In the late 1980s, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder-president Kanshi Ram began to project obscure leaders from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) as caste heroes at rallies focused on relevant communities. As part of Kanshi Ram’s plan, their statues were installed in areas dominated by their followers in the rural pockets of Uttar Pradesh (UP). People heard the folklore associated with Bijli Pasi, Jhalkari Bai, Baaladin and Veerapasi among others. At the time, big parties often mocked these meetings, terming them politically inconsequential as these castes lacked the numbers and voice.

Until then, the two marginalised groups -- Dalits and backwards – were not under one political banner even though socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia had raised the slogan of “pichre paayen saun mein sath” (Dalits and OBCs should get 60% quota) in the 1960s. The Dalits at the time supported the Congress; the OBCs preferred socialist parties.

Realising that social empowerment was not possible until the marginalised classes attained political empowerment, Kanshi Ram gave the slogan of “Jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni hissedari” (proportionate participation according to population). Interesting to note how, many years later, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, taking a leaf out of Kanshi Ram’s book, raised the slogan: “Jitni aabadi, utna haq.”

Over the years, the hunger for political empowerment grew among the marginalised castes as they started demanding/sharing power both at the Centre and in the........

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