south we come across the movements of Satnamis, Ramnamis, the Adi-Andhra, Adi- Dravid in Tanil Nadu. The Pulayas, Thiyas, Ezava in Kerela, Adi-Karnataka on the western coast and to top them all the movement of the Mahars led by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in the Western and Central India”.
Along with the history of the struggle of Dalits and OBCs Manyavar also traced the leaders who revolted against the Brahmanical social order in different parts of the country. This is what we can call as a pantheon of leaders. Five social reformers, who were born in the Bahujan society and revolted against the Brahminical Social Order were Mahatma Jotiba Phule (Maharashtra), Narayna Guru (Kerala), Rajarishi Sahuji Maharaj (Maharashtra), Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Maharashtra) and E.V. Ramaswami Naicker (Periyar) (Tamil Nadu). Another aspect of their life struggle was anti-Congress-ism. We are reminded of Periyar who was once president of Tamil Nadu Congress and in 1925 declared, ‘no god, no religion, no Gandhi, no Congress and no Brahmins’ as his political agenda. Ambedkar had written his view in his book ‘What Gandhi and Congress have done to untouchables’. To popularize the aforesaid five leaders, he used the local language by referring them as Pagriwala Baba (Old man with a turban) for Phule, Phetewala or Achkanwala Baba {man with safa (fluffy turban) or gown} for Sahuji Maharaj, Tiewala Baba (man with neck-tie) for Ambedkar and Dadiwala Baba (man with a beard) for Periyar. In this way Manyavar Kansi Ram created an unbroken history of the Bhaujan Struggle. When Manyavar’s movement spread to the nook and corner of India, he added Birsa Munda, the tribal leader from the Munda Tribe of Jharkhand. He also added Guru Ghasi Das in Madhya Pradesh.
Understanding the Void of the Media
Along with constructing a continuous history of 158 years Bahujan struggle which began in 1848 with Jotiba Phuley and constituting pantheon of leaders Kansi Ram tried to establish a parallel media of the Bahujans to mobilize the masses. He dubbed the mainstream media as ‘Manuwadi’. Therefore he started publishing own magazines and Newspapers. ‘The Untouchable India’ a fortnightly was the first magazine published on June 1st, 1972. Since 1979, he along with BAMCEF published the monthly magazine ‘The Oppressed Indian’. Kanshi Ram himself wrote the editorials of this magazine. ‘Bahujan Times’ was the Dalit Daily newspaper started on March 31st, 1984 in Marathi, August 14th 1984 in English and on December 6th 1984 in Hindi. These papers were simultaneously started from New Delhi and Maharashtra. In fact Manyavar had also started publishing monthlies with the names –Bahujan Sahitya, Shramik Sahitya, Economic Upsurge, Arthik Utthan, and B R C Bulletin to raise the different issues of Bahujans. These magazines and newspapers died out because of resource crunch and lack of readership. ‘Bahujan Sangathak’ and ‘Bahujan Nayak’ were two weeklies published in Hindi and Marathi respectively from New Delhi and Maharashtra. Bahujan Sangathak continued for many years even after Kanshi Ram’s. Bahujan media did help in raising Bahujan consciousness.
A democrat to the core
A democrat to the core Kanshi Ram believed in democratic values and constitutional provisions. He was convinced of power of political elections and voting rights which have been enshrined in the constitution to Bahujans. He believed that right of votes is a valuable equalizer; with ‘one man -one vote and one vote -one value’. However this can help only when ‘you learn to use it meticulously’. So he taught his cadres the judicious use of their votes by even going on fast on the of voting. His following slogans prove his deep faith in the Indian democracy. “Vote Humara Raj Tumhara Nahi Chelega – Nahi chalega”; (Our Vote and Your Rule, No Longer, No Longer) “Vote Se Lenge PM CM- Arakshan Se Lenge SP –DM” (form votes we will have Prime Minister and Chief Minister and from reservations Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate); ‘Jiski Jitni Sankhya Bhari Uski Utni Bhagedari’ (each community should get according to the percentage of its population). It is in this context of realization of political power for the last person of the caste ridden Indian society Kanshi Ram argued that political Power is master key from which you can solve all your problems and their fore he formed democratic organizations to mobilize his people.
Recognizing Dynamism of Kansi Ram’s movement
Kansi Ram’s movement was dynamic in nature. He perpetually experimented by mobilizing people and envisaging a larger goal for his movement by incorporating more and more people in it. He politically socialized them by forming different types of organizations, in his cadre camps which used to run for days and by organizing political programmes which used to run for months. Dynamics can be observed in the formation of organizations. He began by organizing the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) employees in small district of Maharashtra that is Poona (now Pune) in 1971. Then added Other Backward Castes (OBC) and ‘Converted Religious Minorities’ to these SCs and STs under the umbrella of Backward and Minorities Communities Employees’ Federation (BAMCEF) in 1978 at all India level. In 1981 Kansi Ram established a separate organization called Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti DS-4 for mobilizing Bahujan Samaj through which he tested political strength of Bahujan Samaj. Finally he launched a political party called Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on April 14th, 1984. In this manner he moved from a non-political, non-agitation-al and non-religious organization BAMCEF to limited political and agitation-al agenda of DS-4 to BSP with out and out political agenda. Further dynamics was evident in the nature of his programmes for political socialization and mobilization which included seminars like ‘Will Ambedkarism Revive or Survive’, ‘Who will fund the Bahujan Movement’, ‘Ambedkar Mela on Wheels’, ‘Denunciation of Poona pact’, , ‘Miracle of two Feet and two wheels’; ‘Peoples’ parliament’ etc. Each programme was designed so that it can cover more and more people in both rural to urban areas.
The dynamics of his politics ranged from independent mobilization to alliance, to coalition politics. Through BSP he weaned out Dalits from the folds of Congress (I) by establishing an alliance with OBCs, religious minorities and some so-called upper castes independently on his own. Initially it came to power in alliance with Samajwadi Party (1993), once with outside support of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) ( in June 1995), once with BJP forming coalition government with alternate six-month Chief Ministership arrangement begging in 1997, and twice it has come to power on its own (2003) and 2007 (full five year term). However, nowhere, it looked; BSP was not in control of the political situation and compromised its ideological position. Throughout its regimes Uttar Pradesh remained free from communal frenzy. Not a mean achievement in an otherwise communally sensitive State. Nobody could have imagined this scenario 25 years back that by his organizational strength and political mobilization Kansi Ram would relegate the two national political parties Congress (I) and BJP in the Uttar Pradesh to periphery and establish BSP as a national political party.
The Real Heir of Babasaheb Ambedkar
From the life and struggle one can definitely establish that Manyavar was the true inheritor of Babasaheb’s legacy; however Manyavar himself always argued that he is only giving a “practical shape to Baba Saheb’s theoretical formulation and in turn trying to fulfil the unfinished movement of Baba Saheb”. The way he popularized his ideas, particularly the emphasis on capture of political power by the Dalits and erstwhile servile classes, the way he took forward his anti-congress-ism and propagated independent movements both social and political, establish parallel media etc., one is forced to call him as the real heir of Babasaheb. The following slogans framed by the cadres of BSP tell how people had pinned their hopes in him to fulfil Ambedkar’s dream:
Baba Tera Mission Adhura
Kanshi Ram Karenga Pura
(Babasaheb, Kanshi Ram will complete your unfulfilled Mission).Kansi Teri Nek Kamai
Tune Soti Qaum Jagai
(Kansi Ram, you have done good job by waking up the sleeping community.
Conclusions
To conclude Manyavar Kansi Ram had set out with an agenda of ‘Social transformation and economic emancipation’ of Bahujan Samaj through a democratic revolution. He succeeded to a large extent by organizing a part of 85 per cent of the Indian population. His success can be judged by the success of his endeavour in creating of history of Bahujan struggle, successful Bahujan political organization and in creation of an ‘Other-The Manuwad’ against whom battle can be pitched. By doing all this he has successfully challenged the upper caste political hegemony and has strengthened Indian democracy. Long Live Kanshi Ram
Vivek Kumar is Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems , Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi. The writer has been Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York, USA
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