Comments on: Kanshi Ram

By: Prakash

Prakash — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:25:55 +0000

Well written Prithvi,
Kanshi Ram, Mayavati,Laloo,Mulayam,Ram Vilas Paswan, Nithish Kumar, Ajit Jogi are all leaders of their respective outfits who one time looked very promising .Finally down the lane flip flopped on real issues facing the Dalits and joined hands with bigger parties for personal gains . somewhere the purpose got diluted over the time.
So there never was a leader representing the backward classes.
Like the britishers split the Indians to rule our land .Likewise the bigger parties split these regional parties which were founded to represent the backward/farming community in the quest for power.
will there be some leader in the future?

By: TheThirdMan

TheThirdMan — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 20:21:23 +0000

Great piece, thanks!

I think that you have hit it on the head by suggesting that a suffering class (or sub-class) are best led by one of their own people. Perhaps a parallel can drawn to Gandhi’s telling Charlie Andrews that India’s freedom must be fought by Indians.

As an Indian, I have always been struck by the various classes we divide ourselves into, the north and south, caste, sub-caste, skin colour, whatever. It is not that other countries do not have similar divides, but with Indians it seems to be so entrenched. I have been asked my caste by fellow Indians frequently - many times outside India! With this reality - and the terrible oppression of the Dalits because they were born, and had no control over to whom - Kanshi Ram united his people and gave them a stronger voice.

Kanshi Ram’s realpolitik brought a Dalit to the Chief Minister’s chair, something that the idealism of Lohia and even Gandhi could not achieve.

By: December Stud

December Stud — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:56:00 +0000

Kanshi Ram will be rememebred for his caste politics and not for the “achievement” of making an “untouchable” woman the CM of the largest state in India.

Let me not talk about Kanshi Ram, now that he is dead. But, BSP as a party stooped to such a low level that it made mockery out of the gutter in Indian politics.

Like the British, like the Romans and like the Anglo-Normans, BSP thrives on “Divide and Rule”. I have no respect or parise for such a party.