Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram: On BJP MP’s demand, Mayawati asks him to coax Centre to do it
Arun Kumar Sagar, BJP MP from Shahjahanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday demanded the country’s highest civilian award for Kanshi Ram
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has hit out at the BJP after a saffron party MP sought the Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram. She said that the saffron party, which is in power at the Centre, should either award the highest civilian honour to the BSP founder or stop “misleading” Dalits.
In a post on social media platform X on Friday, the BSP chief said, “Instead of demanding Bharat Ratna for BSP’s founder Shri Kanshi Ram from UP BJP, he (the BJP MP) should immediately get it awarded to him (Kanshi Ram) by his government in power at the Centre, which the BSP will also welcome wholeheartedly, or else stop misleading Dalits in its guise.
Arun Kumar Sagar, BJP MP from Shahjahanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday demanded the country’s highest civilian award for Kanshi Ram. Sagar highlighted the contribution of Kanshi Ram to society, saying he worked for the empowerment of the weaker sections of society.
Hailing Kanshi Ram as a ‘Bahujan Nayak’, Sagar said the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder was an ace politician and a social reformer who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of the downtrodden.
Mayawati also alleged that the Union Budget failed to give proper attention to a poor and backward state like Uttar Pradesh which has a huge population.
In the budget presented by the NDA government in Parliament, the allocation was done in a biased manner for political gains instead of national and public interests, she said.
Such step-motherly treatment by the Centre towards some states is not new, as the BSP government had faced it too when it was in power in Uttar Pradesh, she said.
“Non-BJP ruled states are unhappy with the budget and have decided not to participate in the meeting of the NITI Aayog regarding this. How fair is it not to pay proper attention to a poor and backward state with a huge population like UP? It is very important for the Centre to keep the country and public interests paramount,” she added in another post.