The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday demanded Bharat Ratna for late Kanshi Ram, the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party who successfully organised Dalits, backwards and minorities into a common political force.The demands were separately made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Kanshi Ram’s protege Mayawati, with even Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav saluting the legacy of the late leader.Rahul, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi written today on Kanshi Ram’s 92nd birth anniversary, said the BSP founder should be posthumously honoured with India’s highest civilian honour.BSP chief Mayawati also reiterated the demand at an event organised by the party in Lucknow in the memory of the late leader. She cautioned the BJP-led Centre against making the same mistake as the Congress made in not conferring the honour on BR Ambedkar.“Like the Congress, which did not honour the architect of India’s Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, with the Bharat Ratna, the current BJP-led NDA government at the Centre should not make any further delay in honouring Bahujan leader Kanshi Ram with the Bharat Ratna,” the BSP quoted Mayawati.Her remark came two days after Rahul claimed had his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru been alive, he would have made Kanshi Ram the Congress CM of Uttar Pradesh. Nehru died in 1964, while Kanshi Ram formed the BSP in 1984.Rahul, in his letter to the PM, said Kanshi Ram transformed the nature of Indian politics and raised political awareness among Bahujans and the poor through his movements.“Kanshi Ram transformed the nature of Indian politics. Through his movements, he raised political awareness among Bahujans and the poor. He reminded them that their vote, voice and representation were important and that this country belongs to everyone equally,” he added.The Samajwadi Party (SP), which is an ally of the Congress in the INDIA bloc in UP, said Kanshi Ram had followed Ambedkar’s vision to secure rights and justice for the marginalised communities. “There was a time when Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and Kanshi Ram formed a joint government in UP. This also strengthened the BSP. We aligned with the BSP in 2019 to support Mayawati as the potential PM candidate though the pact didn’t succeed,” Akhilesh said as parties took pro-Kanshi Ram stance a year ahead of the UP polls in 2027.The Assembly poll in 2027 will be a high stake election for all the parties invoking Kanshi Ram’s legacy. Particularly for Mayawati, it will be a make or break poll after she led the BSP to the worst-ever show in the party’s history. Only one BSP MLA won in the 2022 poll.Many observers have attributed the party’s decline to Mayawati’s deviation from Kanshi Ram’s definition of Bahujans, which included all caste groups barring three upper caste Hindus — Brahmins, Thakurs and Baniyas. Mayawati formed a Dalit-Brahmin alliance at the peak of her electoral career in 2007, when she bagged 206 seats out of 403, 30.43 per cent vote share and became the first Dalit CM of the state. However, the alliance could not last long.Kanshi Ram had coined a popular slogan – “Jiski jitni sankhya bhaari, uski utni hissedaari”. Of late, Rahul and the Congress have been championing this through the caste census narrative.