New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram, 72, died of heart attack in New Delhi on early Monday.

The bachelor-politician, who brought about new resurgence among Dalits, a people dismissed as untouchables for centuries, passed away after a prolonged illness at his protégé and BSP chief Mayawati's residence.



Kanshi had been suffering from numerous illnesses including diabetes and hypertension and was last seen in March this year at his 72nd birthday, confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak.



The BSP founder, whose life was never free of controversies, found himself in the middle of one even after death.



As Mayawati announced he would be cremated at the Nigambodh Ghat here, his family demanded that they be allowed to perform his last rites.



“According to Kanshi Ramji’s wishes, his mortal remains will not be immersed in any river but will be kept at the party offices in Lucknow and Delhi,” Mayawati, the former UP chief minister, told reporters.



LIKE AMBEDKAR, HE TOO EMBRACED BUDDHISM



Born on March 15, 1934, as a Raedasi Sikh, a community of Punjabi chamars (untouchables), Kanshi Ram converted to Buddhism, following in the footsteps of the legendary Dalit leader B R Ambedkar.



He was the first graduate in the family of seven children and founded the BSP in 1984 with the aim of ushering 'untouchables' into the corridors of power. The party now has 15 seats in the Lok Sabha.



TO DALITS, HE WAS A MESSIAH





Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were among those who came to pay their last respects

“Nobody can deny it was only his efforts that made the Dalits a force to reckon with. He was solely responsible for making the BSP a ruling party in Uttar Pradesh and now a party that matters even in national politics," ardent follower Anil Shandlilya said as he watched Central ministers pay tribute to the late leader at Mayawati's home.



Amongst those who came to pay their last respects were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and ministers Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani.



The PM, who left for London Monday, condoled the death of the BSP leader, saying he was an important voice of the Dalits.



The growing crowds that flocked to see Kanshi Ram’s body were visible proof of what the prime minister said.



“He was our leader. He was the leader who convinced us that our voices and votes matter,” said Babu Ram, who took an early morning train from Uttar Pradesh for a last glimpse of the body.



Kanshi Ram realised early that the Dalits, who comprise 17 per cent of India's population, could be channelled into a powerful political force. He launched an organisation for protecting the interests of Dalit workers in government in 1978. In 1981, he floated a political forum — the Dalit Shoshit Sangharsh Samiti.



In 1987, three years after founding the BSP, he unsuccessfully contested parliamentary elections from Allahabad against former prime minister V P Singh. But he later won from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh 1991 and entered the Lok Sabha.



There was no looking back after that. The party catapulted to power in Uttar Pradesh in 1995 and he nominated Mayawati as chief minister of India's most populous state.



HIS HEIRESS, KIN NEVER SAW EYE TO EYE



Although his association with Mayawati gave the couple star status and their party political influence, Kanshi Ram's family was irked by the friendship. This became worse in the last two years when Kanshi Ram fell sick and was shut out from the world — and his family.



While he convalesced at Mayawati's residence, his family alleged that she was holding him captive in order to control the BSP and massive party funds.



A visibly irritated Mayawati brought the wheelchair-bound Kanshi Ram before television cameras on the occasion of her 48th birthday in January 2005 where Kanshi Ram's siblings were also present.



In December last year, when his mother passed away, Kanshi Ram's sister Bishen Kaur reiterated her complaints saying that Mayawati had not allowed the family to meet him.





HC rejects plea for Post-Mortem

The Delhi High Court on refused to order a post-mortem of the body of BSP leader Kanshi Ram, who died in the capital early Monday. Justice S N Agarwal, however, granted police protection to Harbans Singh and Swarn Kaur siblings of Kanshi Ram to attend his cremation at Nigambodh ghat.





CREMATION AMID UNSEEMLY ROW

The unseemly last-minute feud between Kanshi Ram’s family and his protege Mayawati over his mortal remains hung like a cloud at his funeral at Nigambodh Ghat in Delhi.



His brother, Dalbara Singh, moved the Delhi High Court seeking custody of the body.



BSP spokesman Sudhir Goyal said Mayawati had taken care to inform the family as soon as Kanshi Ram breathed his last, something disputed by the family members who say they came to know of his death through news on TV.



"Mayawati had duly informed Kanshi Ram's family in the middle of the night. They even came and saw the body at 8 am. It is only thereafter that they announced they would move the court,” he said.



Dalit activist-writer Chandrabhan Prasad described the hue and cry raised by the family as an attempt to get some slice of attention. “After all, Kanshi Ram is today’s Ambedkar. e gave the Dalits a taste of power, something that Ambedkar dreamt of,” he said.

- Lakshmi Iyer