Centre must not repeat Congress's mistake, must confer Bharat Ratna on Kanshi Ram: Mayawati
Lucknow (PTI): BSP supremo Mayawati on Sunday urged the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna on party founder Kanshi Ram and not make the same mistake the Congress did with B R Ambedkar when it came to the award.
In a statement on Sunday on the birth anniversary of Kanshi Ram, Mayawati attacked the Samajwadi Party, Congress, and the BJP, saying they only talk about the Bahujan, but rarely work for their uplift.
"The Muslim community has significantly dissociated itself from these parties, and with the Brahmin community associating with the BSP, it seems that SP's political and caste-animosity have intensified," Mayawati said.
She hailed Kanshi Ram for his work for an egalitarian society and urged the BJP-led Centre to bestow the highest civilian award on him.
"Like the Congress party, which did not honour the architect of India's Constitution, Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, with Bharat Ratna, the current BJP-NDA government at the Centre should not make any further delay in honouring 'Bahujan' leader Kanshi Ram ji with the Bharat Ratna.
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"His contribution in creating an egalitarian society in the country, as enshrined in the Constitution, is historic, and for this reason, he too resides in the hearts of the people," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
"He not only created a political force, but also formed a government in a large and important state like Uttar Pradesh, and made me its chief minister," she said about the Dalit icon.
Mayawati's statement came days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that had Jawaharlal Nehru been alive, then Kanshi Ram would have been made a chief minister from the Congress.
Nehru, India's first prime minister, died in 1964, while Kanshi Ram broke out onto the political scene with his founding of backwards-championing BAMCEF in 1978, and later bolstered his position with the formation of the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984.
In his tribute to the Dalit icon, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said Mahatma Gandhi, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, and Kanshi Ram never compromised on their principles.
Gandhi was speaking at the Samvidhan Sammelan held in Lucknow ahead of Kanshi Ram's birth anniversary.
He said, "If Jawaharlal Nehru were alive, then Kanshi Ram would have been a chief minister from the Congress."
After Gandhi's speech, a proposal was passed resolving that when the Congress is voted to power, it would confer Kanshi Ram with a Bharat Ratna.
On Sunday, too, Gandhi appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer the Bharat Ratna on the BSP founder posthumously.
In a letter to Modi, Gandhi said Kanshi Ram transformed the nature of Indian politics and, through his movements, raised political awareness among Bahujans and the poor.
"As we commemorate the birth anniversary of Kanshi Ramji today and reflect on his legacy and contributions, I write with a request that he be awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously," the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said in the letter.
Born in Punjab's Rupnagar on March 15, 1934, Kanshi Ram worked for the upliftment and political mobilisation of people belonging to backward classes.
He founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) in 1978, the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti in 1981, before forming the BSP in 1984.
Kanshi Ram was elected to the Lok Sabha from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh in 1991 and from Hoshiarpur in Punjab in 1996. He also served as a Rajya Sabha member from 1998 to 2004.
Kanshi Ram died on October 9, 2006, in Delhi at 72.
Meanwhile, Mayawati accused the Samajwadi Party and other opposition parties of making empty talk about the welfare of Bahujans, and asserted that BSP is the only party working for their interests.
"In reality, even among parties that exploit Dalits, other backward castes and the Muslim at every level, especially the SP, and its love for PDA ('Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) is pure eyewash. They remember these communities and their great men only during the elections. Once they form the government, they disregard them," Mayawati said.
Mayawati, accompanied by senior party leaders, paid floral tributes to Kanshi Ram's portrait and statue at the BSP's central camp office in Lucknow.
The BSP chief appealed to the Bahujan community to maintain a safe distance from parties that seek to dilute the power of the Bahujan vote by luring them to make MPs and MLAs.
Mayawati also criticised the opposition parties for renaming the Manyavar Shri Kanshiram Urdu, Arabic, and Persian University in Lucknow, established in 2009 by her government, to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University.
According to the party statement, BSP workers from 12 administrative divisions of Uttar Pradesh gathered at the Manyavar Shri Kanshiram Ji Memorial in the state capital to pay tributes to Kanshi Ram.
Workers from six divisions in western Uttar Pradesh garlanded the statue of Kanshi Ram at Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal in Gautam Buddha Nagar.
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Trump rushed out of dinner event after shots fired; one arrested
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump and other top White House officials were evacuated unharmed from the annual dinner of White House correspondents after a man armed with multiple weapons fired shots outside the ballroom of the hotel.
The incident took place at around 8:34 PM local time when dinner was served. At that time, Trump was seen having a conversation with Weijia Jiang, the President of the White House Correspondents' Association, and mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was scheduled to present a show at the marquee event at the Washington Hilton here.
Secret Service officials and other security personnel covered the President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President J D Vance, and the Second Lady Usha Vance, who were seated at the head table, and escorted them out of the ballroom.
Several guests at the dinner, including leaders across the political spectrum, journalists and other invitees, ducked under the table, apparently as a reflex reaction.
Putting up a brave face, President Trump later announced on Truth Social that the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom is all that I heard, and many guests ducked under the table,” a C-SPAN reporter at the dinner said.
Hours later, Trump addressed a press conference at the White House and announced that the security personnel had captured one person who hails from California.
“I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray going down. I've heard that many times. It was a pretty loud noise, and it was from quite far away. He (the attacker) hadn't reached the area at all. They really got him,” Trump told reporters, recalling the incident.
Trump said one security officer was shot at but saved as he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Several protestors had lined up on the road outside the hotel, raising slogans against the Trump administration and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A CNN reporter who was outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton said he saw a gunman opening fire just a few feet away. He was among the dozens of attendees who took cover as law enforcement swarmed the venue.
The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California.
Asked how Saturday’s incident impacts him as the US president, Trump told reporters he is in a dangerous job but that he is no “basket case.”
“I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled,” Trump said.
Trump has survived two assassination attempts over the past two years – first at a presidential election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, and later in Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024.
“I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives...everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd,” he said.
“We had some great work done by law enforcement, but in light of this evening's events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully,” Trump said.
